japan running news

With temperatures reported as high as 35˚C and sunny conditions, a total of 3,858 people were reported to have run Sunday's Lake Saroma 100 km and 50 km Ultramarathon . The conditions were bad enough that 3 runners were taken to the hospital with heatstroke and world champion Haruki Okayama had to drop out mid-race, but that didn't stop Hong Kong's Kok Wai Tse from running strong over the 2nd half of the race to come from behind with an excellent 6:28:39 for the win. At halfway Tse was almost 2 minutes behind a lead group that included Hideaki Yamauchi and Hideo Nojo , but when they faded in the heat Tse was there to take over. He ultimately finished over 13 minutes ahead of 2nd-place Shion Oe , who likewise had a more conservative start and spent most of the race with eventual 3rd-placer Naoki Matsuo . Yamauchi was ultimately 4th in 6:47:32, splitting 3:07:39/3:39:53, with Nojo 5th in 6:49:37 with even more painful splits of 3:07:30/3:42:07. In the women's race Mik...

by Brett Larner Strong winds battered the university runners at the head of the 32nd Kanagawa Half Marathon Feb. 7 in Yokohama. A lead pack of five made up of runners from Komazawa, Meiji, Aoyama Gakuin and Senshu universities stayed together through the early stages of the race, but when Aoyama Gakuin's Yasumasa Ogawa attacked the pack quickly strung out. Ogawa, who ran the downhill Sixth Stage at last month's Hakone Ekiden, took over two minutes off his PB to win in 1:04:51. His teammate Shungo Kawamura likewise knocked his PB down by more than two minutes, 4th in 1:05:05, while Aoyama Gakuin first-year Takuya Yokoyama rounded out the top 5 with yet another PB of 1:05:08. The trio's performance continued Aoyama Gakuin's momentum from making the seeded top 10 at Hakone for the first time in over 30 years. All three runners will return next year. Finishing 2nd in 1:05:00 was Meiji University first-year Katsuhiro Tanaka in his half marathon debut. 2010 Kanagawa Half Ma...