japan running news

The Chugoku Denryoku and Mazda men's corporate teams raced each other to new heights at the 56th Hiroshima Corporate Ekiden, each taking over two minutes off the course record Mazda set just last year. 5 of the race's 6 stages saw new records with runners from both teams breaking the record on 3 of them.

Mazda's Kenji Yamamoto took an early lead on the opening stage, but on every remaining stage the two teams swapped position, Mazda never more than 13 seconds in front and Chugoku Denryoku never more than 28.  Chugoku Denryoku anchor Kaido Kita was down 13 seconds when he took the tasuki, but with only 5.49 km to work with he managed to turn that around and open 17 seconds on Mazda anchor Shori Arai after catching him.
Mazda's record for the 43.82 km course was 2:08:10. This year Chugoku Denryoku won in 2:05:52 with Mazda running 2:06:09. 3rd-placer Chudenko was also just off the record at 2:08:20, briefly taking the lead on the Second Stage thanks to a stage record ru…

Following the Japanese success early Saturday at the IAU 100 km World Championships, Japanese athletes lined up in races across Europe over the weekend.

At Saturday's Prague Grand Prix 10 km, Yuka Takashima (Shiseido) followed up her 2:26:13 marathon debut in Paris with a 9th-place finish in 32:26. 2:08:48 at February's Tokyo Marathon, Kenji Yamamoto (Mazda) was ineffectual in the men's race, nearly a kilometer behind winner Rhonex Kipruto at 17th in 29:21. Keita Shitara (Hitachi Butsuryu), twin brother of half marathon and marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara, was 23rd in 30:17 with Yuta's teammate Masaya Taguchi (Honda) overtaken by the top three women to finish 24th in 30:25.

On the track, Jakarta Asian Games men's 200 m gold medalist Yuki Koike had the best Japanese placing on the first day of the Continental Cup in the Czech Republic, finishing 4th in the 200 m in 20.57 (-1.6 m/s). Kosei Yamaguchi was next-best in the men's 3000 m steeplechase at …

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sd-sp-rock-roll-marathon-san-diego-results-20180603-story.html

Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Half MarathonSan Diego, U.S.A., 6/3/18
click here for complete results

Men
1. Titus Ekiru (Kenya) - 1:01:02
2. Feyisa Lilesa (Ethiopia) - 1:02:18
3. Josphat Kipchirchir (Kenya) - 1:02:22
4. Kenji Yamamoto (Japan/Mazda) - 1:02:45
5. Aaron Braun (U.S.A.) - 1:02:54
6. Brendan Gregg (U.S.A.) - 1:03:32
7. Hiroshi Ichida (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 1:03:53
8. Tsubasa Hayakawa (Japan/Toyota) - 1:03:57
9. Yuki Oshikawa (Japan/Toyota Kyushu) - 1:04:16
10. Jeffrey Eggleston (U.S.A.) - 1:04:29

Women
1. Meseret Defar (Ethiopia) - 1:08:26
2. Jane Kibii (Kenya) - 1:12:00
3. Kaitlyn James (U.S.A.) - 1:13:52
4. Kristen Findley (U.S.A.) - 1:14:14
5. Brittney Favor (U.S.A.) - 1:15:02

by Brett Larner

For its 70th edition the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon has wheeled out another quality field of top-level domestic elites peppered with an international seasoning to meet IAAF labelling requirements.  Like the United States' Houston Half Marathon, Marugame is a surprisingly fast race where many run lifetime bests they never approach again, enough of them to set world records for depth.  For Japanese men this year it serves as one of the selection races for the 2016 World Half Marathon team while for the women it's simply a day at the races.

Five athletes with recent sub-70 marks make up the top tier in the women's race.  2014 Asian Games gold medalist Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) leads the way with a best of 1:08:31, followed closely by Diane Nukuri (Burundi) and the top female Japanese half marathoner of 2015, Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya).  Just under the 70-minute mark with PBs at December's Sanyo Ladies' Half are the promising Yuka Ando (Suzu…

by Brett Larner

Course record holder Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA RC), past champion Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Fukuoka International Marathon course record holder Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) lead the men's field for the 5th edition of the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon on May 17, an event that has quickly surpassed the Sendai International Half Marathon as Japan's premier late-spring half marathon.  Former Toyota runner James Rungaru (Kenya) is back and with a 1:00:12 best looks like another contender up front, and Australian 10000 m national record holder Ben St. Lawrence is also in the field.  Japanese entries include sub-1:02 men Kenji Yamamoto (Team Mazda), Kenta Matsumoto (Team Toyota) and Masamichi Shinozaki (Team Hitachi Butsuryu), plus 2014 Asian Games marathon bronze medalist Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't).

On the women's side, Asian Games marathon gold medalist Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) returns to Japan after winning March's Nagoya Women'…

http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/olomouc-ronoh-kipsang-pacemaker-wins-kiplagat

Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon
Olomouc, Czech Republic, 6/22/14

Men
1. Geoffrey Ronoh (Kenya) - 1:00:17
2. Wilson Kipsang (Kenya) - 1:00:25
3. Dennis Kimetto (Kenya) - 1:01:42
4. Wilfred Kirwa Kigen (Kenya) - 1:01:56
5. Joel Kipkoech Kimutai (Kenya) - 1:02:49
6. Nicholas Kipchirchir Bor (Kenya) - 1:03:20
7. Viktor Rothlin (Switzerland) - 1:03:23
8. Kenji Yamamoto (Japan/Team Mazda) - 1:03:28
9. Marcin Chabowski (Poland) - 1:03:32
10. Paul Kariuki Mwangi (Kenya) - 1:03:33

Women
1. Edna Kiplagat (Kenya) - 1:08:53
2. Betelhem Moges (Ethiopia) - 1:09:23
3. Hirut Alemayehu (Ethiopia) - 1:10:57
4. Faith Jeruto Kipsum (Kenya) - 1:11:12
5. Janet Jelagat Rono (Kenya) - 1:12:40
6. Alyson Dixon (Great Britain) - 1:13:12
7. Kotomi Takayama (Japan/Team Wacoal) - 1:13:22
8. Mame Feyisa (Ethiopia) - 1:13:25
9. Yukari Abe (Japan/Team Shimamura) - 1:13:34

by Brett Larner

National championship ekiden season may be through, but across the country smaller regional and local ekidens continue.  Biggest among the dozen or so noteworthy ekidens this weekend was the 77th running of the Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden.  A moderate-length event at 7 stages and 84.4 km, Chugoku Yamaguchi featured six top corporate league teams from the central Japan region along with local universities and clubs.  Despite a one-two punch of 2012 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Joseph Gitau (Kenya) and former Sera H.S. star Charles Ndirangu (Kenya) the JFE Steel team could not hold off rivals Mazda, the lead turning over twice during the course of the race before Mazda anchor Kenji Yamamoto, a member of Toyo University's 2012 Hakone Ekiden course record-setting team, ran down JFE Steel's Yuki Moriwaki to give Mazda the win by 20 seconds in 4:08:54.  Chugoku Denryoku, the top-ranked team in the region after finishing 5th at the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden, was on…

by Brett Larner

Daegu World Championships marathon silver medalist Vincent Kipruto and Diane Chepkemoi made it a Kenyan double at the Aug. 31 Lille International Half Marathon, winning close men's and women's races in 1:00:39 and 1:10:14. After a slow opening 5 km, Kipruto, Philemon Rono Cherop (Kenya), Habtamu Assefa (Ethiopia) and a handful of others stepped up the pace, grinding the pack down over the middle stages of the race until only three remained.  Halfway through the second lap of the two-loop course Kipruto and Cherop shook free of Assefa, running side by side all the way to a sprint finish that saw Kipruto, this year's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon winner, take the title in a lean across the line. Assefa faded over the final quarter of the race but held on to 3rd in 1:01:05. Four top-placing Japanese men from March's National Corporate Half Marathon Championships also raced Lille with support from JRN, Muryo Takase (Team Nissin Shokuhin) finishing first in…

by Brett Larner

It's you, baby. Shinobu Kubota brings Komazawa University home to its 9th national title in 17 years. Click photo for video highlights of the race.

After a few shaky seasons Komazawa University head coach Hiroaki Oyagi reconfirmed his position as Japan's most successful university coach with his ninth National University Men's Ekiden Championships title on Nov. 6, the 17th major ekiden win in his 17 years at Komazawa.  Responding to Izumo Ekiden winner Toyo University and defending champion Waseda University's unprecedented 10 sub-29 men lineups last season, Oyagi has built a squad this year which features 11 men with sub-14 5000 m PBs, sub-29 10000 m PBs, or both, five of them with 10000 m times under 28:33.  Toyo did its best to match Komazawa's challenge and almost pulled it off but could not quite cope with Komazawa's superior speed on the shorter of the ekiden's stages.  Despite Oyagi throwing a curveball by only running six of his big…

by Brett Larner

click here for Day One report

Kenji Nakashima anchors Waseda to Hakone Ekiden CR win. Click photo to enlarge.

They were the two best university teams ever assembled and they ran like it. After two-time defending Hakone Ekiden champion Toyo University and 2010 National University Ekiden champion Waseda University both broke the Day One Hakone course record, Waseda hammered Toyo on the first two stages of Day Two to retake the lead and then held on to take the overall win in a course-record 10:59:50, the first school to ever break 11 hours on the celebrated 10-stage, 217.9 km course. Toyo nearly ran Waseda down on the final stage, finishing 22 seconds back in the closest margin of victory in Hakone's 87 year history and likewise breaking the course record by over 3 minutes. It was a classic duel between the elite Waseda, symbolic of the privilege, connections and money at the top of Japanese society, and the underdog Toyo, a minor school with a young coach with an eye …