japan running news

Relative darkhorse Fatuma Sado (Ethiopia) outlasted some of Japan's top Olympic hopefuls and her Kenyan competition to win the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2:25:39.

Stellar pacing right on the A-group target of 17:00 per 5 km quickly shook the pack down to the main contenders, Ethiopians Sado, Abebech Afework and Sutume Asefa Kebede, Kenyans Bornes Chepkirui and Eunice Jeptoo and Japan's Rei Ohara (Tenmaya), Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal), and Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu). Ohara had already qualified for September's MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials, but for Fukushi, running her first marathon since the Rio Olympics, and the debuting Omori, they needed to either clear 2:24 or be in the first three Japanese women after Ohara and under 2:28.

Just past 12 km disaster struck Fukushi. Tripping in the middle of the pack and falling, she tore both knees and hands before hitting her head on the pavement. Fukushi bounced up and quickly regained contact with the pack, but b…

We're getting into the last few months of qualification for September's MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials, and for Japanese women's Sunday's Osaka International Women's Marathon represents one of the last chances to make it. One of only eight to have qualified so far, Rei Ohara (Tenmaya) is one of three Japanese women in the field to have broken 2:24, along with 2016 Osaka winner Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) and 2014 Yokohama winner Tomomi Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei). But none of that trio has run that kind of time since early 2016, and for both Fukushi and Tanaka this will be the first marathon since they represented Japan in the marathon in Rio.

That seems to be the overall impression of the domestic field in Osaka this year, it being mostly made up of people at their best two or three years ago but hoping to get it back together well enough to qualify for the trials. They'll have to be under 2:28:00 if among the top three Japanese women excluding Ohara, and unde…

Held alongside the Osaka International Women's Marathon, the Osaka Half Marathon has continued to grow at the elite level into one of the post-ekiden season's top-tier Japanese half marathons. On the women's side, Maki Ashi (Kyudenko) was just off her best as she won in 1:11:26, opening a lead of over 20 seconds in the first 5 km and going the rest of the way alone. Ayaka Yokose (Yamada Denki) was the only other woman to crack 1:12, 2nd in 1:11:58. Taiwanese national record holder Chien-ho Hsieh spent most of the race in 3rd, but despite getting caught by Madoka Nakano (Noritz) with just over 5 km to go Hsieh pushed on to take almost three minutes off her own national record, landing 4th in 1:12:19.

The men's race saw a deep pack go through halfway on sub-1:02 pace, things slowing slightly before 15 km but no real carnage happening until the final stages. With seven still in contention with just over a kilometer to go it came down to a sprint finish on the track, the …

Sunday's Osaka International Women's Marathon leads the way in Japanese road action this weekend. With qualification spots in the MGC Race 2020 Olympic Trials at stake for the home field there are three main questions:

Can straight-arm specialist Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) duplicate her 2:21:36 debut in Nagoya last year after running badly at the London World Championships?Can Honami Maeda (Tenmaya), the only Japanese woman to have qualified for the MGC Race so far, run a fast marathon for real after conquering the heat to win August's Hokkaido Marathon in 2:28:48?What can last year's 10000 m national champion Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) do in her debut?Eunice Jeptoo (Kenya) tops the international list with a 2:26:13 in Eindhoven last year, with the debuting Gotytom Gebreslase (Ethiopia) the wildcard, her best mark at distance a 49:56 at last year's Utica Boilermaker 15 km. 
Osaka will be broadcast live Sunday by Fuji TV starting at noon local time. A free live …

http://www.sankei.com/west/news/170202/wst1702020048-n1.html

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At the Jan. 29 Osaka Half Marathon, Osaka Prefecture police officer Shunsaku Shibata, 23, won the men's division in a course record 1:03:05.  Breaking his PB by more than 3 minutes, Shibata now turns his attention to making his marathon debut.  Interviewed after the race he expressed a strong desire "to make the Tokyo Olympics."

Shibata graduated from Hotoku H.S. and Senshu University, enrolling with the police in April, 2015.  After studying at the Police Academy and undergoing training at the Miyoshima Police Station he was assigned to the Riot Police Company #1 in October last year.  Shibata had run long distance seriously since high school and his third year of university he had the chance to realize his dream of running the Hakone Ekiden, but shortly before the race he strained a ligament and was cut from the team.  Even as a police officer he felt that he "wanted to keep run…

http://www.sankei.com/smp/west/news/170126/wst1701260031-s1.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics marathoner and 2012 London Paralympics bronze medalist Shinya Wada, 39, ran in the Jan. 29 Osaka Half Marathon that was held at the same time as the Osaka International Women's Marathon.  With the Tokyo Olympics coming onto the horizon just three years distant his goal was to take his 1:14:29 half marathon best down to the 1:10 level.

At December's Fukuoka International Marathon Wada ran 2:32:11, breaking his own T11 category (fully blind) Japanese national record by 1:35.  Wada also holds the T11 national records on the track for 800 m, 1500 m, 5000 m and 10000 m.  At the London Paralympics he won bronze in the 5000 m. In Rio he finished in the top eight in the 1500 m, the 5000 m, and, in the T12 category (use of a guide runner optional), the marathon.  Despite such success, Wada feels pressure.  "Athletes from other countries keep produci…

by Brett Larner

Tenmaya teammates Rei Ohara and Risa Shigetomo won today's Osaka Half Marathon and Osaka International Women's Marathon with dominating performances.  Ohara, the fastest female Japanese half marathoner of 2015 and second-fastest last year, took the half marathon out hard, splitting 15:58 for the first 5 km, 1:07:22 pace with a 1:08 target.  She faded steadily from there but held on to win by 52 seconds in 1:10:02, bettering her fastest time of 2016 by 2 seconds.  Having missed the Rio Olympic team by 1 second despite running 2:23:20 at last year's Nagoya Women's Marathon, Ohara will line up in Nagoya again in March in hopes of joining the London World Championships team.

Her teammate Shigetomo was one step ahead in making that goal a reality.  A member of the 2012 London Olympics and 2015 Beijing World Championships marathon teams, Shigetomo won Osaka in 2012 in 2:23:23, still her PB, to make the London team, and was controversially added to the Beijing …

by Brett Larner

Two-time defending champion Tetiana Gamera ran a 2:22:09 Ukrainian national record to win a third-straight Osaka International Women's Marathon in the race's 34-year history.  Gamera went to the front heading out of the park around Osaka's Nagai Stadium and onto the roads before 5 km, challenged only by the last woman to win Osaka before her, 2012 champ Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya).  In that race Shigetomo ran 2:23:23, more than 30 seconds up on Gamera's 2:23:58 best from her 2013 win, but without a sub-2:30 from Shigetomo since then the odds did not look to be in her favor.

Shigetomo and Gamera pushed the pace to near 2:22-flat while a chase pack of eight led by 38-year-old Jelena Prokopcuka (Latvia) and 39-year-old Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) ran closer to 2:24-25 pace.  With a sub-2:22:30 requirement for auto selection to the 2015 Beijing World Championships team Shigetomo and Gamera hit the half in 1:11:15, but at the 180' turn just after halfway …

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20110216-OYT1T00858.htm

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On Feb. 16, double World Championships marathon medalist and two-time Olympian Reiko Tosa (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) announced that she has withdrawn from her planned comeback run at the Feb. 27 Tokyo Marathon due to an injury to her right leg. According to Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo head coach Shigeharu Watanabe, Tosa has been experiencing discomfort since her return to racing at the Jan. 30 Osaka Half Marathon. Tosa gave birth to her first child, a daughter, last April. The Tokyo Marathon was to be her return to the full marathon distance after an absence of two years.

by Brett Larner
photo by Mika Tokairin

2011 Osaka top six, L-R Akaba, Ito, Horie, Incerti, Kizaki and Okunaga.

On a near-freezing, windy day the top Japanese marathoner of 2010, Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren), took her first marathon victory with a 2:26:29 win at the 2011 Osaka International Women's Marathon. Second-time marathoner Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) ran a bold race, repeatedly surging to the lead in an unsuccessful effort to break Akaba and was rewarded with an over two-minute PB of 2:26:55. Both women fell short of the 2:25:59 requirement for an automatic spot on the 2011 World Championships team and thus must wait until March to hear the official team announcement, but each earned praise from notoriously critical Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki for their strong performances in difficult conditions. Regardless of the outcome, Akaba indicated that she plans to run April's London Marathon to go for a fast time prior to the World Championships.

Along with Akaba and Ito, vet…

by Brett Larner

This weekend kicks off the busiest period of the year for Japanese distance running, with Sunday's Osaka International Women's Marathon leading seven straight weekends of elite marathons in this World Championships qualifying season. It's busier than ever thanks to last fall's APEC conference in Yokohama, which forced the second running of the Yokohama International Women's Marathon to shift from November to February. A quick guide to the upcoming marathons, all of which except Nobeoka will be broadcast live nationwide and viewable overseas.

Jan. 30: Osaka International Women's Marathon
Feb. 6: Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon
Feb. 13: Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon
Feb. 20: Yokohama International Women's Marathon
Feb. 27: Tokyo Marathon
Mar. 6: Biwako Mainichi Marathon
Mar. 13: Nagoya International Women's Marathon

It's not just marathons, either, as the world's two most competitive 30 km races, four of its most competitive half marathons, se…

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/news/20101228k0000m050086000c.html

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After retiring following the 2009 Tokyo Marathon to become a mother, two-time World Championships marathon medalist Reiko Tosa, 34, announced on Dec. 27 that she will make a comeback to competitive running. Tosa will spend the new year training with Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo on Miyako island and will run in February's Tokyo Marathon.

Tosa gave birth to her first baby, a daughter, in April and has remained a part of Mitsui Sumitomo in an advisorial role since her retirement. On her blog Tosa had previously written, "I'm planning to run the January 30 Osaka Half Marathon followed by a marathon in late February. I don't know how far I'll be able to go but I'm excited to see what I can do."

Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo head coach Shigeharu Watanabe commented, "She isn't back to full, serious marathon training yet but we're confident that by the time she runs t…

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/flash/KFullFlash20100927097.html
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http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/100927/oth1009272039024-n1.htm

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The organizers of the Osaka International Women's Marathon have announced that in its 30th edition, scheduled for Jan. 30, 2011, the race will for the first time in 20 years feature a new course designed to facilitate faster times. Gone is the race's most distinctive feature, the hilly, twisting middle section through Osaka Castle. In its place the marathon will now cover a longer distance on Osaka's flat major roads, allowing for more crowd support throughout the race.

1984 Los Angeles Olympic marathoner Akemi Masuda commented, "With the elimination of the hilliest sections the Osaka course is now one where we can expect to see extremely fast times." Considering that the old course was already the site of the fastest women's …

by Brett Larner
photo by Mika Tokairin

Osaka top 8 Simon, Obata, Barros, Gobena, Ozaki, Kizaki, Horie and Nojiri at the post-race award ceremony.

Ethiopian Amane Gobena and 2009 World Championships marathon 6th place finisher Marisa Barros of Portugal outlasted the domestic competition to go 1-2 in miserable conditions at the 2010 Osaka International Women's Marathon on Jan. 31. Both women recorded PBs, Gobena clocking 2:25:14 and Barros 2:25:44. In her first marathon since the 2007 World Championships Mari Ozaki (Team Daihatsu) was third in 2:26:27. Domestic favorite Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) was an unfortunate DNF after pushing the race at 2:21 pace for the first 25 km. In the accompanying Osaka Half Marathon, Masayoshi Yamaoka (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) outleaned Tsukasa Morita (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) in a great sprint finish, both timed at 1:04:04 as the top six men broke the course record. Second Wind AC women Yuri Kano and Kiyoko Shimahara, running as official guests out of com…

http://www.sankei-kansai.com/2009/01/26/20090126-005663.html

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4020 runners participated in the 2009 Osaka Half Marathon, an event held in conjunction with the Jan. 25 Osaka International Women's Marathon on a 21.0975 km course from Osaka Stadium to Osaka Castle. Winning the women's division was 2007 Osaka World Championships marathon team member Kiyoko Shimahara (32, Second Wind AC), who clocked 1:13:15 in her second straight Osaka Half appearance, with Mai Kisaki (20, Team Kyocera) 2nd in 1:14:14. In the men's division, Joannis Makrioteris (27, Momoyama Gakuin Univ.) ran 1:08:22 to take his 4th consecutive win.

Shimahara's winning time of 1:13:15 was slower than last year's mark, but she was nevertheless happy to be the top finisher. "I ran according to plan. At 20 km I dropped the people who were chasing me, just like that," she said with evident satisfaction.

Shimahara won this past December's Honolulu Marathon and plans to ru…