japan running news

In a statement on their corporate team's website, Ayumi Hagiwara  and Michi Numata  announced that they are retiring from competition at the end of this month.  Hagiwara, 29, is a native of Shizuoka. At Tokoha Kikugawa H.S. she ran in the National High School Ekiden, handling the First Stage. After graduating she joined the Uniqlo corporate team, then transferred to the Toyota Jidoshokki team in 2017. A track specialist with bests of 15:24.56 for 5000 m and 31:36.04 for 10000 m, in both 2013 and 2014 Hagiwara was 3rd in the National Championships 10000 m. In 2013 she won the bronze medal at that distance at the Asian Championships, and again in 2014 at the Asian Games. On Jan. 30 this year she was 15th at the Osaka International Women's Marathon, finishing in 2:34:14.  In her statement Hagiwara wrote, "Even when I was injured and couldn't run the way I wanted, I always got support and encouragement from teammates and fans. You all really helped me keep going." ...

A veteran and a first-timer made the headlines from the opposite ends of the spectrum at Sunday's Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo, Hokkaido, the first race in the second season of qualifying for the MGC Race, Japan's new 2020 Olympic trials race to be held in September next year. A passing typhoon brought cooler than usual weather to Hokkaido and a better-than-usual chance of hitting the sub-2:13 and sub-2:30 qualifying marks most Olympic aspirants would have to clear. The men's race was simply a race of attrition, with no dramatic changes in pace or sudden moves, just a large pack of motivated people going out mid-2:11 pace in a race where only two men have ever cleared 2:12, neither of them Japanese. In the pack, 59:47 Kenyan Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta), the promising young Shohei Otsuka (Kyedenko), championships marathoner extraordinaire Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki),2016 Sydney Marathon winner Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta), luckless veteran Naoki Okamoto ...

Marathon season kicks off this weekend with three races featuring elite-level Japanese marathoners. Saturday morning the athletics segment of the Jakarta Asian Games gets rolling with the men's marathon. With a 2:06:54 best from February's Tokyo Marathon Japan's Hiroto Inoue is the heavy favorite if he can handle the heat. His nearest competition, Ethiopian Bahraini Abdi Abdo , ran 2:08:32 in Rome this year, and Inoue's teammate Hayato Sonoda is the only other man in the field to have broken 2:10. With Bahrain's second man, the Moroccan El Hassan El Abbassi , ranked 4th at 2:10:57 it's pretty much a Japan-Bahrain dual on the men's side. Should Inoue succeed he'll be the first Japanese man to win Asian Games gold since Takeyuki Nakayama set the still-standing championships record of 2:08:21 at the 1986 Seoul Games. It's unusual to see an A-lister like Inoue run the Asian Games, but considering the weather conditions he'll face if he makes ...

Last year the Hokkaido Marathon saw the first pair of Japanese athletes qualify for the new MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials event , with winners Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) and Akinobu Murasawa (Nissin Shokuhin) winning under the time standards they needed for MGC qualification. Since then the numbers have grown to 13 men and 6 women on the qualifier list with another 16 women and 34 men halfway there thanks to an option for qualifying via a two-race average time standard. As an August event Hokkaido is always on the hot side, but success there might predict success in Tokyo 2020 and easier time standards than any of the other domestic options for MGC qualification there's no shortage of top-level Japanese talent lining up to give it a go this year. The winning Japanese woman in Hokkaido will qualify for the MGC race if under 2:32:00, with up to 5 more qualifying if under 2:30:00. London World Championships team member Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) leads the women's...

The Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon is always one of Japan's deepest races of the year on the men's side, its 2012 running setting a world record for the most men under 64 minutes in a single half marathon in history. On the women's side the field is always smaller but still home to the 1:07:26 Japanese national record set by Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) back in 2006. Edna Kiplagat (Kenya), Sara Hall (U.S.A.) and Betsy Saina (Kenya) lead the women's international field, two-time defending champ Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) giving Marugame a miss this year. Fresh off a 1:09:14 PB at last month's Sanyo Ladies Half, Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) leads a trio of Japanese women with recent sub-1:10 times, something that has become a puzzling rarity lately. Fukushi is also back, her recent best of 1:12:04 a long way from her best days. Speaking of which, world record holder Zersenay Tadese (Eritrea) will be looking to break 60 minutes for the first time since 2015...

by Brett Larner The world's largest women-only marathon, Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon is the end of the Japanese Olympic marathon selection saga, if not the end of the drama.  2015 World Championships marathon bronze medalist Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) is back to defend her title, and will, her last race a 1:08:06 win last month at Japan's Marugame Half in national record time.  Formerly-Japan based Betelhem Moges (Ethiopia) is her only real international competition, but it would take an off day from Kirwa for Moges to really stand a chance. At the 2014 Asian Games Kirwa beat Japan's Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu) for gold.  Kizaki comes to Nagoya with the best time in the last three years among Japanese women, 2:23:34 in Nagoya in 2013, but while Kirwa's star has only risen since then Kizaki's hit a brick wall.  In 2015 she only raced once, placing only 13th on her stage at December's National Corporate Women's Marathon.  There's nothing ...

http://athleticsasia.org/index.php/k2-component/69-21st-asian-athletics-championships-2015-distance-running-preview

Göteborg, Sweden, 5/23/15 click here for complete results Women 1. Worknesh Degefa (Ethiopia) - 1:08:13 2. Isabella Ochichi (Kenya) - 1:09:45 3. Beatrice Mutai (Kenya) - 1:09:46 4. Michi Numata (Japan/Toyota Jidoshokki) - 1:11:37 5. Viola Jepchumba (Kenya) - 1:11:46 6. Reia Iwade (Japan/Noritz) - 1:12:33 Men 1. Richard Mengich (Kenya) - 1:00:44 2. Hizkial Tewelde (Eritrea) - 1:01:19 3. Josphat Kiptis (Kenya) - 1:01:30 4. Henry Kiplagat (Kenya) - 1:01:46 5. Sisay Lemma (Ethiopia) - 1:02:06 ----- 13. Keita Shitara (Japan/Konica Minolta) - 1:05:18 15. Shota Hattori (Japan/Honda) - 1:07:18 Note: Both Shitara and Hattori have run under 1:01:30 this year.  The women's world record for the half marathon is 1:05:09.

by Brett Larner videos by Ekiden News and Tomoyuki Maruyama Honda's William Malel led the results from the weekend's two big Japanese meets, Kobe's Hyogo Relay Carnival and Yokohama's Nittai University Time Trials, frontrunning to a world-leading 27:42.99 in the Hyogo Grand Prix Men's 10000 m.  Malel and James Mwangi (Kenya/Team NTN) ran together on low-27 pace for the first half of the race, while former Komazawa University star Kenta Murayama (Team Asahi Kasei) ran at the front of a chase pack hoping to hit the 27:45.00 standard for the Beijing World Championships.  The pace in both groups slowed in the second half, and when Mwangi lost touch Murayama was quick to run him down for 2nd in 28:09.28.  Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University's Tadashi Isshiki , winner of last month's record-setting National University Half Marathon, was the top collegiate runner in 28:37.82. With Isshiki already leading the World University Games half mara...

A quick summary of this weekend's major action.  Click any for detailed results and coverage. Suguru Osako (Team Nissin Shokuhin) set a 13:28.00 indoor 5000 m national record at the Millrose Games in New York. Charles Ndirangu (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) ran a 1:00:18 debut to break the National Corporate Half Marathon course record.  Masato Kikuchi (Team Konica Minolta) tied the 20 km Japanese national record of 57:24 but missed the half marathon NR by 7 seconds as he took 3rd in 1:00:32.  Michi Numata (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) won the women's half marathon in 1:09:27, while Yuika Mori (Team Yamada Denki) won the 10 km in a course record 32:26. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) ran 2:15:06 to win the Kochi Ryoma Marathon a week after running 2:15:16 in Nobeoka, his first time tackling back-to-back marathons.  Kawauchi set new world records with 35 career sub-2:16 marathons and 37 sub-2:17s. Collegiates Shin Kimura (Meiji Univ.) and Saori Noda (Osaka Gaku...

by Brett Larner A week after winning a muddy Chiba XC, Charles Ndirangu (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) was back for his half marathon debut at the National Corporate Half Marathon Championships.  The successor to 2015 Kenyan national XC champion Bedan Karoki (DeNA RC) at Hiroshima's Sera H.S. , Ndirangu sat near the rear of the lead pack through a relatively conservative 14:29 opening split on the 30 m uphill first 5 km.  As the downhill started Masato Kikuchi (Team Konica Minolta), the top non-African at last year's World Half Marathon Championships who ran an all-time Japanese #5 1:00:57 two weeks ago in Marugame, began to push the pace, covering the next 5 km in 14:19.  Ndirangu temporarily lost contact with the lead group in Kikuchi's wake but came back in a hurry, surging at 11 km to go to the front and break up the pack. Initially only Kikuchi and his teammate Keita Shitara (Team Konica Minolta), who likewise ran a PB 1:01:20 in Marugame two weeks ago, followed, but...

Updated 12/26/15 JRN's 2015 Japanese track and road distance running rankings. Overall rankings are calculated using runner's times and placings in races over 5000 m, 10000 m, half-marathon and marathon and the strength of these performances relative to others in the top ten in each category. Click any image to enlarge. © 2015 Brett Larner all rights reserved

by Brett Larner video highlights courtesy of race broadcaster NHK 2012 National Women's Ekiden champion Osaka returned with a vengeance, running down defending champion Kyoto on the anchor stage to win the 2015 national title by one second with fast-closing rivals Hyogo and Aichi coming in within the next two seconds. The National Women's Ekiden features teams from all 47 of Japan's prefectures, each team made up of its territory's best J.H.S., H.S., university and pro runners.  Kyoto got off to a rough start when its opening runner Nanako Kanno , 2nd on the 6.0 km First Stage last year, tripped and fell mid-stage, handing off in 10th 25 seconds behind leader Yuka Ando of Shizuoka .  Osaka was even rockier, last year's First Stage winner Natsuki Omori 8 seconds behind Kanno in 15th.  Undefeated in nearly a year, high schooler Azusa Sumi just missed the course record on the 4.0 km Second Stage to move the Aichi team into 1st by 3 seconds over Kagoshi...

by Brett Larner Along with the Berlin Marathon , where Moscow World Championships bronze medalist Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) turned in the fastest Japanese women's performance overseas so far this year at 2:26:25 for 6th and 2014 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon winner Kazuki Tomaru (Team Toyota) cracked the top ten with a 2:11:25 PB, the fall season got underway for real all across Japan. The university ekiden circuit kicked off with the Kansai Region University Women's Ekiden on Saturday, where for the second year in a row Osaka Gakuin University beat national champion Ritsumeikan University .  The two schools traded the lead for the first four of the race's six stages before Osaka Gakuin got free on the Fifth Stage, ultimately winning by 7 seconds in 1:38:53.  The Kanto Region University Women's Ekiden followed on Sunday, with Daito Bunka University taking the lead on the Second Stage to run unchallenged all the way to the finish in a course record 1:38:22. ...

by Brett Larner Five-time 1500 m national champion  Mika Yoshikawa  (Team Panasonic) and ekiden ace  Yuko Shimizu  (Team Sekisui Kagaku) closed off their years in style at the Dec. 24 Nittai University Women's Long Distance Time Trials meet in Yokohama.  Running in the 5000 m A-heat, Yoshikawa took 13 seconds off her PB to clear the London Olympics A-standard in 15:15.33.  Just over half an hour later, Shimizu sliced more than 30 seconds from her 10000 m PB to join Yoshikawa in clearing the Olympic A-standard in a new best of 31:43.25.  Yoshikawa is the third Japanese woman to hit the 5000 m A-standard and Shimizu the fourth in the 10000 m, but with higher-ranking qualifiers Megumi Kinukawa  (Team Mizuno) and Kayoko Fukushi  (Team Wacoal) aiming for the marathon both have excellent chances of making the London team at this stage. 2011 Nittai University Women's Long Distance Time Trials Yokohama, 12/24/11 click here for complete results ...

by Brett Larner It was a relatively quiet long weekend across Japan, with a smattering of prefectural track championships across the country in the hot sun ahead of an approaching typhoon.  At the Kyoto Prefecture Championships, Bukkyo University-related runners cleaned up, taking the top five spots in the women's 5000 m led by recent graduate Kasumi Nishihara 's meet record 15:39.28.  An impressive mark considering that it was run in temperatures in the mid-30's with high humidity.    Fresh from being named to the Japanese 10000 m squad for next month's World Championships, Bukkyo's top current runner Hikari Yoshimoto  won the women's 3000 m in 9:14.75, her first win after a few relatively flat months. Bukkyo's major rival Ritsumeikan University mostly gave the Kyoto meet a miss, opting instead for the West Japan University Championships in Gifu.  There team leader Risa Takenaka  also set a meet record in the 5000 m, running 15:59.07 in even hotte...

by Brett Larner Led by stage record performances by its pair of aces, 2010 national university 5000 m Kasumi Nishihara and national 10000 m collegiate record holder Hikari Yoshimoto , Bukkyo University won the 2010 National University Women's Ekiden on Oct. 24, covering the six-stage, 38.6 km distance in a new course record time of 2:02:44. Perpetual rivals Ritsumeikan University were second in a strong 2:04:20 after trailing Bukkyo from the start. Bukkyo's Chinami Mori started things off with a 14-second lead over Ritsumeikan on the 5.8 km First Stage, and from there Bukkyo's next three runners progressively extended the lead to 1:18 thanks in large part to Nishihara's 28:56 stage record on the 9.1 km Third Stage. Ritsumeikan's Akane Yabushita managed to make a dent with a 12:38 stage record on the 4.0 km Fifth Stage, but anchor Yoshimoto delivered the win in style as she outran Ritsumeikan anchor Machiko Iwakawa by 50 seconds, running a new stage record of 25:...

by Brett Larner On the first day of the 2010 National University Track and Field Championships Kenyan Benjamin Gando (Nihon Univ.) added a national 10000 m title to his 10000 m win at May's Kanto Regional University Championships. With the fastest PB in the field by over 10 seconds there was little doubt that Gando would go on to exactly the type of runaway victory he scored, winning in 28:26.72 by a margin of nearly 20 seconds. It was left to teammates Akinobu Murasawa and Tsubasa Hayakawa of Tokai University and 2009 Ageo City Half Marathon winner Shota Hiraga (Waseda Univ.) to battle it out in a chase pack. Despite being one of three athletes over the course of the day to stumble at the same point on the track, possibly due to an obstruction which meet officials were examining immediately after the men's 10000 m, Murasawa took the runner-up spot with Hayakawa 3rd. Tanzanian Jackson Kwarai (Nara Sangyo Univ.) shook things up by overtaking Hiraga for 4th, the only runner ...

by Brett Larner It's one of the peculiarities of the Japanese scene that the national university and corporate championship track and field meets come in September, sandwiched between the end of the summer gasshuku training camps and the start of the fall ekiden season three months after the regional meets and open Nationals. For once, the focus of the National University Track and Field Championships , to be held this weekend at Tokyo's National Stadium, will be on the sprints rather than the distance races. That's because scheduled to run both the 200 m and the 4 x 100 m is Chuo University frosh Shota Iizuka . Iizuka's surreal anchor leg for Chuo's relay squad at May's Kanto Regionals got attention around the world as he singlehandedly gave Chuo a one-second margin of victory and the national collegiate record of 38.54. With expectations high he followed up in the 200 m with Japan's first-ever world-level track gold medal at July's IAAF Junior World C...