japan running news

by Brett Larner

Japan's premier ultramarathon, the Lake Saroma 100 km and 50 km, saw its 27th running on Sunday, June 24. The 100 km was largely a battle of familiar faces on both the men's and women's sides, as national team stalwart and 2011 4th-placer Yoshikazu Hara moved up to take the win over last year's runner-up Hideo Nojo in 6:33:32.  Nojo improved on last year's mark but was still over two minutes behind Hara, running 6:35:52.

In the women's race defending champion Naomi Ochiai was only 4th in 7:56:42, but 2011 runner-up  Shiho Katayama took over 20 minutes off her time from last year to win in a world-leading 7:33:38.  Last year's 50 km division winner and former corporate marathoner Yuka Ezaki made a good transition to the 100 km distance, finishing 5th in 8:04:02.

The most surprising action came in the 50 km, where 25-year-old Chiyuki Mochizuki (Canon AC Kyushu), the two-time Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon women's division winner, outran me…

by Brett Larner

For the second-straight year, Shinji Nakadai (Harriers AC) was the top Japanese man at the IAU 100 km World Championships, held this year in Winschoten, Netherlands.  The defending individual men's world champion, Nakadai made no attempt to follow the reckless early pace set by eventual winner Giorgio Calcaterra, who averaged as fast as 3:42/km in the first stages of the race.  Neither did any of the other athletes in the field, as Calcaterra took the world title by a margin of over 15 minutes.  The strong American squad kept three men in the top pack throughout the race and ended up taking the individual silver and bronze medals as well as team gold led by veteran Michael Wardian.  Nakadai faded after 80 km, taking 5th in 6:48:32, but thanks in large part to a solid 10th-place run by teammate Yoshiki Takada Japan was able to nail down the team silver medal by just 1:51 over Calcaterra's Italy squad which went home with bronze.

The women's race saw a simila…

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2011062600197http://ws100.ultralive.net/webcast.php
translated and edited by Brett Larner complete results coming soon
Corporate team runner Kiyokatsu Hasegawa (Team JR Higashi Nihon) took his first win at Japan's premier ultra, the June 26 Saromako 100 km, running 6:31:06 to beat defending champion, Kenyan national record holder and double Olympic marathon medalist Erick Wainaina (Lights AC) and defending 100 km world champion Shinji Nakadai (Harriers AC). "It was pretty close," Hasegawa said after the race, "but I managed to win. This will help me as I get ready for a good run at the Hokkaido Marathon." Wainaina finished 3rd, with Nakadai 6th. Naomi Ochiai (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) won the women's race in 7:54:08.
Across the Pacific, top-ranked trail runner Tsuyoshi Kaburaki, 42, ran a patient race at the Western States 100, advancing through the field late in the race to take 5th overall.

http://mainichi.jp/area/yamanashi/news/20100724ddlk19040123000c.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

With 4686 runners making up its largest-ever field, the 63rd annual Fuji Mountain Race took place July 23. With last year's race having been cut off at Mt. Fuji's 5th Stage due to fog and rain at the mountain's summit, this year under dazzling summer skies the event returned to its usual format with runners competing in either the 21 km, 3000 m climb Summit division or the 15 km, 1460 m climb 5th Stage division. In the men's Summit race, Shinya Takahashi, 35, of Iwate Prefecture, took his first win in 2:53:00. Yoshimi Hoshino, 44, of Shizuoka Prefecture, the course record holder and two-time winner in the 5th Stage division, took her fifth Summit win eight years after her last Summit victory. 5th Stage men's winner Satoshi Kato was only 38 seconds off the course record, running 1:19:57, while women's winner Mina Ogawa was only a minute and a half off Hoshino…