japan running news

Like a distant echo of the thunder of yesterday's Yosenkai 20 km reverberating across the city, Tokyo's other major 20 km road race took place this morning in the northwestern suburb of Takashimadaira. Narrowly surviving the loss of its main sponsor last year, the Takashimadaira Road Race offers a unique 5 km loop course that delivers fast times. Now in its 42nd year, Takashimadaira is a favorite for upper-tier universities that don't have to run the Yosenkai to requalify for the Hakone Ekiden, for other schools' second-stringers, and for top-level independents and amateurs.

This year's race was fronted by a group of runners from Izumo Ekiden winner Tokai University who didn't make Tokai's final Izumo roster, by London World Championships marathoner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) and others from yesterday's Yosenkai winner Teikyo University and the Hakone-qualified Juntendo University and Komazawa University. In the same cool and lightly rainy…

https://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/article.php?id=93493

translated by Brett Larner

The 30th anniversary running of Okinawa's Naha Marathon happens tomorrow, Dec. 7, on a 42.195 km course from Meiji Bridge crossing on National Highway 58 to Onoyama Field.  Leading the field with a PB of 2:08:14 is the heavy favorite for the win, civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi (27, Saitama Pref. Gov't).  Kawauchi's achievements include a bronze medal at October's Asian Games.  Known for always running at full power, he is expected to smash the 2:23:09 course record.

Kawauchi's biggest competition comes from Takahiro Nakama (26, Tomigusuku city), who set the Okinawa prefecture record of 2:18:40 at last year's Hokkaido Marathon.  Having also set a new 5000 m prefecture record at a time trial meet in October his reputation as Okinawa's representative long distance runner continues to grow.  It will be his first time running Naha, but chances of competing with Kawauchi for the win…

by Brett Larner
photo by Adrian Miles

Lining up for his sixth marathon of the year after a late Friday night flight, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) turned in his second win in three weeks as he set a 2:11:52 course record to lead a Japanese sweep at the Sept. 16 Sydney Marathon.

Just three weeks after winning the hot and humid Hokkaido Marathon in 2:18:38, Kawauchi set off in a small lead pack on pace to break the 2:14:12 Sydney course record set back in 1994.  Splitting 1:06:08 for the first half, he soon dropped Kenyan Felix Kandie and was on his own as he pushed on to run a negative split despite the challenging nature of the Sydney course which some estimates put at two to three minutes slow.  Kawauchi crossed the line with a margin of more than four minutes over Kandie, his time of 2:11:52 taking nearly two and a half minutes off the course record and the third-best time of his career.  Next up Kawauchi will run October's World Half Marathon Championships before pursuing a 2:0…

by Brett Larner

With a near-miss from typhoon #6, one of Japan's most difficult and popular midsummer races, the 64th Fuji Mountain Race, took place as scheduled July 22.  Toru Miyahara, who set the course record of 2:32:40 in the 21 km, 3000 m climb Summit Division five years ago, returned to take five minutes off his mark as he ran 2:27:41 for a new course record and his third win at the event's longest distance.  Runner-up Satoshi Kato, the winner of last year's 15 km, 1460 climb Fifth Stage Division making his debut at the full distance, was fast enough to have won most years but was nearly fourteen minutes behind Miyahara, finishing in 2:41:11.  Last year's women's Fifth Stage Division winner Mina Ogawa also made a successful transition to the long race as she won in 3:10:45, a winning time only four women have bettered in the 27 years that the Fuji Mountain Race has had a women's division.  Kei Kikushima and Mitsuko Hirose won the men's and women'…