japan running news

by Brett Larner
photos by Dr. Helmut Winter


This was one for everybody who has ever dreamed big.

For its 70th running the Fukuoka International Marathon brought together a good 2:07~2:08 field with two-time champ and former world record holder Patrick Makau (Kenya), 2015 World Championships silver medalist Yemane Tsegaye (Ethiopia), debuting sub-60 half marathoner Paul Kuira (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) and more, but for most viewers it was all about Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't).

Kawauchi, the most famous Japanese marathoner of his time, having announced that this would be the last time he would run to try to make a Japanese national team, going for the London World Championships after having missed two Olympic teams.  An injury to his right calf three weeks ago after training too hard too soon after his runner-up finish at the Nov. 6 Porto Marathon, then a sprained left ankle yesterday in his last tuneup run. Everyone around him telling him not to run.  The media saying it…

by Brett Larner

This Sunday the Fukuoka International Marathon celebrates its 70th running.  Once upon a time playing the role of the men's marathon world championships in a day before there were World Championships, Fukuoka has seen its importance worldwide dwindle in the face of modernity and the changes it has brought in the sport.  It still manages to put together good-quality, interesting fields from a spectrum of nationalities, but it has been a while since Fukuoka could really pull in the type of talent who now head to the World Marathon Majors.  On the home front too, despite serving as the first of three main selection races for Japanese national teams at the major international championships, its timing a bit less than four weeks before the increasingly important New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships means that more and more top level Japanese man now pass it over in favor of February's Tokyo Marathon or March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon. …

by Brett Larner

The Dec. 4 Fukuoka International Marathon released the elite field for this year's 70th running today.  2014-15 winner Patrick Makau (Kenya) returns, looking to follow Frank Shorter and Toshihiko Seko as just the third man to win Fukuoka three years in a row.  Makau's main competition comes from 2015 World Championships silver medalist Yemane Tsegay (Ethiopia), James Kwambai (Kenya) and Amanuel Mesel (Eritrea).  An interesting name that could represent an extra challenge if he shows the same renewed focus as his older brother Kenenisais Tariku Bekele (Ethiopia).  Further back, Reid Coolsaet (Canada) has a shot at breaking the 2:10:09 Canadian national record set in Fukuoka in 1975 by Jerome Drayton.

The large Japan-based African contingent is headed by the debuting Paul Kuira (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta), who won the 2015 Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon in 59:47 in his debut over the distance, 2012 Fukuoka winner Joseph Gitau (Kenya/JFE Steel), 2016 …

by Brett Larner
photos by @rikujolove

Former world record holder Patrick Makau (Kenya) was back to take out tough competition and score a second-straight win at the 69th running of the Fukuoka International Marathon, with Kyushu local Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) emerging at the top of the home soil field to land as a candidate for the Rio Olympic team after favorite Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) ran into trouble early.

Confluence of A and B-group starts outside track. pic.twitter.com/lZlxwtMIAH — Japan Running News (@JRNLive) December 6, 2015
With Fukuoka featuring two pace groups, one targeting 2:06 and the other 2:08, the front group quickly shook down to Makau and fellow heavyweights Dennis Kimetto (Kenya), Getu Feleke (Ethiopia), Bernard Koech (Kenya), Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Samuel Tsegay (Eritrea), last year’s 3rd-placer Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/NTN), Sasaki and countrymen Kawauchi, Chiharu Takada (JR Higashi Nihon), Kazuki Tomaru (Toyota)…

by Brett Larner
photo by Dr. Helmut Winter



This Sunday Japan's three-part domestic selection race series to choose its men's marathon team for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics kicks off with the 69th running of the Fukuoka International Marathon.  Fukuoka's elite coordinator typically sets up his races featuring one marquee international athlete to draw media attention and show the public that Fukuoka still matters to the rest of the world, with a second tier of internationals within a stone's throw of the top Japanese names in the field to help goad them on to quality times.

This year has that covered by the spadeful, with world record holder Dennis Kimetto (Kenya) coming in fresh from dropping out of the summer's Beijing World Championships after jogging a few kilometers.  It could just be an easy end-of-season payday, but the presence on the start list of 2:04 countryman Bernard Koech and sub-2:06 Ethiopian Getu Feleke suggests that Fukuoka wants an update to it…

by Brett Larner

The Dec. 6 Fukuoka International Marathon, not to be confused with the mass-participation Fukuoka Marathon four weeks earlier despite its URL, has wheeled out the elite field for this year's race, the first Japanese trials race for the Rio de Janeiro Olympic team.  World record holder Dennis Kimetto (Kenya) will be in town for a late-season payday after dropping out of this summer's Beijing World Championships, facing sub-2:06 men Bernard Koech (Kenya) and Getu Feleke (Ethiopia) and Fukuoka's last three winners Patrick Makau (Kenya), Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel).

Running five weeks after his third shot at the TCS New York City Marathon, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) leads the Japanese field along with fellow 2:08 runner Koji Kobayashi (Team Subaru) and 2:09 former National Team member Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei).  Sub-2:06:30 is the time the JAAF is dictating for auto selection to the Rio…

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20141207-00000527-sanspo-spo

translated and edited by Brett Larner
photos by Dr. Helmut Winter

Former world record holder Patrick Makau (Kenya) ran 2:08:22 to win the Dec. 7 Fukuoka International Marathon, the first domestic selection race for the Japanese team for next August's Beijing World Championships.  Japanese Federation executives who set the Beijing qualification standard at sub-2:06:30, a time only one Japanese man has ever run, were quick to express their disappointment at the 2:09:06 4th-place finish by 33-year-old Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda) being the top Japanese placing.

Executive Director Mitsugi Ogata, 55, expressed concern about the lead-up to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in two years and beyond to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, saying, "We must cultivate true star athletes.  We've still got a harsh road ahead of us."  Ogata praised 3rd place finisher Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/Team NTN), 4th at October's Asian Games…

by Brett Larner
photo credits at bottom
click here for race highlights video courtesy of broadcaster KBC


Former world record holder Patrick Makau (Kenya) ran what he needed to score the win in his return to the marathon today in Fukuoka, sitting back in the pack throughout the race before dropping the competition in the last 4 km to win in 2:08:22.  But the star of the show did not hail from Kenya, or Africa, or Japan.

At the pre-race press conference the top group of contenders were asked what percent confidence they had that they could win.  Favorite Makau said 90%.  2012 Fukuoka winner Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) replied 82%.  Last year's winner Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) said 50%, a suggestion of things to come.  Japanese top two Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda) gave only 50% and 20% estimates.  Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/Team NTN), who beat Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) at last December's Hofu Yomiu…

by Brett Larner

It's another big weekend of elite racing in Japan as everyone from junior high school students through the pros gets ready for the mid-December through mid-January national championship ekiden season.  The only serious women's racing to be found comes at the last full Nittai University Time Trials track meet of the year, where small contingents from top high school, university and corporate teams tune up for the roads over 3000 m and 5000 m.  Two weeks after winning silver at the 100 km World Championships in Doha, Qatar, Chiyuki Mochizuki (Canon AC Kyushu) features in the 3000 m along with Kenyan Ann Ngatuny (Sendai Ikuei H.S.).  Bigger names in the 5000 m include Doricah Obare (Team Hitachi), Monica Margaret (Aomori Yamada H.S.) and Yuka Hakoyama (Team Wacoal).

Coming just a week after 11 men broke 28 minutes at the Hachioji Long Distance 10000 m time trial meet, the all-Kenyan men's 5000 m Heat 26 is the main event at Nittai, with World XC junior silver …

by Brett Larner

For its first running following the launch of the new mass-participation Fukuoka Marathon on Nov. 9, the hallowed Fukuoka International Marathon has pulled in former world record holder Patrick Makau (Kenya) to make a go at a comeback against 2013 winner Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and surprise 2012 winner Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) in its 68th edition on Dec. 7.  Until this summer Makau hadn't run at quality over any distance since 2012, but a sub-28 road 10k in the U.S.A. in August suggests he has been getting back toward full fitness, something he'll need to bring to compete against Mathathi and Gitau.  2:06:24 Ethiopian Raji Assefa is a potential darkhorse, #2 on paper but without a good marathon to his name since running his PB in 2012.

Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki), 6th in the London Olympics and 5th in the Moscow World Championships, leads the domestic hopes alongside 2:08 Moscow teammate Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda), t…

http://mainichi.jp/sports/news/20130302k0000m050067000c.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Following his 3rd-place 2:08:48 finish at the Mar. 3 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, James Mwangi, 28, is moving back to his native Kenya after twelve years in Japan running for Aomori Yamada H.S. and Team NTN.  He has chosen to move to support his wife, who is in poor health, but Mwangi plans to continue to devote himself to marathon training in Kenya.  "To show my gratitude to all those who have supported me I want to ultimately end up a champion."

Lake Biwa was Mwangi's eighth marathon.  He came to Japan in 2001.  While at Aomori Yamada H.S. his achievements included winning the 800 m at the National High School Championships, and following his graduation he joined the corporate league in 2004.  The memory he holds dearest from his 12 years in Japan is of seeing snow for the first time in his life on the very first day he arrived in Aomori.  The next day with snowbanks talle…

Haile Gebrselassie leads Tsegaye Kebede and Ayele Abshero in front of Manchester United's home ground Old Trafford.

http://www.iaaf.org/Mini/LRR12/News/NewsDetail.aspx?id=65030

Translator's note: Ishikawa's Honda teammate Takahiro Yamanaka finished 16th at the Great Manchester Run in 29:54.  2008 Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Mara Yamauchi (GBR) was 6th in the women's race in 32:28.  Elsewhere overseas, national champion Team Nissin Shokuhin's Manabu Itayama was 7th at the Jakarta International 10 km road race in 31:33 while sub-2:10 man Tomoya Shimizu (Team Sagawa Express) ran 2:16:57 to take 2nd at the Riga Marathon, his teammate Masanori Ishida 6th in 2:23:00.

Men's marathon world record holder Patrick Makau watches the start of the City Games Manchester men's 150 m.

photos (c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

http://www.iaaf.org/Mini/LRR12/News/NewsDetail.aspx?id=65011

JRN is in Manchester with Honda runners Suehiro Ishikawa and Takahiro Yamanaka.

all photos (c) 2010 Thomas Jung
all rights reserved
photos courtesy of Dr. Helmut Winter

Tomo Morimoto (Team Tenmaya)

Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda)

Fujiwara in no-man's land.

Akinori Shibutani (Team Kurosaki Harima)









2010 Berlin Marathon
click here for complete results
Men
1. Patrick Makau (KEN) - 2:05:08
2. Geoffrey Mutai (KEN) - 2:05:10
3. Bazu Worku (ETH) - 2:05:25 - PB
-----
9. Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda) - 2:12:00
22. Akinori Shibutani (Team Kurosaki Harima) - 2:22:09

Women
1. Aberu Kebede (ETH) - 2:23:58
2. Bezunesh Bekele (ETH) - 2:24:58
3. Tomo Morimoto (Team Tenmaya) - 2:26:10

by Brett Larner

Team Hokuren's Philes Ongori, who ran the fastest women's half marathon in the world last year, set a new PB of 1:07:50 at the Feb. 20 Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in the UAE. Ongori ran among the leaders until the final kilometers when Ethiopia's Dire Tune broke away to a new national record of 1:07:18. Ongori was outkicked by Ethiopian Aselefech Mergia, settling for 3rd. Team Aruze's Julia Mumbi Muraga was a distant 10th in 1:09:40.

Men's winner Patrick Makau of Kenya ran 58:52, the second-fastest half marathon time ever recorded, breaking world record holder Samuel Wanjiru's course record by 1 second. Yamanashi Gakuin University's Mekubo Mogusu did not start the race after a recent car accident in Kenya, and his friend Daniel Gitau of Nihon University likewise failed to start.

A detailed recap of both the women's and men's races and a link to complete results are available here.

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
all rights reserved