japan running news

Looking to improve on last year's 4th-place finish, Juntendo University held a press conference at its main campus in Inzai, Chiba on Dec. 13 ahead of the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden. Set to run the 23.2 km Second Stage for the third time, star 3rd-year and Rio Olympian Kazuya Shiojiri sent a warning to his rivals at other schools, telling reporters, "I'm being tasked with beating the best from all the other schools, so my personal goal is to win the stage."

At the Nov. 25 Hachioji Long Distance meet Shiojiri ran the 4th-fastest time ever by a university runner, 27:47.87, but that has had no impact on head coach Shunsuke Nagato's plans. "Even if we fall behind on the First Stage, I know that he's there so it won't be anything to get worried about," said Nagato, showing the complete trust which he places in Shiojiri.

Of last year's Second Stage winner, 2017 National University Half Marathon champion Kengo Suzuki of Kanagawa University, Shiojiri s…

Following October's season-opening Izumo Ekiden and world record-breaking Yosenkai 20 km, the university men's ekiden season continues Sunday with the National University Men's Ekiden Championships. 12 top regional teams from across the country will face off with the 15 best in the Tokyo-centric Kanto Region on an 8-stage course from Nagoya to Mie totalling 106.8 km. TV Asahi will broadcast the complete race starting at 7:00 local time on Sunday. International viewers can try mov3.co for streaming, with other options to be found here.

At Izumo the up-and-coming Tokai University squad took down defending champion Aoyama Gakuin University, head coach Hayashi Morozumi's cross-country-based methodology having overtaken the innovative systematic approach of AGU's Susumu Hara that had made AGU into the dominant team of the era. AGU is likewise the defending champion at Nationals, but the longer average stage lengths at Nationals play to Tokai's strengths and it will…

For the second Universiade in a row Japan pulled off a near-sweep of the half marathon medals, taking all three men's individual medals, women's gold and bronze and both team golds. Komazawa University's Kei Katanishi and Naoki Kudo went 1-2, leaving national university half marathon champion Kengo Suzuki over 30 seconds behind to hold off Uganda's John Kateregga for bronze. Wataru Tochigi took 6th to make it 4 Japanese men in the top 6, the only misstep coming from Takato Suzuki of national champion Aoyama Gakuin University who finished only 12th after scratching in the 10000 m.

Not so for women's gold medalist Yuki Munehisa. Munehisa had led most of the women's 10000 m only to get dropped in the last kilometer and wind up outside the medals in 4th. In the half marathon she was bound and determined not to end up the same way again, doing all the heavy lifting to drop Turkey's Esma Aydemir with teammate Saki Fukui in a supporting role. Munehisa finally pul…

Twenty university teams from around the Tokyo are will square off Sunday at Saitama's Komaba Sports Park Field for the chance to run the Nov. 5 National University Men's Ekiden. Last year the top six-placing teams at the National University Men's Ekiden, winner Aoyama Gakuin University, Waseda University, Yamanashi Gakuin University, Komazawa University, Chuo Gakuin University and Toyo University, were all from the Tokyo-centric Kanto Region, all six earning seeded places at this year's Nationals.

The next twenty teams in Kanto with the fastest average time 10000 m among their top eight men based on certified times in 10000 m track races between Jan. 1, 2016 and June 3, 2017 all earned the right to run Sunday's Kanto Region Qualifier for Nationals. Featuring two strong graduate students eligible to run the National University Men's Ekiden, Tsukuba University is making its first appearance in the field in fourteen years, knocking out last year's participant…

The IUAU has announced a 38-member team for the Aug. 23-28 Summer Universiade in Taiwan, with 24 men and 14 women representing 26 universities. Rio Olympian Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ.) leads the team in men's long distance, with newly sub-10.10 Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) an expected favorite in men's sprints. Javelin throw and heptathlon collegiate record holders Haruka Kitaguchi (Nihon University) and Meg Hemphill (Chuo University) lead the women's team. The complete team roster:
Men Sprints Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin University)
Yusuke Tanaka (Nihon Wellness University)
Jun Yamashita (Tsukuba University)
Sho Kitagawa (Juntendo University)
Takamasa Kitagawa (Juntendo University)
Shusei Nomoto (Waseda University)
Taio Kanai (Hosei University)
Ryo Kajiki (Josai University)
Long Distance Wataru Tochigi (Juntendo University)
Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo University)
Takato Suzuki (Aoyama Gakuin University)
Kengo Suzuki (Kanagawa University)
Naoki Kudo (Komazawa Univ…

by Brett Larner
with contributing material by Chris Cullen

今日の関東インカレのリレー予選。
こんなにミスってるのに最後の桐生さんでバケモンくらい追い抜く。これが世界2位の力か。すごすぎる😂 pic.twitter.com/44unLvV5M4 — YÜ (@yu2442ishiara) May 25, 2017
Japan's best meet, the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, kicked off Thursday at Yokohama's Nissan Stadium. Rio Olympics men's 4x100 m silver medalist Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) was one of the stars of the day, leading the opening round of men's 100 m heats in 10.42 (-0.6 m/s) and anchoring Toyo University's 4x100 m into the final, taking the team from last to 4th in his heat.

館澤（東海）3.46.25#関東インカレ#1500m決勝pic.twitter.com/PkwanlRtxH — EKIDEN News (@EKIDEN_News) May 25, 2017
The men's 1500 m Division 1 race was solid by Japanese standards. Tokai University second year Ryoji Tatezawa won his heat in 3:44.61 before going on to take the final in 3:46.25, 2nd and 3rd-placers Kazuki Kawamura (Meiji Univ.) and Ko Kobayashi (Tsukuba Univ.) both clearing 3:48. Divisi…

https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20170414-00000013-sph-spo

translated by Brett Larner

Former Hakone Ekiden uphill star Daichi Kamino (23, Team Konica Minolta) has withdrawn from next week's Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon with pain in his right Achilles tendon after attending a JAAF marathon training camp in Nelson, New Zealand focused toward developing high-potential candidates for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics men's marathon team.  Kamino went to the training camp on Mar. 22 along with this year's Hakone Ekiden Second Stage winner Kengo Suzuki (21, Kanagawa Univ.) and other young talent.  Under JAAF direction they did marathon-specific training such as 50 km runs, but near the end of the camp Kamino sustained the injury.  He returned to Japan on Apr. 14 as originally scheduled.  Kamino will try to recover in time for his planned marathon debut at December's Fukuoka International Marathon.

by Brett Larner
video by Ekiden News

【学生ハーフ】
スタートしました！ユニバーシアードへの切符は誰の手に！？ pic.twitter.com/icWUjoqbc7 — 日本学生陸上競技連合 (@iuauj) March 5, 2017
Quickly rising to the top of university men's distance running this season with a 58:43 3rd-place finish at October's Hakone Ekiden qualifier 20 km and a 1:07:17 win on the 23.2 km Hakone Ekiden Second Stage, Kengo Suzuki (Kanagawa Univ.) ran the biggest race of his career to date with a course record-breaking 1:01:36 win at the 2017 National University Men's Half Marathon Championships in western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park.

1:01:25 man Naoki Kudo (Komazawa Univ.) took the race out at sub-61 pace, but after a 29:08 split at 10 km Suzuki got down to work.  Pushing the second half and pulling away alone, he became the first man to break 62 minutes at the National University Half, the deepest half marathon in the world with 265 finishers sub-66 in 2015.  Suzuki's finishing time of 1:01:36 made him the 7th-fastest Japanese-born universit…

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/1785576.html

translated by Brett Larner

A candidate to make the men's marathon team for August's London World Championships, Yuki Kawauchi (29, Saitama Pref. Gov't) has turned down an offer from the JAAF to join its three-week marathon training camp in New Zealand in the second half of March.

In 2015 Kawauchi quit the JAAF's National Team project, saying, "There's more value in not part of it than in being in it."  According to an involved person, Kawauchi had considered joining the training camp for a short time, but as a full-time employee at a school in Kuki, Saitama he is extremely busy at the end of the fiscal year and the start of the new academic semester and, considering the time involved in travelling overseas, opted not to take part.

With an overall theme of development to this year's New Zealand marathon training camp, the JAAF has invited former Hakone Ekiden uphill star Daichi Kamino (Team …

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20170212-OHT1T50016.html

translated by Brett Larner

According to a JAAF spokesperson, in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the JAAF will hold a men's marathon training camp in New Zealand in March.  Along with promising young talents like "God of the Mountain III" Daichi Kamino (23, Team Konica Minolta), the JAAF is in consultation to invite London World Championships candidate Yuki Kawauchi (29, Saitama Pref. Gov't).

The camp is part of a new strategic initiative to raise the level of Japanese marathoning.  Of note are the athletes being invited.  Along with Kamino, who was the star of the Hakone Ekiden's uphill Fifth Stage while at Aoyama Gakuin University and who has continued to grow since going to the corporate leagues, this year's Hakone Second Stage winner Kengo Suzuki (21, Kanagawa Univ.) and other high-potential young distance runners without marathon experience are being invited.

In addition, the JAAF has aske…

by Brett Larner
photos by @k_7250
click here for Day Two report

箱根駅伝 1区 スタート pic.twitter.com/qDG1AsXtU3 — かえフォトさん。 (@k_7250) January 1, 2017
Two-time defending HakoneEkiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University squeezed through in its quest to become the fourth school to win the triple crown of Japanese university men's distance running, holding off Waseda University by 33 seconds to finish 1st on Day One of the world's biggest and best road race.

Having won its two Hakone titles thanks in large part to uphill specialist Daichi Kamino on the legendary Fifth Stage, Aoyama Gakuin faced a tough challenge this year following Kamino's graduation.  Without a doubt the best team in the 21-deep field, Aoyama Gakuin found itself surpassed on half marathon credentials by Waseda in mid-November, with Waseda's uphill man Yuichi Yasui presenting a formidable obstacle to whoever had to fill Kamino's shoes.  From Waseda's point of view, Aoyama Gakuin's superior depth and track …

https://www.kawowo.com/2016/11/20/joshua-cheptegei-wins-netherlands-race/

Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km Road Race
Netherlands, 11/20/16
click here for complete results

Women
1. Susan Krumins (Netherlands) - 49:30
2. Jip Vastenburg (Netherlands) - 50:42
3. Kanade Furuya (Japan) - 52:10
4. Yomogi Akasaka (Japan) - 52:23
5. Honoka Tanaike (Japan) - 52:41
-----
20. Misaki Ogata (Japan) - 57:03

Men
1. Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda) - 42:08
2. Abrar Osman (Eritrea) - 43:04
3. Hiskel Tewelde (Eritrea) - 43:06
4. Geoffrey Ronoh (Kenya) - 43:28
5. Abdallah Kibet Mande (Uganda) - 43:35
-----
8. Kengo Suzuki (Japan) - 44:18
11. Homare Morita (Japan) - 45:24
14. Yuki Nakamura (Japan) - 46:10
15. Akira Tomiyasu (Japan) - 46:14
20. Shiki Shinsako (Japan) - 47:38

by Brett Larner

This weekend saw Japan's two biggest 20 km road races go down back to back in Tokyo.  Saturday in  Showa Kinen Park fifty Tokyo-area university men's teams lined up at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai to try to claim one of the ten remaining places at January's ultra-prestigious Hakone Ekiden.  With at least six Kenyans, one Ethiopian and one Taiwanese runner on the starting line it may have been a record for international participation in the Yosenkai, the official qualification race for Hakone, and it was the internationals who pushed the front end of the field to fast times despite conditions made unseasonably warm by the bright and cloudless skies.

Undefeated in his last seven races on the track and road, Patrick Mathenge Wambui (Nihon Univ.) was the heavy favorite despite his inexperience at such a long distance, but he received a serious challenge from newcomer Josphat Ledama Kisaisa (Obirin Univ.).  Arriving in Japan earlier this fall to run under the coac…

制作枚数700枚以上！！
箱根駅伝予選会PV風アニメーション✨
10月15日(土)9時25分スタートです。
日本大学の応援、宜しくお願い致します🙇🏻

制作→https://t.co/WkRILQ7Jsc#箱根駅伝予選会#日本大学pic.twitter.com/phnHaArOOW — あきば なおと (@AKB7010) October 12, 2016Nihon University third-year Ikki Yamazaki made this animated video using over 700 pieces of paper asking for fans' support for Nihon at Saturday's Hakone Ekiden qualifier.

by Brett Larner

Monday's Izumo Ekiden saw the top ten schools from the 2016 HakoneEkiden get their 2016-17 season started.  For the rest of the universities in the Tokyo area, Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai is their gateway to the biggest race of the year.

A 20 km road race, the Yosenkai is the official qualifier for the Hakone Ekiden, the Jan. 2-3 road relay that is a cultural institution in Japan featuring twenty Tokyo-area university teams and one select team.  The top ten finishers in Hakone are seeded for the following year, freeing them up to run Izumo.  The rest line up again at the Yosenkai with all the other Hako…

by Brett Larner

The 2016 Hokuren Distance Challenge series wrapped up Thursday in Kitami, Hokkaido with world record-setting depth in the women's 5000 m.  Newcomer Shuru Bulo (Team Toto) led most of the race for the win in a PB 15:13.07, but the bigger news came further down the field.  In 25th place Nao Isaka (Team Hitachi) finished in 15:59.32, surpassing the 2005 Rome Golden Gala for the most women ever under 16 minutes in a single race.

The women's 3000 m also produced some news.  18-year-old Harumi Okamoto (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo), already with a 9:00.91 at age 16 to her name, became just the 11th Japanese woman to break nine minutes when she outkicked Kenyan Ann Karindi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) for the win in 8:59.96.  19-year-old Mina Ueda (Josai Univ.) and 18-year-old Nana Kuraoka (Denso) also cleared 9:10 with new PBs.

After a big 10000 m on Monday in Abashiri the men's races were relatively quiet.  A planned 1500 m national record attempt by 5000 m national r…

by Brett Larner

Patrick Wambui/Nihon 28:21.61 to win Kanto Regionals D1 men's 10000m. pic.twitter.com/B0mvzhpgp0 — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) May 19, 2016
The 95th Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, the year's toughest meet for university men, kicked off Thursday at Yokohama's Nissan Stadium.  27-minute Kenyan second-years Patrick Wambui (Nihon Univ.) and Dominic Nyairo (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) went head-to-head in the D1 men's 10000 m, Nyairo pushing it at 28:00 pace through 3000 m to burn off all the Japanese competition except for Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ.), the fastest Japanese man in the race with a 28:32.85 best and likewise a second-year.  As the pace relaxed Shojiri held on through 8000 m before a small gap opened, but it wasn't until Wambui attacked with two laps to go that he really lost ground.  Wambui and Nyairo came into the home straight side-by-side and with his last kick Wambui proved the stronger, winning by less t…