japan running news

Most of Japan's distance runners retreat north to Hokkaido for the summer to escape the heat and put in mileage for ekiden season. The four-part Hokuren Distance Challenge series gives them the chance to add some quality into the mix, whether for chasing standards, padding their resumes, or general development.

The main focus of the first part of the 2018 series, held in the town of Abashiri, was on 10000 m for women and 5000 m for men. In cold and rain times weren't especially fast, Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) continuing a solid first season in the corporate leagues with a win in the women's 10000 m A-heat in 32:35.74 and Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) taking the B-heat in 32:55.13. Women also had the option for 3000 m, with Marta Mokaya (Oita Tomei H.S.) beating Ann Karindi (Toyota Jidoshokki) 8:56.40 to 8:59.12.

Kenyan Nicholas Kosimbei (Toyota) fronted the men's 5000 m A-heat in 13:33.97, with Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) taking the top Japanese spot at 8th in 13:…

Breaking away over the last 5 km, Nicholas Kosimbei (Toyota) scored his second-straight win at the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, putting 12 seconds on Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) to take the top spot in 1:01:12. Moses Murong (Uganda) was 3rd in 1:01:57, with Yohei Suzuki (Aisan Kogyo) the top-placing Japanese man with a 1:03:34 for 9th.

Just five days given the time difference after winning the Boston Marathon, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) outkicked Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon runner-up Hayato Sonoda (Kurosaki Harima) to take 14th overall in 1:04:35 with the third-fastest closing split in the field despite unseasonably hot temperatures nearing 30 degrees.
川内選手の20km過ぎ
めっちゃ速かった！ pic.twitter.com/0dWTscmz3V — MOno (@motto815tf) April 22, 2018
Women's world record holder and defending champion Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya) was a last-minute withdrawal, leaving Degitu Azmeraw to become Gifu's first Ethiopian women's winner in five years. Like Kosimbei, Azmeraw broke f…

Nestled deep in the misty foothills of the western Tokyo mountains, Hosei University's late November Hachioji Long Distance meet has quietly turned into one of the world's premier track 10000 m, its A-heat never quite dipping under 27 minutes yet but still producing record-setting depth and the two fastest Japanese men's 10000 m in history.
This year's entry list is another monster, with 27:02.59 man Nicholas Kosimbei (Toyota) leading 17 men with recent times under 28 minutes, twelve of them Kenyan, three Japanese and two Ethiopian. Fresh off a 27:22.73 win at last weekend's Nittai University Time Trials, two-time steeplechase junior world champion Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) is slated to pace what is scheduled to be a sub-28 race, but with Kosimbei, sub-27:30 men John Maina (Fujitsu) and Rodgers Chumo Kwemoi (Aisan Kogyo) and five others under 27:45 including last year's winnerRonald Kwemoi (Komori Corp.) on the list the front end should go faster. 
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