japan running news

by Brett Larner

The organizers of the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon released the elite field on Jan. 28 for this year's 51st running, scheduled for Feb. 10.  Traditionally an elite developmental race for first- or second-time marathoners, this year's race is capped by 2010 Asian Games marathon silver medalist and 2011 World Championships marathoner Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN).  Kitaoka has been mostly injured since 2010 and will be seeking a return to the kind of form he showed that year.  His main challengers among the marathoners are the Koichi Morishita-coached Kenji Takeuchi (Team Toyota Kyushu) and Etsu Miyata (Team Fujitsu), a teammate of former national record holder Atsushi Fujita.

This year's race is heavy on people making their debuts.  Chief among them are sub-63 men Ayumu Sato (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) with a 1:02:33 best from last year's Marugama Half and Nittai University grad Kazuya Deguchi (Team Nissin Shokuhin) with a best of 1:02:46.  2009 Ome …

by Brett Larner

The 61st running of the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, one of Japan's oldest, takes place this Sunday, Feb. 5.  Outside the circuit of Olympic-qualifying races this year, Beppu-Oita's domestic field is largely developmental, but it features a good international field of athletes looking to run Olympic-qualifying marks for their own countries including one prominent debut.  Overseas viewers should be able to watch TBS' race broadcast via Keyhole TV beginning at 11:50 a.m. Japan time on the 5th.  JRN will once again cover the race via Twitter @JRNLive.

The Japanese field includes five men who ran second-tier PBs at other domestic marathons last year.  Yuki Moriwaki (Team JFE Steel) leads the way with a 2:12:34 from last year's Beppu-Oita.  Moriwaki is closely followed by the Koichi Morishita-coached Kenji Takeuchi (Team Toyota Kyushu) with a 2:12:44 at last year's Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon.  One noteworthy name among the five is Norimasa Nishina (Te…

http://sp.mainichi.jp/m/news.html?cid=20120118k0000m050038000c

translated by Brett Larner

On Jan. 17 the organizers of the Feb. 5 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon announced the elite field for this year's 61st running.  The six Japan-based invited athletes include last year's runner-up Daniel Njenga (Kenya/Team Yakult) and 6th-place finisher Yuki Moriwaki (Team JFE Steel), last summer's Asian Championships bronze medalist Kenji Takeuchi (Team Toyota Kyushu) and 2011 Hokkaido Marathon winner Harun Njoroge (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.).

Among the seven  overseas elites are 2010's 3rd-placer Jeff Hunt (Australia), 2007 Biwako Mainichi Marathon winner Samson Ramadhani (Tanzania) and two-time Hofu Yomiuri Marathon winner Serod Batochir (Mongolia).

The general division includes 2011 Grand Tour Kyushu ekiden MVP Takehiro Arakawa (Team Asahi Kasei) and Takaaki Tanaka of 2012 Hakone Ekiden course record setters Toyo University, both making their marathon debuts.  Comedian Hiroshi Neko …

by Brett Larner

click here for video of the Grand Tour Kyushu 2011's finish

Defending champion Miyazaki Prefecture came to the final day of the eight-day Grand Tour Kyushu 2011 with a lead of 4:31 over rival Fukuoka Prefecture, comfortable but not safe.  Over the first of the stage's three legs Miyazaki's runners progressively widened the lead, but on the fourth and fifth of the stage's six legs Fukuoka fought back.  Its Leg Five runner Shuji Yoshikawa came within 10 seconds of catching the Miyazaki, still down on total time but almost enough for the lead heading into the final leg.  Miyazaki's anchor, Daegu World Championships marathon 7th-placer Hiroyuki Horibata, fought back and reopened the lead to bring Miyazaki in to a successful title defense, winning in a total time of 38:04:48 to Fukuoka's runner-up 38:10:11.  3rd-place Nagasaki Prefecture was the only other team to break 39 hours for the new 739.9 km course, clocking 38:55:12.

Four men in the field hel…

2011 Asian Marathon Championships
held at Pattaya International Marathon, Thailand, 7/17/11
Men
Lawrence Kiptoo Saina (Kenya) - 2:21:06
1. Mohamed Abdou Bakheet (Qatar) - 2:23:07
2. Teruto Ozaki (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:23:09
Peter Keter (Kenya) - 2:23:34
Joseph Mwangi (Kenya) - 2:24:52
3. Kenji Takeuchi (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 2:25:33

Women
Elizabeth Chemweno (Kenya) - 2:24:09
1. Noriko Higuchi (Team Wacoal) - 2:44:10
2. Jiang Xiaoli (China) - 2:52:24
3. Pham Thi Binh (Vietnam) - 2:53:09
4. Natthaya Thanaronnawat (Thailand) - 2:53:35
5. Fan Sui Ping (Hong Kong) - 3:02:57

by Brett Larner

Despite heavy snow throughout much of western Japan and a nearby volcanic eruption which has continued through recent weeks, times were quick at the 49th Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon with four of the top ten recording PBs and the remaining six marking their debuts. Winner Kenji Takeuchi (Team Toyota Kyushu), a former teammate of Beijing Olympics marathon gold medalist Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya) and coached by Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita, clocked a ten-minute PB to win in 2:12:44, putting him inside the five fastest winning times in Nobeoka. Runner-up Takumi Owada (Team Hitachi Cable) broke his own PB by nine minutes to finish 40 seconds back from Takeuchi in 2:13:24. Takuro Yamashita (Team Fujitsu), instrumental in Asia University's 2006 Hakone Ekiden win, took four minutes off his PB to round out the top three in 2:13:33.

Little changed for the first part of the race as pacer Yoshikazu Kawazoe (Team Asahi Kasei) took a large pack throug…

2010 Kyushu Isshu Ekiden Day Two
click here for complete results from Day Two
Stage Best Performances
First Stage (9.4 km) -Kyohei Nishi (Miyazaki Pref.) - 28:26
Second Stage (12.2 km) -Takahiro Mori (Miyazaki Pref.) - 37:29
Third Stage (15.3 km) -Kenji Takeuchi (Fukuoka Pref.) - 45:36
Fourth Stage (14.2 km) - Tomoya Adachi (Miyazaki Pref.) - 42:53
Fifth Stage (11.3 km) - Kazuya Ishida (Fukuoka Pref.) - 34:32
Sixth Stage (11.5 km) - Yoichi Watanabe (Nagasaki Pref.) - 35:21

Top Team Performances - 73.9 km
1. Miyazaki Pref. - 3:46:13
2. Fukuoka Pref. - 3:46:52
3. Nagasaki Pref. - 3:49:59
4. Kagoshima Pref. - 3:54:53
5. Oita Pref. - 3:56:27

Current Team Standings After Two Days - 169.1 km
1. Miyazaki Pref. - 8:34:27
2. Fukuoka Pref. - 8:40:41
3. Nagasaki Pref. - 8:43:44
4. Oita Pref. - 8:58:54
5. Kagoshima Pref. - 8:59:25

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved