japan running news

Favorites Aoyama Gakuin University and Tokai University made it a two-team race at the 50th edition of the National University Men's Ekiden in Sunday in Nagoya, with Tokai breaking away in the early going only to be run down near the race's end.

With a new course configuration that shortened the early stages and lengthened the seventh of its eight stages, Nationals this year put an emphasis on 10000 m speed early and half marathon stamina late. AGU's Hakone downhill specialist Yuji Onoda looked like he was going to set the example for his team with a hard surge 8 km into the 9.5 km First Stage, but he and the other Hakone Ekiden stars from the Kanto Region got a surprise when Yuki Ishii of the Kansai Region's Kwansei Gakuin University dropped them all to hand off in 1st.

Teikyo University was unexpectedly next at the exchange 3 seconds back, with AGU a step behind and Tokai another 2 seconds back. Other pre-race favorites Komazawa University and Toyo University got off…

Leading start to finish, 2015-2016 Izumo Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University overcame last year's winner Tokai University and a tough challenge from Toyo University to win Izumo's 30th anniversary edition.

In hot and sunny conditions that followed the passing of Typhoon #25 AGU's Taisei Hashizume got things rolling, opening a six-second lead over Toyo's Akira Aizawa on the 8.0 km First Stage. Tokai's Yuichiro Nishikawa was 20 seconds back in 6th.

Takato Suzuki increased AGU's lead on the 5.8 km Second Stage with a 16:26 stage win. Indoor mile national record holder Ryoji Tatezawa was next-fastest in 16:29, running down four teams including Toyo to put the defending champs into 2nd. The lone crack in Toyo's armor, Kazuya Nishiyama ran only 16:54 to drop Toyo back to 3rd some 34 seconds off the lead.

Back in 4th place, Takushoku University captain Workneh Derese ran a 25:17stage best on the 8.5 km Third Stage to overtake both Toyo and Tokai, but with AGU…

Kokushikan University held its season-opening time trial meet Mar. 31 at its Tama Field track facility. Members of four-time Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University competed in the 1500 m, with first-year Keita Yoshida leading the team in 3:50.77. Breaking through at this year's Hakone with a Seventh Stage record, third-year Keisuke Hayashi ran 3:53.17. Both third-years, Sixth Stage winner Yuji Onoda ran 3:58.09 and Second Stage winner Homare Morita ran 3:58.30. Head coach Susumu Hara, 51, was pleased with the shakeout ahead of outdoor season, commenting, "Times ended up being better overall than last year."

Surpassing all the Aoyama Gakuin runners to take the spot in 3:48.47 was incoming Kokushikan Kenyan Vincent Laimoi. Laimoi arrived in Japan in mid-March, running a PB 13:43.20 in his first race in Japan, the 5000 m at a meet at Kokushikan on the 25th. Running the 1500 m for the first time ever, Laimoi showed considerable potential. Together with current team mem…

by Brett Larner

【#世界クロカン】日本代表選手団、第42回世界クロスカントリー選手権大会の開催地、ウガンダ カンパラに到着です。現地メディアのお出迎えもありました！ #陸上pic.twitter.com/3YpD2j5Hfc — JAAF（日本陸上競技連盟） (@jaaf_official) March 22, 2017
The World Cross Country Championships take place this Sunday, March 26 in Kampala, Uganda.  Perpetual team medal contenders, the Japanese junior women's squad is the strongest part of the Japanese roster, featuring four women with 3000 m bests under 9:10 led by 8:58.86 runner Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu of 2016 National High School Ekiden champion Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.  The Japanese national team for the 2017 World Cross Country Championships:

Senior Men's 10 km
Kosei Yamaguchi (Team Aisan Kogyo) - 28:34.19
Shota Maeda (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 28:59.86
Yuma Higashi (Team Kyudenko) - 29:14.78
Haruki Ono (Kanagawa Univ.) - 29:18.49
Yamato Otsuka (Kanagawa Univ.) - 29:22.18

Senior Women's 10 km
Mao Ichiyama (Team Wacoal) - 32:15.73
Kaori Morita (Team Panasonic) - 32:27
Yuki Hori (Team Panasonic) - 32:40
Fumik…

by Brett Larner
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Japan's 71st National Sports Festival cleared the midpoint of its five days of athletics competition Sunday.  Meet records have fallen in five events so far, the highlight being the men's 10000 m race walk where Rio Olympians Eiki Takahashi (Team Fujitsu) and Daisuke Matsunaga (Toyo Univ.) dueled to push each other under the meet record, national record holder Takahashi setting a solid new mark of 38:21.88 but national junior record holder Matsunaga also more than 25 seconds under the old record set two years ago by 20 km world record holder Yusuke Suzuki (Team Fujitsu).

Another Rio Olympian, women's 100 m national record holder Chisato Fukushima (Hokkaido Hi-Tech AC) duly took the 100 m final in 11.66 (+0.5 m/s).  Two members of the Rio silver medal-winning Japanese 4x100 m men's relay team, national champion Asuka Cambridge (Dome) and Ryota Yamagata (Seiko), were scheduled to run the 100 m, but while Yamagata won his opening he…

by Brett Larner

Yuka Mukai, an 11th-grader at Hiroshima's Sera High School ran a world youth leading time of 15:31.92 to win Saturday's Challenge Games in Oita women's 5000 m.  Mukai led the race together with 12th-grade teammate Shinobu Koyoshigawa unchallenged by the university and corporate runners in the field, and both were rewarded with places in the all-time Japanese high school top ten.  Mukai's winning time was good for all-time #6, with Koyoshigawa's 15:36.96 coming at all-time #9.

The Sera H.S. boys, the defending National High School Ekiden champions, likewise led the way in the 5000 m A-heat, sweeping the top five and taking seven of the top nine places.  12th-grader Paul Kamais was 1st with a meet record 13:42.90, but 11th-grader Keita Yoshida made bigger news in 3rd place with his time of 13:50.67, all-time #10 on the Japanese high school lists.  Sera H.S. now has a top seven runner 5000 m average of 14:01.96, putting them in range of the legendary 2:…