japan running news

  The OSJ Ontake 100 happened this past weekend, one of Japan's most popular trail ultras. In the 100 km short course race , actually around 109 km, Shingo Nosaka had a 4-minute lead over Yuta Onodera through the first checkpoint at 54 km, splitting 4:26:20 to Onodera's 4:30:39. Running in 3rd and 4th at that point, Ryo Murata and Yuichi Miura were another 4 minutes back, but over the tough 2nd half both dropped out. Nosaka faded too, caught by Onodera before the second checkpoint at 83 km, but he rallied over the last 26 km to close a minute and a half on Onodera's lead. In the end, Onodera won by almost 9 minutes in 9:23:20, Nosaka 2nd in 9:32:16 and Hironori Nomoto running strong over the second half for 3rd in 9:39:59. In the women's 109 km race, Ethiopian Mulu Seboka , a 2:21:56 runner who was 5th in Chicago 2015 and won Toronto in 2014, led by half an hour at the first checkpoint and sat at 13th overall in 5:05:09. But on a course that rewarded more caution,...

by Brett Larner Japan's Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) will run Sunday's Volkswagen Prague Marathon with support from JRN in preparation for August's London World Championships marathon. At the pre-race press conference organizers expressed their hopes of seeing a 2:06 men's race, led by past 2:06 men Lani Kiplagat Ruto and Frankline Chepkwony of Kenya.  For his part Kawauchi said that his goal is to break his 2:08:14 PB dating back to 2013.  "I haven't broken my PB for four years, so I'm here to run 2:07," he said. Organizers were even more optimistic about the potential outcome of the women's race, which features 2:20 women Feyse Tadese and Amane Beriso , two other Ethiopians with bests under 2:23, and 1:07:50 half marathoner Valary Jemeli Aiyabei . With the quality of field assemble, favorable weather conditions and the split timing and finish time projection system devised by Dr. Helmut Winter and used at the London, Berli...

by Brett Larner For its first edition as an IAAF gold label race, the July 6 Gold Coast Airport Marathon has put together men's and women's elite fields worthy of the distinction, and especially in the men's race with the multiple story lines that make a good race worth watching.  Three 2:06 men, Gebretsadik Abraha Adihana (Ethiopia), Stephen Tum (Kenya) and course record holder Nicholas Manza Kamakya (Kenya) lead the way.  Facing them is defending champion and joint CR-holder Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't).  In the race to ruin the day for Kawauchi are his arch-rival independent Arata Fujiwara (Mika House) and new training partner Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Arata Project), appearing with support from JRN.  Gunning for both Kawauchi and Fujiwara is the pride of the corporate leagues, Hirokatsu Kurosaki of two-time New Year Ekiden national corporate champion Team Konica Minolta . What more could you want?  The 2:10:01 course record?  Done.  Rob ...

2014 Dubai Marathon Dubai, 1/24/14 click here for complete results Men 1. Tsegaye Mekonnen Asefa (Ethiopia) - 2:04:32 - debut 2. Markos Geneti Guteta (Ethiopia) - 2:05:13 3. Girmay Birhanu Gebru (Ethiopia) - 2:05:49 - PB 4. Tamirat Tola Adera (Ethiopia) - 2:06:17 - debut 5. Azmeraw Bekele Molaign (Ethiopia) - 2:07:12 - PB 6. Shumi Dechase Leche (Bahrain) - 2:07:13 7. Abrha Milaw Asefa (Ethiopia) - 2:07:46 - PB 8. Abera Kassw Belay (Ethiopia) - 2:08:18 - debut 9. Abdeimounaim Harroufi (Morocco) - 2:09:11 - debut 10. Belachew Alemayehu Ameta (Ethiopia) - 2:09:50 - PB ----- 17. Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Japan/Team Konica Minolta) - 2:13:41 - debut Women 1. Mulu Seboka Seyfu (Ethiopia) - 2:25:01 2. Meselech Melkamu Haileyesus (Ethiopia) - 2:25:23 3. Firehiwot Dado Tufy (Ethiopia) - 2:25:53 4. Meseret Hailu Debele (Ethiopia) - 2:26:20 5. Betelhem Moges Cherenet (Ethiopia) - 2:26:42 - debut 6. Amane Gobena Gemeda (Ethiopia) - 2:27:05 7. Fantu Eticha Jimma (Ethiopia) - 2:27...