japan running news

by Brett Larner

The Japanese National Corporate Half Marathon Championships have a long-standing relationship with overseas half marathons, the top domestic finishers being named to the Japanese team for the World Half Marathon and the next tier being sent to the Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon and the Great Scottish Run Half Marathon.  This year's Corporate Half was cancelled in the wake of March's natural disasters and the World Half Marathon is likewise not being held, but Japanese athletes turned out as usual at both Rock 'n' Roll and the GSR.

Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera), the top Japanese woman over the half marathon distance in 2010, won Rock 'n' Roll in 1:11:48 after a patient race in which she hung back while Kenyan Jane Kibil battled with Olympian Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) and newcomer Fumiko Hashimoto (Team Shimamura).  Inaugural Gifu Half Marathon winner Mao Kuroda (Team Yutaka Giken) was only 7th in 1:13:37 as Japanese women t…

by Brett Larner

Junior 10-mile world record holder Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) became the first man to break the 45 minute barrier three times at the Dec. 5 Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler, taking his fifth win with a time of 44:59. His nearest competitor, John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota) was a fair way back in 45:47. Among Japanese competitors, who have a separate start from foreign runners, Ryuji Watanabe (Team Toyota Kyushu) was the top finisher in 47:21, the promised field of top-ranked young elites being entirely absent. All told 37 men broke 49 minutes.

2010 Kumamoto Kosa 10-Mile Road Race
click here for complete results
International Men's 10-Miler
1. Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 44:59
2. John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota) - 45:47
3. Micah Njeru (Kenya/Team Toyota Boshoku) - 46:45
4. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 47:48

Japanese Men's 10-Miler
1. Ryuji Watanabe (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 47:21
2. Daisuke Matsufuji (Team Kanebo) - 47:37
3. Yuya Konishi (Team Toyota Kyush…

by Brett Larner

There's a lot of negativity in Japanese men's marathoning these days. After the dismal Beijing Olympics, 2009 was one of the worst years in the country's history. Sure, Japanese men still took the team bronze at the Berlin World Championships and over the course of the year outperformed every non-African country in the world, but in absolute terms it was their worst since 1996 and relative to world standards their poorest showing ever. The venerable circuit of elite men's marathons has struggled to remain relevant in an era when richer overseas majors draw the best talent, and the rise of the Tokyo Marathon has only worsened their predicament. In this atmosphere comes the 59th running of the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon this Sunday, Feb. 7.

Beppu-Oita, or Betsudai as it is usually abbreviated in Japanese, is one of the oldest Japanese marathons but has long occupied a difficult position as the most minor of the four main elite men's races. It has been…

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/flash/KFullFlash20100118119.html
http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2010011800601
http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/news/20100119k0000m050076000c.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Jan. 18 the organizing committee for the 59th Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon announced the elite field of 15 for this year's Feb. 7 running. At the top of the list of ten Japan-based athletes is Kenyan Daniel Njenga (Team Yakult), who won last summer's Hokkaido Marathon and holds a PB of 2:06:16. Lining up against Njenga in his marathon debut is 2007 World Championships track runner Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu). Athens Olympics marathon 6th place finisher Toshinari Suwa (Team Nissin Shokuhin) is also in the field, and 2:08 man Tadayuki Ojima (Team Asahi Kasei) will be running as his final race before retirement.

The 5 overseas invited athletes are led by Kenyan Jonathan Kipkorir, who set his PB of 2:07:31 last year at the Paris Marathon. Joining him …

by Brett Larner

Lost in the shuffle following Tsegaye Kebede's record-breaking run at today's Fukuoka International Marathon, the world's most competitive 10-miler took place across Kyushu at the 2009 Kumamoto Kosa 10 Mile Road Race. A total of 90 men broke 50 minutes at the race, a tune-up for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national corporate championships.

In the "International Division," made up of Japan-based foreigners who run for Japanese corporate teams and are given an inscrutable one-minute headstart, 2007 World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Martin Mathathi (Team Suzuki) won in 44:52, just one second off his course and world junior record of 44:51. In the Japanese Division, former Juntendo University Hakone Ekiden "God of the Mountain" 5th Stage record breaker Masato Imai (Team Toyota Kyushu) scored the first big result of his pro career with a 46:40 win by one second over university-era Hakone 5th stage rival Satoru Kitamura (Team Nissin Sho…

http://www.iaaf.org/LRR09/news/newsid=54705.html

Japanese men in Beijing:

8. Masashi Hayashi - 2:12:39
11. Tomonori Onitsuka - 2:13:00
12. Masaki Shimoju - 2:13:08
14. Koichi Sakai - 2:14:29

Click here for complete results.

http://www.asahi.com/sports/update/0219/OSK200802190031.html
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/osaka/spor/200802/20/spor207728.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The organizing committee of final selection race for the Beijing Olympics men's marathon team, the Mar. 2nd Biwako Mainichi Marathon, on Feb. 19 announced the field for this year's race. Headlining the field with a 2:08:46 PB is Osaka World Championships 6th place finisher and 2006 Asian Games bronze medalist Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon). Joining him are Osaka World Championships teammates Tomoyuki Sato and Mitsuru Kubota, both of Team Asahi Kasei.

Overseas competitors include Osaka World Championships silver medalist Mubarak Hassan Shami (Qatar) and 4th place finisher Yared Asmeron (Eritrea), as well as 2-time Biwako winner Jose Rios (Spain) and past Fukuoka International Marathon winner Dmytro Baranovsky (Ukraine) who holds a PB of 2:07:15.

2007 Fukuoka 3rd place finisher Atsushi Sato leads the standings to quali…

reported in Sports Nippon Newspaper, 1/4/08
translated by Brett Larner

Fresh from taking the lead on the Hakone Ekiden’s 9th stage to bring Komazawa University its victory, Koichi Sakai will soon be entering a new phase of his life. On Mar. 2, Sakai will debut in the Biwako Mainichi Marathon in a bid to make the Beijing Olympic marathon team. “Winning Hakone exactly according to our race plan was a good step forward,” Sakai told interviewers after the race.

Sakai has been doing marathon training this season with Komazawa alumnus and former marathon national record holder Atsushi Fujita of Team Fujitsu, which Sakai will join after graduating from Komazawa in the spring. Fujita staggered to a disappointing 8th place finish at Dec.’s Fukuoka International Marathon, failing to qualify for Beijing. Sakai said that he cried when he watched Fujita fall just meters before the finish line in Fukuoka and that it has given him special motivation for his marathon debut. “I want to run to realize Fuj…