japan running news

Weekend Japanese track action kicked off at the Bryan Clay Invitational at California's Azusa Pacific University. Passing on a spring marathon in favor of a shot at the 10000 m national record this season, 5000 m national record holder Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) ran 13:29.11 for 3rd in the 5000 m, the best time so far this year by a Japanese man.

Bigger news came in the men's 1500 m, where Shoma Funatsu (Chuo Univ.) capped a residency in Oregon with a 3:38.65 to move up to all-time Japanese #5 and collegiate #2. Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) also ran 3:41.51, with U.S.-based Yusuke Uchikoshi (Boise State Univ.) going 3:44.50, Funatsu's Chuo teammate Kazuyoshi Tamogami 3:45.84, another U.S. transplant Yasunari Kusu (AMAC) 3:46.98 and Hirotaka Nakatani (Uchida Chiryoin AC) 3:49.28.

At the nearby Mt. SAC RelaysYui Fukuda (Toyota Jidoshokki) won the women's 1500 m in 4:16.64. Mai Shoji (Denso) was slightly off her season best in the 5000 m in 15:56.99, while her teamm…

by Brett Larner

2017 national corporate road 10 km champion Yui Fukuda (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) dominated the women's 5000 m A-heat at Friday's Mt. SAC Relays, winning by 16 seconds in a PB of 15:23.48.  Her first time going under 15:30, Fukuda's time was a big step forward in quality but came up painfully short of the 15:22.00 standard for August's London World Championships.

Running for Boise State University, the U.S.-based Yusuke Uchikoshi also ran Mt. SAC, turning up in the collegiate 3000 m steeplechase.  Part of a three-way sprint finish, Uchikoshi came up 0.56 seconds short of the win as Emmanuel Rotich (Tulane Univ.) took the top spot in 8:48.32.  Uchikoshi was next in 8:48.88, just holding off Clayson Shumway (BYU) who was 3rd in 8:48.95.

Mt. SAC Relays
El Camino College, U.S.A., 4/13~15/17
click here for complete results

Women's 5000 m INV Elite
1. Yui Fukuda (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:23.48 - PB
2. Jessica Tonn (Brooks Beasts) - 15:39.46
3. Sasha Gollish (Uni…

by Brett Larner

There is a busy weekend ahead domestically and abroad, on the roads and on the track for Japan's distance athletes.  At Sunday's Nagano Marathon, civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) will seek to become the first Japanese man to win in Nagano's fifteen-year history in his fourth marathon of the year.  His main competition comes in the form of Kenyan Silas Sang, who set his 2:09:10 best in finishing 2nd last year.  Also of note is former national record holder Atsushi Fujita (Team Fujitsu), running his final race before retiring.  Kenyans Beatrice Jepkemboi and Esther Nganga are the favorites in the women's race, with Mika Okunaga (Yufuin Hammock AC) leading the domestic contingent.

Overseas, the unfortunate withdrawal this week of the promising Bunta Kuroki (Team Yasukawa Denki) from the London Marathon men's field means that Japan's Moscow World Championships marathon team is all but finalized with five 2:08 men.  Five w…

by Brett Larner
On day one of the first Nittai Univ. Time Trials meet of the season, marathoner Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) continued the comeback from the injury that knocked him out of the Beijing Olympics, finishing 3rd in 29:19.31. The biggest results of the day, however came in the women's 800 m and 3000 m. Running against a field of pro, university and high school competitors, unior high school student Ayaka Nakagawa (Asaka Daisan J.H.S.) started the day off with a win in the 800 m A-heat in 2:10.61, nearly 1 1/2 seconds ahead of her closest rival. 2 1/2 hours later Nakagawa returned to take 6th in the 3000 m A-heat, clocking 9:31.18.
Nittai Univ. Time Trials Top Results Nittai Univ., Yokohama, 4/16/11 click here for complete results
Men's 10000 m Heat 5 1. Yuki Takamiya (Team Yakult) - 29:17.67 2. Yuta Shitara (Toyo Univ.) - 29:19.00 3. Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 29:19.31 4. Sho Matsueda (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 29:23.77 5. Tomohiro Hayakawa (Nittai Univ…

by Brett Larner

For the second year in a row, 13:23.57 man Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) stepped down to the 5000 m B-heat at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, CA. Last year Sato ran his pro debut at Mt. SAC, clocking an undistinguished 13:48.71 and finishing 3rd. Not until the following week, when he clocked an almost identical split for the first half of the Brutus Hamilton Invitational 10000 m on his way to a 27:38.25 PB three seconds off the Japanese national record, was it clear that Mt. SAC was only a pace run and not an indication that he was in poor shape. At this year's Mt. SAC Relays on Apr. 16 Sato won the B-heat 5000 m in 13:44.70, blowing out the rest of the field by over 3 seconds over the last 400 m after keeping himself comfortable in 2nd for the entire race. Sato is also on the entry list for next weekend's Brutus Hamilton Invitational 10000 m, raising the question of whether he is planning on going for the national record of 27:35.09. We'll know on the 23rd…

by Brett Larner

Four distance races featured Japanese and Japan-based athletes on the second day of the Mt. SAC Relays meet in Walnut, CA.



Former high school and university star Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) showed that he has finally overcome the illness which kept him under medical treatment for most of 2008, running a PB of 3:42.51 to finish 5th in the men's invitational 1500 m. Ueno was also entered in the invitational 5000 m but wisely sat it out.



Kenyan Philes Ongori (Team Hokuren) easily dominated the women's invitational 5000 m, starting slowly and gradually accelerating to grind down her competitors. She finished in 15:23.33 nearly 11 seconds ahead of 2nd place finisher Christin Wurth-Thomas (Nike). Over 30 seconds off her PB, the run amounted to little more than a buildup practice run for the talented Ongori.



In Ueno's absence, Honda teammates Suehiro Ishikawa and Seigo Ikegami, the top Japanese men in last month's World Cross-Country Championships, were the sole …

by Brett Larner



Japanese women's 3000 m steeplechase national record holder Minori Hayakari (Kyoto Koka AC) opened her 2009 season on Apr. 16 at the Mt. SAC Relays meet in Walnut, CA. Hayakari started aggressively, running in 3rd through a 77-second first lap. She held to precisely the same for the following two laps, clocking 2:34 and 3:51, but slipped backwards through the pack as the overall pace quickened behind breakaway leader Lindsey Anderson (Nike). Falling as low as 11th, Hayakari had a characteristically strong finish to move back up to 8th. Her time of 10:10.18 was far off last summer's national record of 9:33.93 but a good start to her World Championships buildup nevertheless.

Hayakari wrote about her race on her blog shortly afterwards:

The Mt. SAC Relay meet started on Apr. 16 and a lot of Japanese athletes are here. I ran the 3000 m SC in 10:10.18. My self-evaluation is.....maybe it was a little too sloppy, but I don't really care about the time or the result b…