japan running news

http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/sports/Sp201303200094.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

At an Okayama-area press conference on Mar. 19, Team Tenmaya announced that head coach Yutaka Taketomi 59, whose athletes made four-straight women's Olympic marathons, will be replaced as head coach on April 1 by current assistant coach Tetsuya Urakawa, 51.  Taketomi will move to a new capacity as general manager.

Having led the team since its inception in 1992, Taketomi explained his departure, saying, "For reasons including my service as head of the Japanese Federation's women's marathoning program I became slow to respond to minute details.  I want to resolve that situation."  In the shift to his new supporting capacity he hopes to ensure a smooth transition.  Urakawa commented, "I will be facing pressure, but I want to continue to learn from coach Taketomi as I aim to send our athletes to the Olympics and to win the National Corporate Women's Ekiden."

200…

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20130319-OHT1T00065.htm

translated by Brett Larner

Athens Olympics 7th-place finisher Naoko Sakamoto (32, Team Tenmaya) held a retirement press conference Mar. 19 in Okayama. Smiling as she looked back on her career, she told the media, "I'm proud of having run Athens. The marathon was a part of me."

With regard to her reasons for retiring she said, "My heart's not in the training any more, and it's just gotten to the point where little things accumulate and get to me. Beginning in April she will become an advisory member of Tenmaya's coaching staff, supporting the team's younger members.

Sakamoto joined Tenmaya in 1999, winning the 2004 Osaka International Women's Marathon to make the Athens Olympics team. After Athens she suffered an endless series of injuries, and after January's Kita-Kyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden she announced her retirement at the end of the 2012-13 season.

http://www.asahi.com/sports/update/0120/SEB201301200008.html?tr=pc

translated by Brett Larner

Naoko Sakamoto (32, Team Tenmaya), 7th at the 2004 Athens Olympics, announced her retirement from competition on Jan. 20 after running her final race, the Kita-Kyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden, where she placed 7th on the opening stage.  "I still have the urge to get back to the top, but I just can't do the training I need to get there anymore," she said.  "I decided that it's time to stop.  I'm sad that I couldn't end it with a marathon."

Sakamoto graduated from Nishinomiya H.S. in Hyogo and joined the Tenmaya corporate team in 1999.  In 2003 she ran 2:21:51 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon, the Japanese debut marathon record.  Later the same year she was 4th in the Paris World Championships marathon, then won the 2004 Osaka International Women's Marathon to make the Athens Olympics.  Following Athens a series of injuries kept her fr…

Great Scottish Run Half Marathon
Glasgow, 9/2/12
click here for complete results

Men
1. Joseph Birech (Kenya) - 1:03:14
2. Sota Hoshi (Team Fujitsu) - 1:03:49
3. John Kelai (Kenya) - 1:04:17
4. Masamichi Shinozaki (Team Hitachi Logistics) - 1:05:10
5. Yuki Takamiya (Team Yakult) - 1:05:19
6. Masashi Kada (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 1:05:41

Women
1. Bezunesh Bekele (Ethiopia) - 1:09:09
2. Aya Nagata (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 1:12:02
3. Grace Momanyi (Kenya) - 1:12:41
4. Shino Saito (Team Shimamura) - 1:13:23
5. Hayley Haining (U.K.) - 1:15:03


Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon
Virginia Beach, 9/2/12
click here for complete results

Men
1. Nicholas Kurgat (Kenya) - 1:04:45
2. Henry Rutto (Kenya) - 1:05:01
3. Ryo Matsumoto (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 1:05:58
4. Samuel Ndereba (Kenya) - 1:06:00
5. Rui Yonezawa (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:06:32
-----
8. Kazuki Tomaru (Team Toyota) - 1:11:13

Women
1. Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) - 1:13:50
2. Chihiro Takato (Team Wacoal) - 1:14:10
3. Yuri Kano…

by Brett Larner

The 2012 Kitakyushu Invitational Women's Ekiden came close to an upset as Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. came close to running down the leading pro teams, as close as 18 seconds to taking the lead spot.  Ritsumeikan Uji started off in 7th overall and 3rd among high school teams, but a strong Second Stage run by Nanami Aoki moved them up to 3rd overall and the lead high school position.  Team ace Nanako Kanno won the 5.1 km Third Stage outright in a solid 16:26,  overtaking the pro Team Kyocera and coming within 22 seconds of leader Team Kyudenko, no small feat considering that Kyudenko's Second Stage runner Sally Chepyego (Kenya) won her leg by 26 seconds.

Past Olympian Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya) overtook Ritsumeikan Uji's Asaka Iwai by 2 seconds on the 5.9 km Fourth Stage, but both advanced on Kyudenko, Tenmaya to within 16 seconds and the high schoolers to 18 seconds.  Kyudenko anchor Mika Okunaga needed a big run to stay ahead of Tenmaya's Rei Ohara but cam…

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/111201/spg1112011953000-n1.htm

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Dec. 18 the six-stage, 42.195 km  National Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden Championships will be held for the first time in Sendai, Miyagi.  On Dec. 1 organizers released the entry list lineups for the 33 teams in the field.  Included in the list are Japan's top two prospects for the 2012 London Olympics marathon, 2004 Athens Olympics gold medalist and national record holder Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) and half-marathon national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal).  Defending champion Team Tenmaya will field past Olympic marathoners Naoko Sakamoto and Yurika Nakamura, with last year's runner up Team Daiichi Seimei including 2009 World Championships marathon silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki on its roster.  Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo has veterans Yoko Shibui and, still shooting for a comeback following a maternity leave Reiko Tosa.

This year the National Jitsugyodan Women…

http://www.47news.jp/CN/201102/CN2011021301000297.html
http://www.saga-s.co.jp/news/saga.0.1825468.article.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

At the 51st Karatsu 10 Mile Road Race, Feb. 13 in Karatsu, Saga, Yuki Iwamoto (Team Mazda) ran 47:20 to take his first win at the race. Known as the "God of the Mountain" during his Hakone Ekiden days at Juntendo University, Masato Imai (Team Toyota Kyushu) was 3rd, while 2004 Athens Olympics 10000 m runner and 2008 Karatsu winner Ryuji Ono (Team Asahi Kasei) finished only 26th.

In the women's 10 km, Fumiko Hashimoto (Team Shimamura) won in 33:18, while Athens Olympics marathon 7th placer Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya) finished 18th. Akira Iwasaki (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) won the high school boys' 10 km in a PB of 30:04, while Sayaka Nishimura (Kawatana H.S.) won the high school girls' 5 km in 17:18.

2011 Karatsu 10-Mile Road Race
click here for complete results
Men's 10 Miles
1. Yuki Iwamoto (Team Mazda) - 47:20
2. Yuki Oshikaw…

http://www.asahi.com/sports/spo/TKY201101250131.htmlhttp://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/110124/spg1101241747004-n1.htm
http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2011012400672

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Jan. 24 Rikuren announced the domestic and overseas elite fields for the second running of the Yokohama International Women's Marathon, scheduled for Feb. 20. The domestic field of six includes 2009 World Championships marathon silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) and 2010 Nagoya International Women's Marathon 5th place finisher Mayumi Fujita (Team Juhachi Ginko. The foreign field of five is led by 2009 New York City Marathon winner Derartu Tulu (Ethiopia), who holds a marathon best of 2:23:30. 2004 Athens Olympics marathoner Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya) is entered in the general division.

As a selection race for August's World Championships in Daegu, Korea, the top Japanese woman in Yokohama will earn a place on the team provided she runs under 2:26 on…

by Brett Larner

Team Daihatsu outran Team Wacoal for the regional title at the first West Japan Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden Oct. 24 in Munakata, Kyushu. A combination of three previous regional qualifiers for December's National Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden Championships, West Japan was run on the same course as the former Kyushu Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden. With the influx of teams from two other regions, stage records fell on four of the six stages in the 42.195 km race.

Team Wacoal dominated the early parts of the race, leading for the first four stages thanks to stage record performances by First Stage runner Tomoka Inadomi and Third Stage runner Kayoko Fukushi. At the start of the 10.9 km Fifth Stage, the ekiden's longest, Wacoal was up by 37 seconds over Team Sysmex and 1:02 over Team Daihatsu. Fresh from the World Half Marathon, Daihatsu's Ryoko Kizaki then turned in a big run, taking the stage best in 35:50, well over a minute faster than the next-fastest run…

by Brett Larner
photos by Dr. Helmut Winter
Update: 5/16/11: Click here to read Chicago champion Samuel Wanjiru remembered by his Japanese colleagues and friends.
After years of near-misses, former Second Wind AC and Team Shiseido runner Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) finally broke through the 2:30 barrier, barely, with a 2:29:45 PB for 8th place at the 2010 Chicago Marathon. After a solid buildup which included wins at July's Gold Coast Marathon and last month's Hakodate Half Marathon, both in times just off her PBs, Yoshida hit Chicago hard with a 1:13:06 first half, just seconds off her winning time in Hakodate. Largely ignored on the Japanese television broadcast which concentrated on cursed Tenmaya runner Naoko Sakamoto's attempt to make a comeback, Yoshida faded in the final kilometers but rallied to just clear her target and mark the best Chicago finish by a Japanese woman since her former Shiseido and Second Wind teammate Kiyoko Shimahara's 3rd-place showing two y…

by Brett Larner

This weekend marks the real beginning of the fall marathon season. With no major domestic women's marathon on the fall calendar and a relatively wide window in which to qualify for next summer's World Championships, a larger than usual number of Japanese marathoners are lining up overseas.

First and foremost, 2010 Tokyo Marathon winner Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda) will be running tomorrow's Berlin Marathon as he aims to fulfill his post-Tokyo promise of delivering Japan its fourth 2:06. Fujiwara holds the Japanese collegiate and debut marathon records thanks to his 2:08:12 run at the 2003 Biwako Mainichi Marathon. For the next six years he suffered a continuous series of overtraining-induced injuries, but his Tokyo win signals that he is back to full capactiy. Fujiwara's coaches Kiyoshi Akimoto and Yosuke Osawa told JRN that he plans to go through halfway in 1:03:15 and then if all goes well to take a shot at the Japanese national record of 2:06:16. Als…

by Brett Larner

The 2009 Hokkaido Marathon takes place Sunday, Aug. 30. Typically run under hot summer conditions, the Hokkaido Marathon isn't known as a speed race but in most years attacts a top domestic field and several good overseas runners.

The highlight of this year's race, the first edition on a new course, will be the women's event. Defending champion Yukari Sahaku (Team Aruze) will be back straight from her disappointing run in the 10000 m at the Berlin World Championships. Her strongest competition and arguably the race favorite is her teammate Mizuho Nasukawa (Team Aruze), the 2009 Tokyo Marathon winner. Heat specialist Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC), who ran her PB of 2:26:14 in Hokkaido four years ago, ran her best half marathon in several years at last month's Sapporo International Half Marathon and may also be a threat. Also conceivably in contention is Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya), whose six-year old PB of 2:21:51 marks her as the fastest in the fiel…

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/track/news/20081227k0000m050111000c.html

Rikuren has announced that as part of its plan to strengthen Japan's distance running it has appointed Team Chugoku Denryoku head coach Yasushi Sakaguchi to lead the men's marathon subcommittee and Team Tenmaya head coach Yutaka Taketomi to the top position in the women's marathon subcommittee. Sakaguchi coached both men who ran the Beijing Olympics marathon, while Taketomi has had runners in the last three Olympic marathons. Both new committee heads will report to Long Distance and Road Racing Director Keisuke Sawaki.

Translator's note: Yasushi Sakaguchi coached Olympic marathoners Shigeru Aburaya (5th, Athens 2004), Tsuyoshi Ogata (13th, Beijing 2008) and Atsushi Sato (76th, Beijing 2008). Sakaguchi's runners have been mainstays of recent World Championships marathon teams, with Aburaya 5th in Edmonton 2001 and 5th in Paris 2003, Ogata 12th in Paris 2003, taking the bronze medal in H…