japan running news

by Brett Larner

#2-ranked Bazu Worku (Ethiopia) came through with the win at the 69th running of the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, holding off Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) and defending champion Vincent Kipruto (Kenya) to cross the line in 2:09:10 with Sasaki running down Kipruto in the final 200 m to go sub-2:10 for the first time in 2:09:47.

Conditions were very reasonable, with 12 degree temperatures and light wind, but despite this the casualty rate was high and came early.  2012 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) was off the back of the pack before the lead group of thirteen hit halfway in 1:03:24.  Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), in search of a 2:07 and a place in the history books as Japan's first man to run sub-2:10 seven times, was the next big name to falter.  By 25 km it was down to seven, and when the pacers departed at 30 km only Worku, Kipruto and Essa Ismail Rashed (Qatar) were left up front with Sasaki trailing by …

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2013/02/24/kiji/K20130224005268200.html
http://dena.jp/press/2013/02/post-125.php

translated and edited by Brett Larner

With Team S&B's longstanding sponsorship set to be eliminated at the end of next month due to a streamlining of operations, Kensuke Takezawa, 26, announced that he will not join the rest of the team in moving to new sponsor DeNA.  His plans remain undecided.

A 2008 Beijing Olympics track team member, Takezawa commented, "My path forward is something that I ultimately want to find by myself, under my own strength, and for this reason I've decided not to move with the team.  I need to re-examine myself and carefully consider the best course of action."

The new DeNA team will become an official entity on April 1.  Previous announcements had said that all athletes and staff from the S&B team would transfer together.

Kensuke Takezawa: Born Oct. 11, 1986 in Hyogo.
3000 m: 7:49.26     5000 m: 13:19.00     10000 m:…

http://kyushu.yomiuri.co.jp/news-spe/20090507-606401/news/20121214-OYS1T00783.htm

translated by Brett Larner

At the 43rd Hofu Yomiuri Marathon on Dec. 16, Noriaki Takahashi, 30, will be making his last appearance in the legendary S&B uniform before the team's dissolution in March.  Takahashi hopes his race will join the long and illustrious list of S&B athletes' achievements capped by Toshihiko Seko's ten marathon wins in fifteen starts.  "This is my last chance to do something big in the S&B uniform," he says with decision.

Takahashi was born in Hokota, Ibaraki.  Under the coaching of S&B alumnus Hiroshi Tako since his second year at Chuo University Takahashi's talent bloomed.  His senior year he finished 3rd on the Hakone Ekiden's ace stage, but after joining the Subaru corporate team he went through a long period of serial injuries.  Day by day he watched his dream of becoming a top-class marathoner slip away.

In 2009 Takahashi transferr…

by Brett Larner

The organizers of the Dec. 16 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon released their 2012 elite field on Nov. 28.  While Hofu has evidently cut its small international field, for the second year in a row it will star the great Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) in an inexplicably suicidal double just two weeks after the Fukuoka International Marathon.  Last year Kawauchi ran 2:09:57 for 3rd in Fukuoka in an inspirational performance, then followed up in Hofu with a head-to-head battle with Mongolian defending champion Serod Batochir where he placed 2nd in 2:12:33.  This year Kawauchi is shooting for 2:07 in Fukuoka, and with no Batochir to push him the best you could probably say is that a slower time seems likely in Hofu.

Kawauchi's strongest competition should come from Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC).  Ito holds a 2:13:16 best from last year's Gold Coast Marathon but has struggled with frequent injury problems since then.  A 2:18:55 at the Oct. 28 Oikawa Marathon as a training run…

                                   Seko with the announcement. Click photo to enlarge.

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2012/09/01/kiji/K20120901004017610.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009359.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009418.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009427.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009421.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009429.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009436.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner
S&B greats group photo (c) 2012 Tim Chamberlain, all rights reserved

S&B Foods announced Aug. 31 that its men's running team, long the home of Japan's best distance runners, will be disbanded at the end of the fiscal year next March.  He himself the team's greatest success at the marathon, S&B …

2011 Gold Coast Airport Marathon - Top Results Brisbane, Australia, 7/3/11 click here for complete results Marathon - Men 1. Nicholas Manza Kamakya (Kenya) - 2:10:01 - CR 2. Albert Kiplagat Matebor (Kenya) - 2:10:13 3. Japhet Kipchichir Kipkorir (Kenya) - 2:10:50 4. Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:13:16 5. Noriaki Takahashi (Team S&B) - 2:14:13 ----- 13. Mok Ying Ren (Singapore) - 2:27:05 75. Yoshihisa Hosaka (Natural Foods) - 2:53:04
Marathon - Women 1. Goitotem Haftu Tesema (Ethiopia) - 2:30:08 2. Roxie Fraser (Australia) - 2:41:17 3. Chihiro Tanaka (AthleC AC) - 2:43:04 4. Michelle McAdam (Australia) - 2:44:44 5. Kirsten Molloy (Australia) - 2:46:32
Note: Tanaka's daughter Nozomi won the junior 4 km in 14:27.
Half Marathon - Men 1. Jeff Hunt (Australia) - 1:04:04 2. Hiroki Tanaka (Japan) - 1:04:48 3. Daisuke Koyama (Japan) - 1:04:57
Half Marathon - Women 1. Lara Tamsett (Australia) - 1:12:19 2. Jessica Trengrove (Australia) - 1:12:28 3. Abigail Bayley (Australia) - 1:13:40