japan running news

by Brett Larner

2011 New Year Ekiden national champion Team Toyota added another win to its resume, running 2:30:45 to set the course record at the 66th running of the six-stage, 52.6 km Meigi Ekiden, Feb. 5 in Nagoya.  Runner-up Team Toyota Boshoku also went under the old course record, recording a time of 2:31:58.  Suzuki Hamamatsu AC, featuring the superb Martin Mathathi and Toyota Boshoku's former ace Yusei Nakao, had an improvement over last year's performance thanks to the addition of Nakao, finishing 3rd in 2:32:34.  Defending champion Team Aichi Seiko was only 4th in 2:33:55.

Nakao led off strongly for Suzuki, winning the first stage with a few seconds to spare.  Nicholas Makau (Kenya) put the small Team Yachiyo Kogyo into the lead with a course record 20:51 for the 7.3 km Second Stage, but Toyota's Yuya Ito responded with a course record of his own on the 6.0 km Third Stage, clocking 16.58 to put Toyota into the lead.  Fourth Stage record holder Mathathi overtook …

by Brett Larner
As track season rolled on with the Oda Memorial Meet in Hiroshima and the Nobeoka Spring Time Trials Meet in Nobeoka on April 29, the biggest news came in the Oda women's 5000 m. Kenyan ace Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko), the 2001 World Junior Championships gold medalist over 3000 m, set her third PB of the month with a new clocking of 15:13.09, a meet record. Just behind her and also under the hold meet record, Hitomi Niiya, the 2007 Tokyo Marathon winner at age 18, came in with a 6-second PB of 15:17.84, 0.02 seconds faster than national record holder Kayoko Fukushi's best time of 2010 and the leading time by a Japanese woman thus far in the build-up to August's World Championships. What made Niiya's run big news was that she appeared running for Chiba Prefecture rather than for her sponsor since graduating from high school, 2008 national champion Team Toyota Jidoshokki.
Late last month Toyota Jidoshokki announced that it was leaving its base in Chib…

by Brett Larner

The winners of three of the four main races at the Feb. 13 Chiba International Cross Country Meet repeated two weeks later at the 25th Fukuoka International Cross Country Meet of Feb. 27 with dominant performances under sunny skies. The final of the domestic selection races for next month's World Cross Country Championships in Spain, Fukuoka settled the list of contenders for the Japanese Worlds team.

In the senior men's 10 km, Bitan Karoki (Kenya/Team S&B) was in another league from the rest of the field, running a sensational course record 27:52 to win by 58 seconds over countryman Nicholas Makau (Kenya/Team Yachiyo Kogyo). Karoki became the first runner to clear 28 minutes on the Fukuoka course, clearing the old record by 26 seconds. Makau finished in the lead spot among a tight-knit pack of four followers, outkicking Jakob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) for 2nd in 28:50. Tokai University sophomore Akinobu Murasawa, the top non-African at last year's…

by Brett Larner

The 2010 Hyogo Relay Carnival got underway on Apr. 24 with the sprints and Asics Challenge distance events.

In the Asics Challenge 10000 m, the weekend's men's 10000 m B-heat, Kenyan Nicholas Makau (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) easily defeated Keita Akiba (Team Komori Corp.) and Akihiko Tsumurai (Team Mazda) but was more than 45 seconds off Samuel Wanjiru's B-heat meet record from 2005. Miho Notagashira (Team Wacoal), teammate of national record holder Kayoko Fukushi, won the Asics Challenge women's 5000 m by a few strides over Shoko Mori (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) in 15:54.48.

The Hyogo Relay Carnival continues on Apr. 25 with the high school races and Grand Prix 1500 m and 10000 m A-heats.

2010 Hyogo Relay Carnival Day One - Top Finishers
click here for complete results or event header for individual event results

Asics Challenge Men's 10000 m
1. Nicholas Makau (Kenya/Team Yachiyo Kogyo) - 28:18.94
2. Keita Akiba (Team Komori Corp.) - 28:34.42
3. Akihiko Tsumurai (Team …

by Brett Larner

Aspiring marathoner Hitomi Niiya (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) bounced back from her failed attempt to win March's Nagoya International Women's Marathon by running a 5-second PB to beat Beijing Olympics marathoner Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya), Kenyans Felista Wanjugu (Team Aruze) and Doricah Obare (Team Hitachi) and several other top Japanese women in the competitive 5000 m at the Apr. 29 Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet. Niiya clocked a strong 15:23.27, the second-best time in the world so far this year, to break her nearly four-year old PB of 15:28.70. Nakamura came in in 15:23.99 with the two Kenyans another second back; all three were less than 3 seconds off their best times. A moderate gap separated the lead quartet from the rest of the field. Niiya's win signals that she has moved on from this spring's big disappointment and is ready to retarget this summer's World Championships on the track.

In another of the Oda Memorial Meet's highlights, wo…

by Brett Larner

Ryuji Ono`s dream of running in his second Olympic 10000 m came to an end on July 16 with his 2nd place 27:54.28 finish in the Hokuren Distance Challenge Kushiro Meet in Kushiro, Hokkaido. Ono, who runs for Team Asahi Kasei, made the 2004 Athens Olympics 10000 m as an 18 year old high school student. Since mid-May he had come frustratingly close to clearing the Beijing Olympics A-standard three times, running 27:56.86 on May 17, 27:53.19 on June 1st, and 27:55.16 at the National Track and Field Championships on June 26. Team Konica-Minolta`s Takayuki Matsumiya won Nationals and held an A-standard time, meaning that Kushiro represented Ono`s last chance of qualifying in advance of the July 23rd deadline to make the Japanese team. Once again he came up short, finishing just behind winner Nicholas Kamau of Team JAL Ground Service.

Other notable results included women`s 1500 m national record holder and Beijing Olympics women`s 5000 m team member Yuriko Kobayashi`s victory i…