japan running news

Next weekend's Kobe Marathon is the latest Japanese race to acquire an IAAF road race label, something we'll probably be seeing a lot more of both in Japan and abroad with the IAAF's shift to a world ranking-based system that rewards performance in labeled races. The field this year perfectly follows the same boutique pattern as most other Japanese races' tiny international fields, one athlete each from the widest range of nationalities possible within a field of six to eight, plus some home soil people. With the IAAF dropping the nationality variety requirement starting in 2019 it'll be interesting to see how that impacts races like Kobe, Fukuoka International and Saitama International.

Last year's men's winner Khalil Lamciyeh of Morocco returns as the third-fastest man in the field behind newly-minted nationality transfer Weldu Negash of Norway and Kenyan Cosmas Kyeva. Saidi Juma Makula of Tanzania and Australian Liam Adams could be in range of the win, …

The organizers of the Kobe Marathon announced on Feb. 13 that the race has been awarded IAAF Bronze Label status ahead of its 8th edition this November. The distinction is a mark of international recognition of the organizers' efforts to put on a world-class event that at last year's 7th running featured an international-quality elite field and was supported by 7500 volunteers. According to organizers and the JAAF, Kobe is the tenth event in Japan to acquire a label. It is the first mass-participation marathon without strict entry standards in Western Japan to earn the honor.

The IAAF awards three labels, Gold, Silver and Bronze, to marathons, half marathons and other road races. Requirements for label status include a specified number of international athletes in the elite field, strict anti-doping testing, adequate aid stations, and prompt publication of results and other information in English. Organizers cited the Gold Label London Marathon (U.K.), the Silver Label Daegu …

The Kobe Marathon held its 7th running on Nov. 19.  19,709 runners took part in this year's race, with 600,000 people cheering them on along the course between the start at Kobe City Hall and the finish in the Kobe Harbor area which this year celebrates its 150th anniversary. American Maegan Krifchin, 29, won the women's race in a course record time of 2:33:14. Khalil Lemciyeh of Morocco also broke the men's course record, winning in 2:12:49.

The Kobe Marathon is organized by the Hyogo Prefectural Government and the City of Kobe. 7,500 volunteers helped runners over the course of the three days of race weekend. This year the turnaround point moved 1.25 km to the west, taking runners under Akashi Kaikyo Bridge for the first time. The final section of the course on Port Island was shortened to make up the distance. At noon at the finish area temperatures were 12 degrees with 65% humidity. 18,949 people finished the race.

At the starting ceremony in front of City Hall, a mom…

by Brett Larner

Rainy weather lies ahead for a busy weekend of racing across the country.  Track is a part of the calender from April through December, and this weekend features several large time trial meets including the Shizuoka Long Distance Time Trials Meet and, closer to Tokyo, the Nittai University Time Trials Meet.  Men's 5000 m is the focus at Nittai with 37 separate heats in one day, the fastest heat led by 12 Japan-based Africans including Bedan Karoki (DeNA RC), Ronald Kwemoi (Team Komori Corp.) and Paul Kuira (Team Konica Minolta).

The main action this weekend, however, happens on the roads, and there's no question that the Ageo City Half Marathon is the main event.  Ageo, the race that university coaches use to thin their rosters ahead of deciding their lineups for January's Hakone Ekiden, is one of two Japanese half marathons vying for the title of world's greatest half, locked in a duel with March's National University Half Marathon to produce the d…

by Brett Larner

Monday's International Chiba Ekiden leads Japan's weekend action, with 13 teams from 11 countries competing over a 6-stage, 42.195 course that alternates men's and women's stages.  Defending championKenya returns with a surprisingly weak team of relative unknowns led by Matthew Kisorio in his first race wearing the Kenyan national vest since his drug suspension and, on its women's side, Mercy Kibarus.  On paper at least 7 teams have a shot at beating the 3-straight winners, but Kenya has come to Chiba with uncredentialed teams that have mopped the roads with the competition before and can't be ignored.

The last team to beat them was the Japanese University Team in 2010, and this year's JUT is just as strong.  Meiji University's Ken Yokote broke a stage record at the National University Ekiden Championships 3 weeks ago and, with support from Aoyama Gakuin University stars Yusuke Ogura and Tadashi Isshiki,Kyoto University's independent…

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/keizai/201404/0006845617.shtml
http://www.fuji-news.net/data/report/economy/201404/0000003189.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The Kobe Marathon organizing committee has release figures on the total economic benefits of the event's third running last November, calculating that the race generated 11.6 billion yen [~$113 million USD] nationwide.  The Hyogo Institute of Economic Research think tank calculated the estimate, which includes runners and spectator's expenditures on meals and accommodations.  The figures represent an increase of 600 million yen [~$6 million USD] over those from the Kobe Marathon's second running.  Of the 11.6 billion yen, 6.6 billion [~$66 million USD] was spent within the host Hyogo prefecture.

A survey of 1500 runners in the Kobe Marathon revealed an average expenditure of 30,564 yen [~$300 USD] on travel, accommodations and souvenirs related to their participation in the event.  20,411 people ran the third e…

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/201311/0006503245.shtml

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Over 20,000 people took part in the third edition of the Kobe Marathon on Nov. 17, running on the streets raised from the ruin of the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake. Starting out at a much faster pace than Kobe saw in either of its first two runnings, Hironori Arai (34, Team Chugoku Denryoku) and local veteran Chihiro Tanaka (44, AthleC AC) set new men's and women's course records of 2:17:01 and 2:36:53. For each of them it was their first time to win in Kobe.

Organized by the Hyogo Prefectural Government, the Kobe Civic Government and the Hyogo Prefecture Track and Field Association, the race had "Give Thanks for Friendship" as its official theme to express the city's gratitude for the assistance it received during the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake and to help raise support for survivors of the East Japan Earthquake and the recent major typhoon in the Philippines…

by Brett Larner
photo courtesy of Gold Coast Airport Marathon

The Gold Coast Airport Marathon has announced that it has recruited its best-ever lineup of elite Japanese athletes for this year's running on July 7.  Passed over for the Moscow World Championships despite running 2:24:43 for 3rd at April's London Marathon, Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) is a coup for organizers and should make short work of Eriko Asai's twenty-year-old course record of 2:29:29.  Hoping to join her is Sydney Marathon course record holder Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), 4th in last year's race in 2:13:26 and looking to improve on both his placing and the 2:10:01 men's record in his last marathon before the World Championships.  If both are successful it will be the first Japanese sweep since 2007.

Eri Okubo set her best of 2:26:08 at last year's Tokyo Marathon and will be making her first major appearance since quitting the Second Wind AC team earlier this spring.  Taiga Ito (Su…

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/other/athletic/marathon/osaka/2012/headlines/20121125-00000004-spnavi-spo.html
http://www.daily.co.jp/newsflash/general/2012/11/25/0005553103.shtml

translated and edited by Brett Larner

In their second editions the Osaka Marathon and Kobe Marathon moved to the same day, Nov. 25, meaning that one greater metropolitan area held two large-scale marathons simultaneously with combined fields of 50,000.

In Osaka, men's winner Serod Batochir (Mongola) ran 2:11:52 to set a new course record.  The top Japanese finisher, Yasuyuki Nakamura (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), was 2nd in a PB 2:15:37, while half-marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) was 3rd in 2:16:26.  Defending men's champion Elijah Sang (Kenya) faded badly after running the first part of the race in the lead pack, finishing 8th in 2:33:33.

Defending women's champion Lidia Simon (Romania) won in 2:33:12 by more than one minute over Kenyan Julia Mumbi, with Yuki Ino (Tea…

http://mytown.asahi.com/hyogo/news.php?k_id=29000001105250002
translated by Brett Larner
Entries statistics were released May 24 for the first edition of the Kobe Marathon, scheduled for Nov. 20. 77,421 people applied. In terms of the ratio of applicants to available places, in the marathon division 3.7 times the number of people applied, while in the 10.6 km quarter marathon division the number was 5.7 times.
Entries were open from Apr. 15 through May 20. 65,934 people applied for the 18,000 available spots in the marathon, with 52,337 applying as individuals and 13,597 as group entries. 11,487 people applied for the 2000 quarter marathon places. Results of the lottery for places are expected to be announced in late June.
To help support relief efforts in the disaster-hit northeast, organizers created a special "Charity Bib" entry which applicants could select for an extra 500 yen. 51% of those who entered chose the charity bib option. "That's a bigger response …

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/101121/spg1011211606004-n1.htm

translated and edited by Brett Larner

At the final running of the Kobe National Women's Half Marathon on Nov. 21, Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) took her first win with a time of 1:11:35. Her teammate Misato Horie was 2nd, 1 minute 10 seconds back. Megumi Seike (Team Sysmex) was 3rd.

The Kobe National Women's Half Marathon is to be replaced with a mass-participation marathon, the Kobe Marathon, which will have its first running next fall. A field limit of 20,000 is expected.

http://osaka.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/marathon/20100911-OYO8T00247.htm?from=sub
http://mainichi.jp/area/hyogo/news/20100909ddlk28050304000c.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Following recent news that the Nagoya International Women's Marathon will drop its elite-only format to become a mass-participation race beginning in March, 2012, the cities of Osaka and Kobe have announced the dates for the first runnings of their new mass-participation marathons. Osaka will hold the first Osaka Marathon on Oct. 30, 2011 with a field limit of 30,000 on par with London and the world's four other great marathons, a seven-hour time limit, and wheelchair and family run divisions. The first edition of the Kobe Marathon will take place three weeks later on Nov. 20, 2011 with a field size of 20,000 and a time limit of seven hours. Applications for Kobe, which will also feature quarter-marathon (app. 10 km) and 1-3 km family run divisions, will open in April.

Osaka's course will be publicall…

http://osaka.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/other-games/20100216-OYO8T00321.htm

translated by Brett Larner

Having put the tragedy of the great Hanshin Earthquake behind it, Hyogo Prefecture announced on Feb. 15 that is going ahead with plans to hold a mass-participation marathon in Kobe. The first running of the new race, expected to have a field of 20,000, will take place sometime between Nov. 2011 and Jan. 2012. The exact course will be decided next year, but a start point at Hanshin Koshien Stadium, home of the Hanshin Tigers baseball team, and a finish line at Port Island in downtown Kobe were mentioned as possibilities.

In conjunction with the Kobe metropolitan government, an initial budget of 20,000,000 yen has been set for the marathon's organizing committee as it begins work. A member of the prefectural education committee commented, "With the legacy of the Hanshin Earthquake and an international flair, we want to make a race that strongly reflects Kobe's unique character.&…

http://www.jiji.com/jc/zc?k=200902/2009020500683
http://www.asahi.com/sports/update/0205/OSK200902050047.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Following the success of the Tokyo Marathon, Japan's first mass-participation full marathon to run through the streets of one of its major cities, Osaka announced last year that it plans to begin hosting a similar large-scale marathon. Like Tokyo, Osaka has indicated that its marathon will come at the expense of existing events. Two other cities have now gotten on board the big marathon boom, namely Kyoto and Kobe.

Kyoto will begin hosting a major international marathon in 2011 with a course designed to take in many of the city's most famous cultural and World Heritage sites. With the final running of the Kyoto City Half Marathon now in the past, the city will spend the next two years working together with the prefectural police department to deal with traffic control and other issues.

The city of Kyoto contributed roughly $580,000 U.S.…