japan running news

At a meeting in Osaka the National Corporate Federation's board of directors put on hold the Universal Entertainment women's team's suspension from competing in ekidens organized by the Federation. Universal Entertainment won last November's National Corporate Women's Ekiden, but when one team member was later found to have committed a doping violation the Federation voted in July to strip the team of its title and suspend it from competition.

As one of the conditions for its suspension to be lifted, on Sept. 15 Universal Entertainment submitted to the Federation plans for the steps it would take to prevent a recurrence of the incident. The Federation will investigate the measures and situation at the team next week, and if the anti-doping measures can be confirmed it will fully lift the suspension. If the suspension is lifted the Universal Entertainment team is expected to compete in the Oct. 21 National Corporate Women's Ekiden Qualifier in Fukuoka. If it fi…

For more background on this story read previous story #1, story #2, and story #3.

Case Number: 2017-005
Athlete Name: Moeno Nakamura
Sport: Athletics

Based on the decision of the Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA) Hearing Panel, the Disciplinary Panel has made the following ruling in the case described below.

Hearing Panel Decision 
The JADA Hearing Panel is comprised of members selected by the Disciplinary Panel chairperson in accordance with JADA Rule 8.3.2. In the case in question, the Hearing Panel made the recommendations below based on a hearing session held on May 30, 2018, and on supplementary evidentiary documentation received thereafter.

Decision
A violation of Rule 2.1 was found to have occurred.In accordance with Rules 9 and 10.8, all individual results from the period covering the date the testing sample was taken and the beginning of the provisional suspension period, including those at the 37th National Corporate Women's Ekiden, will be annulled. Additionally, all medals, po…

A statement by Koichiro Nishikawa, chairperson of the Japan Industrial Track and Field Association

At the 37th National Corporate Women's Ekiden organized by the Japan Industrial Track and Field Association (JITA), a prohibited substance was detected in a sample taken from Moeno Nakamura, at the time a member of the Universal Entertainment team, in an in-competition drug test. After receiving notification of this result, in accordance with the recommendations of the Japan Anti-Doping Agency disciplinary panel, Nakamura was suspended for one year and three months beginning Nov. 26, 2017.

As the JITA not only do we hold anti-doping education sessions for athletes and coaches in partnership with the Japan Association of Athletics Federations and clearly specify that our events must be carried out in strict accordance with anti-doping regulations, but as the JITA chairperson I have personally given strong emphasis to the importance of "Clean Sport." In spite of these effort…

On July 19 the Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA) announced that distance runner Moeno Nakamura, 28, a former member of the Universal Entertainment women's ekiden team, had tested positive for the muscle tone-improving steroid metenolone during in-competition testing at last November's National Corporate Women's Ekiden, which Universal Entertainment won. As a result of the positive test Nakamura, who has already left the team, will be suspended for one year and three months and have her result at the ekiden annulled.

According to the JADA announcement, two months before the ekiden Nakamura underwent surgical treatment for a gynecological condition. Subsequent injections she received included the prohibited substance. JADA accepted her explanation that these were for post-operative therapeutic purposes but ruled her negligent in not having told her doctor that she was an athlete and in not confirming the contents of the injections.

In a statement released through Universal En…

On July 18 it was learned from several sources connected with the situation that a member of the 2017 National Corporate Women's Ekiden champion team Universal Entertainment who left the team at the end of last season tested positive for a banned substance in a doping test carried out at the ekiden. Universal Entertainment won the national championship race, its second-ever title and first in five years. But because the athlete's result will be annulled the team will also be stripped of its title, an unprecedented situation in the ekiden's history.

According to an involved source, before the race the athlete took her own personal medicine which included the prohibited substance. The athlete denied having taking the medicine in order to enhance her performance. Team management claimed the athlete had not informed then that she was taking it, and that the situation was the result of her personal carelessness.

The Universal Entertainment team was founded under the name Aruze…

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 marathon team than…

by Anna Novick
Note: Welcome to Novick in her first piece for JRN.

Team Denso ran for redemption from last year'’s 2nd place at today's snowy, slippery National Corporate Women's Ekiden, taking victory by over two minutes and a new record of 2:16:37 for the six-stage, 42.195 km course.  Just about everyone who is anyone in Japanese women's running toed the line today, and those women tore the frigid roads of Sendai apart.

Denso'’s runners had nothing to lose, having faced the disappointment of 2nd place, or first loser, in last year's race. They would, however, have to hold off their attack until the Second Stage as their first runner, Mai Ishibashi relinquished the lead to Team Yamada Denki’'s Yuika Mori who began gaining distance from the pack with 2 km to go in the 7 km leg.  Mori set a new course record to 22:10 before sending Maki Suzawa off on a defensive Second Stage.  Going into the 3.9 km Second Stage, Sayaka Murakami (Team Daihatsu) and Mizuki Tanim…