japan running news

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2015/03/01/kiji/K20150301009898830.html

translated by Brett Larner

2010 Guangzhou Asian Games men's marathon silver medalist Yukihiro Kitaoka (32, Team NTN) announced his retirement on Mar. 1 following the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon.  In the future he will join NTN's coaching staff, helping to develop its next generation of athletes.

At Lake Biwa Kitaoka finished 74th in 2:27:03.  "I wanted to run one more good race, but things didn't go very well this last year," he said.  "The decision to retire leaves me feeling free and clear."

by Ryosuke Sakasegawa, published 1/30/14 in the Asahi newspaper
translated by Brett Larner and Mika Tokairin



Sumo is not the only sport where you can train in Japan to become strong.  Targeting the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Mongolia's #1 marathoner Ser-Od Bat-Ochir, 32, is set to join the NTN corporate team in Kuwana, Mie in April.  Having won December's Hofu Yomiuri Marathon, Bat-Ochir looks set a threat to Japan's athletes at this fall's Asian Games and beyond.

Earlier this month Bat-Ochir took part in the NTN team's training camp in Miyazaki in preparation for the Feb. 2 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon.  At the time temperatures in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator were 30 degrees below zero, but after completing a 2 1/2 hour run surrounded by Japan's southern seas Bat-Ochir said, "Mongolia is too cold to train enough, but the environment here in Miyazaki is superb."

Bat-Ochir took up the marathon after graduating from the Mongolian National Inst…

http://mainichi.jp/sports/news/20130302k0000m050067000c.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Following his 3rd-place 2:08:48 finish at the Mar. 3 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, James Mwangi, 28, is moving back to his native Kenya after twelve years in Japan running for Aomori Yamada H.S. and Team NTN.  He has chosen to move to support his wife, who is in poor health, but Mwangi plans to continue to devote himself to marathon training in Kenya.  "To show my gratitude to all those who have supported me I want to ultimately end up a champion."

Lake Biwa was Mwangi's eighth marathon.  He came to Japan in 2001.  While at Aomori Yamada H.S. his achievements included winning the 800 m at the National High School Championships, and following his graduation he joined the corporate league in 2004.  The memory he holds dearest from his 12 years in Japan is of seeing snow for the first time in his life on the very first day he arrived in Aomori.  The next day with snowbanks talle…