japan running news

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20150309-OHT1T50100.html
http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/feature/hakone/20150309-OHT1T50174.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On March 9 Waseda University held a press conference at its Shinjuku campus in Tokyo to announce the transfer of leadership at the end of the month from ekiden team head coach Yasuyuki Watanabe, 41, to incoming head coach Yutaka Sagara, 34.  Watanabe, who spent 12 years leading Waseda including one year as assistant coach, had a light and relaxed expression as he said, "I did all I had to do, and that's why I am stepping down now."

Watanabe developed two Waseda runners, 2008 Olympian Kensuke Takezawa (now 28, Team Sumitomo Denko) and 2013 World Championships team member Suguru Osako (now 23, resigning from Team Nissin Shokuhin at the end of this month) into world-class athletes, and under his leadership in the 2010-11 season Waseda achieved an unprecedented triple crown of course record wins at all of the Big…

by Brett Larner
click photo for video c/o USATF.TV

Quasi-Nike Oregon Project member Suguru Osako ran the 2 mile at the 2015 Armory Track Invitational alongside training partners Cam Levins and Galen Rupp.  After moving to Oregon to train with the NOP and head coach Alberto Salazar while remaining tied to the Nissin Shokuhin corporate team, early last fall Osako set the outdoor 3000 m national record of 7:40.09 and all-time #2 Japanese mark of 8:28.30 for 2 miles outdoor.  Biding his time mid-pack at the Armory, Osako kicked hard to take 2nd behind Levins in 8:16.47, a new national record more than 8 seconds faster than fellow Waseda University alumnus Kensuke Takezawa's outdoor 2 mile NR of 8:24.69.  More records are sure to follow.

Armory Track Invitational Men's 2 Mile
New York, 1/31/15
click here for complete results

1. Cam Levins (Canada/Nike Oregon Project) - 8:15.38
2. Suguru Osako (Japan/Nissin Shokuhin) - 8:16.47 - NR
3. Ben Blankenship (USA/Nike OTC) - 8:16.53
4. Galen R…

by Brett Larner

Coached by Koichi Morishita, the Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist who turned Samuel Wanjiru into a world-beater, Jeremiah Thuku Karemi (Kenya/Team Toyota Kyushu) had a solid debut over ten miles as he won the 39th Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler in 45:51, one of the fastest times in the world this year.  Karemi beat a massive chase pack containing many of Japan's best current track runners and marathoners by more than 40 seconds, setting both himself and Morishita's Toyota Kyushu corporate team up for a big day at next month's New Year Ekiden national championships.

In the chase pack, rookie pro Natsuki Terada (Team JR Higashi Nihon), famous for taking a wrong turn in the last 200 m of the Hakone Ekiden anchor stage as a first-year at Koku Gakuin University, showed the strength of the kick that got him back into position at Hakone by winning an at least nine-way sprint finish for 2nd in 46:33.  Yuya Konishi led three other Toyota Kyushu runners into the t…

by Brett Larner

Waseda University graduate Suguru Osako (Team Nissin Shokuhin) turned up at Sunday's Birmingham Grand Prix to run with sometimes training partner Mo Farah in pursuit of fellow Waseda grad Kensuke Takezawa's Japanese national record of 8:24.69.  While Farah went out way ahead of the field to set a European area record of 8:07.85 for the win, Osako came up a few seconds short of Takezawa's mark in 8:28.30.  In a distance rarely raced by Japanese athletes, Osako's time was good enough for all-time Japanese #2, joining his all-time #6 5000 m best of 13:20.80 just behind Takezawa's all-time #5 mark of 13:19.00.

A small contingent of Japanese high schoolers also turned up at Saturday's International Antwerp Athletics Gala.  Takuya Hanyu (Yachiyo Shoin H.S.), who last November ran 14:00.55 to become Japan's fastest-ever high school first-year for 5000 m, finished 2nd behind Australia's Mitchel Brown in a new PB of 13:52.98 that moved him up to …

http://www.saga-s.co.jp/news/saga_sports.0.2638394.article.html
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/aomori/news/20140223-OYT8T00881.htm
http://www.komaspo.com/4630
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/kyoto/news/20140223-OYT8T00902.htm

translated and edited by Brett Larner

A total of 1700 men and women of all ages ran in the half marathon, 10 km, 3 km and 2 km divisions at the 63rd running of the Kashima Yutoku Half Marathon on Feb. 23.  In the men's open half marathon division, Masaya Taguchi (Toyo University) took 47 seconds off the course record to win in 1:03:05.  Taguchi was responsible for getting Toyo off to a good start on the First Stage at last month's Hakone Ekiden, playing a big part in the team's win.  Bringing the same intensity to his course record run, he thoroughly dominated the men's half marathon.

Olympian and university 5000 m national record holder Kensuke Takezawa (Team Sumitomo Kaijo) was also in the race.  "He has been an inspiration since I was in ju…

by Brett Larner

Three races fill out a busy weekend across Japan.  The biggest is the National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, bumped from its regular home in mid-March by this year's World Half Marathon Championships and serving as the last selection race for the men's and women's teams in Copenhagen.  Corporate-league Kenyans Jacob Wanjuki (Team Aichi Seiko) and Daniel Gitau (Team Fujitsu) for the top group of some of Japan's best current half-marathoners, including sub-62 men Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei), Yuki Iwai (Team Asahi Kasei), Tomoya Onishi (Team Asahi Kasei).  For the last few years it has taken a run into the all-time Japanese top ten to be the first Japanese man across the line at the Corporate Championships, and with Komazawa University junior Kenta Murayama having run an all-time #3 1:00:50 to make the Copenhagen team two weeks ago in Marugame it's a good bet that the best of the corporate system will be looking to go one better.  Click …

by Brett Larner
videos courtesy of Ekiden News

The Fukuoka International Marathon was not the only major event in Japan this weekend. Across the country a string of high-level track and road races took place as high school, university and corporate league runners prepare for national championship ekiden season over the next two months.  The majority of the track action came on Saturday with the Hachioji Long-Distance Time Trials meet in Tokyo, the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama, and the Time Trial in Nagasaki meet further south.



10000 m was the main focus in Hachioji, the last chance for athletes in Japan to get under 28 minutes for the year.  Ethiopian Agato Yashin Hassan (Team Chuo Hatsujo) led six men into 27-minute territory, clocking 27:46.35 for the win over Kenyans Jacob Wanjuki (Team Aichi Steel) and Patrick Muendo Muwaka (Team Aisan Kogyo).  23-year-old Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei) ran 27:53.34 for 4th in his first time breaking 28 since running a then…

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/201309/0006363197.shtml

translated by Brett Larner

A favorite of athletes from junior high to the corporate leagues, Hyogo prefecture's Himeji Castle Road Race is set to be discontinued after February's 54th running.  With a new Himeji Castle World Heritage Site Marathon set to be launched in 2015, the 10-miler's race organization committee will be dismantled and the event's long history of hosting many of the country's best athletes will come to an end.

According to the Hyogo Prefecture Track and Field Association's 50th anniversary commemorative magazine, in 1948 there was a move to inaugurate a series of 10-mile road races in January in all the major cities of the country, but in 1960 the series came to a halt.  With Hyogo's event having been held at Himeji Castle since 1954 and having already developed a reputation as a fast course, it was relaunched in 1961 as the first Himeji Castle Road Race with a certified course…

http://www.sei.co.jp/news/press/13/prs079_s.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The Sumitomo Denko corporation is proud to announce today that Beijing Olympics 5000 m and 10000 m Olympian Kensuke Takezawa, with bests of 13:19.00 and 27:45.59, has joined the company as a member of its men's long-distance running team.  "I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to make a new start now at Sumitomo Denko," Takezawa said.  "A lot of people have supported and encouraged me through some difficult times, and from the heart I offer my sincerest gratitude for being able to stand here today for this announcement.  Since the Olympics I haven't been able to become the kind of internationally-competitive athlete I hoped to become, but in this new environment I will dedicate myself to becoming the best I can be, not just as an athlete but as a human being. I ask for your continued support and encouragement."

Sumitomo Denko head coach Toshihiro Matsumoto commented,…

by Brett Larner


Ekiden News is scheduled to live stream the Golden Games in Nobeoka Meet, with the major events beginning at 7:00 p.m. Japan time on May 11. Watch live here.

This weekend marks the start of three straight weeks of regional championship track action in the lead-up to the June 7-9 National Championships.  The biggest meet of the weekend is Saturday's Golden Games in Nobeoka, where the focus will be on the men's 10000 m.  2007 Osaka World Championships bronze medalist Martin Mathathi (Kenya/ Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) leads a field of thirteen, many collegiate men, looking to get under 28 and hopefully closer to joining Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.) and Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) under the Moscow World Championships A-standard of 27:40.00.  From Hakone Ekiden course record holder Toyo University are Keita and Yuta Shitara, looking to become the first Japanese twins to both go sub-28, and from National University Ekiden course record holder are Komazawa half marathon…

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2013/02/24/kiji/K20130224005268200.html
http://dena.jp/press/2013/02/post-125.php

translated and edited by Brett Larner

With Team S&B's longstanding sponsorship set to be eliminated at the end of next month due to a streamlining of operations, Kensuke Takezawa, 26, announced that he will not join the rest of the team in moving to new sponsor DeNA.  His plans remain undecided.

A 2008 Beijing Olympics track team member, Takezawa commented, "My path forward is something that I ultimately want to find by myself, under my own strength, and for this reason I've decided not to move with the team.  I need to re-examine myself and carefully consider the best course of action."

The new DeNA team will become an official entity on April 1.  Previous announcements had said that all athletes and staff from the S&B team would transfer together.

Kensuke Takezawa: Born Oct. 11, 1986 in Hyogo.
3000 m: 7:49.26     5000 m: 13:19.00     10000 m:…

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2013/01/11/kiji/K20130111004955310.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Their ultimate goal is the stuff of dreams: a medal.  With their current sponsorship set to expire at the end of March, all twelve athletes and staff members on the S&B Foods team appeared at a Tokyo-area press conference on Jan. 10 to formally announce their new contract with cell phone video game maker DeNA.  Team DeNA supervising head coach Toshihiko Seko, who made the Japanese men's Olympic marathon team for Moscow in 1980, Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988, was clear about his grand ambitions for the new project: "We are going to produce athletes who can win a medal in the marathon at the Olympics.  With the Olympics coming to Tokyo in 2020 we're not interested in anything else.  I hope others will share in this dream."

As a starting point, the team's first goal is to win the New Year Ekiden national championships within three years.  At…

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20130107-OYT1T00153.htm
http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNZO50328070X00C13A1UU8000/

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Dec. 6 the management of the S&B Foods men's athletics team, scheduled to lose its decades-long sponsorship at the end of March, announced that the team has signed a new deal with Tokyo-based mobile phone video game maker DeNA, owner of the Yokohama Baystars pro baseball team.  The new DeNA team, led by current S&B sports promotions director and former marathon great Toshihiko Seko, 56, will be made up of twelve members including six athletes and six support staff. Seko will serve as the supervisory head coach, with current S&B coach Hiroshi Tako handling regular coaching duties.

The S&B team includes the likes of 5000 m and 10000 m Beijing Olympian Kensuke Takezawa, but in August last year came the sudden announcement of S&B's termination of its sponsorship.  Seko's primary goal in finding a ne…

by Brett Larner

Japanese men are back on track. 2012 saw all-time Japanese top ten performances over 10000 m, half-marathon and the marathon, and overall depth at those distances has almost never been better.  Just two years ago there was only one sub-2:10 marathon by a Japanese man, but in 2012 there ten, including a 2:07 and four 2:08's.  Apart from Japan only Kenya and Ethiopia have ever had ten or more in one year.  University men continued to reach unprecedented heights, with course records at all three major university ekidens and collegiates making the 2012 top ten lists for 5000 m, 10000 m, half-marathon and even the marathon.

Quality over 5000 m and shorter is still an issue and there is still a long way to go at the longer distances, as well as a major problem with Japanese men's ability to show up at major international competitions and compete.  Apart from London Olympics marathon 6th-placer Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) the entire Japanese men's team…

                                   Seko with the announcement. Click photo to enlarge.

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2012/09/01/kiji/K20120901004017610.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009359.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009418.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009427.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009421.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009429.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009436.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner
S&B greats group photo (c) 2012 Tim Chamberlain, all rights reserved

S&B Foods announced Aug. 31 that its men's running team, long the home of Japan's best distance runners, will be disbanded at the end of the fiscal year next March.  He himself the team's greatest success at the marathon, S&B …