japan running news

A veteran and a first-timer made the headlines from the opposite ends of the spectrum at Sunday's Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo, Hokkaido, the first race in the second season of qualifying for the MGC Race, Japan's new 2020 Olympic trials race to be held in September next year. A passing typhoon brought cooler than usual weather to Hokkaido and a better-than-usual chance of hitting the sub-2:13 and sub-2:30 qualifying marks most Olympic aspirants would have to clear.

The men's race was simply a race of attrition, with no dramatic changes in pace or sudden moves, just a large pack of motivated people going out mid-2:11 pace in a race where only two men have ever cleared 2:12, neither of them Japanese. In the pack, 59:47 Kenyan Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta), the promising young Shohei Otsuka (Kyedenko), championships marathoner extraordinaire Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki),2016 Sydney Marathon winner Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta), luckless veteran Naoki Okamoto (Chugok…

Kenyan Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta) outran teammate Tomohiro Tanigawa and defending champ Tsubasa Hayakawa (Toyota) to win the 32nd Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon in the midst of hot and sunny conditions. All three went under the previous course record, with Kuira getting away in the final kilometer to win in 1:03:10. Hayakawa was next in 1:03:15, with Tanigawa just back in 1:03:18.

In the women's half marathon Kotomi Tsubokura won by over 30 seconds in 1:15:42. Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) won the women's 10 km in 34:08, beating Rio Olympian Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku) by 8 seconds. Newcomer Junna Suzuki (Iwatani Sangyo) was 3rd a step behind Ito in 34:17.
32nd Shibetsu Half MarathonShibetsu, Hokkaido, 7/22/18

Men
1. Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta) - 1:03:10 - CR
2. Tsubasa Hayakawa (Toyota) - 1:03:15
3. Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta) - 1:03:18
4. Ryo Matsumoto (Toyota) - 1:03:44
5. Kenta Iinuma (SGH Group) - 1:04:21

Women
1. Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal) - 1:15:42
2. Ayaka Inoue (Ots…

The 2018 Hakodate Marathon and Half Marathon took place July 1 in Hakodate, Hokkaido. Despite heavy rain on and off throughout the race, 6767 people out of 7139 starters finished. The third year Hakodate has had a full marathon division, 3147 people started in the full and 3992 in the half.

Both races began and finished at Chiyogadai Field, the half starting at 9:00 a.m. and the full going off at 10:00. As rain fell the runners were cheered on by local supporters lining the streets of the western parts of the city and the coastal areas popular with tourists. Volunteers at aid stations handed out local delicacies like mini sashimi bowls and cold salty ramen to enthusiastic participants.

Yuya Yamashita (26, Sunbelx) took four minutes off the course record to win the men's full marathon in 2:18:27. "The hills in the second half were tough, but I'm really happy to have won it," he said post-race, his face full of smiles. Kenyan Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta) won a close rac…

A month out from the London World Championships, women's marathon team member Risa Shigetomo (Tenmaya) tuned up with her first road race since winning January's Osaka International Women's Marathon, lining up at Hokkaido's Hakodate Half Marathon. Running in the second pack with 2015 winner Asami Kato (Panasonic) and last year's winner Hiroko Miyauchi (Hokuren), Shigetomo took 6th in 1:14:38.

3rd the last two years, Yuko Mizuguchi (Denso) scored the win in 1:13:37 over Reia Iwade (Dome) and Miharu Shimokado (Nitori), both still adjusting to recent team and coaching changes. London team alternate Misato Horie (Noritz) was also in action in Hokkaido later the same day, running 16:21.77 for 10th in the women's 5000 m at the season's first Hokuren Distance Challenge meet in Shibetsu.

In the men's race in Hakodate last year's top three shuffled positions to sweep the podium again. 2nd last year, Charles Ndungu (Komori Corp.) got the better of defending c…

by Brett Larner

Just three weeks after her world record run at the Prague Half Marathon, Joyclinie Jepkosgei blew apart the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon with one of the fastest women's half marathons ever run on Japanese soil.  Solo from the start, Jepkosgei hit 5 km in 15:08, just 12 seconds behind the second men's pack led by London World Championships marathoner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't).  As in her WR run Jepkosgei faded progressively the rest of the way, but with a lead of over a minute at 10 km there was never any danger of her being caught.

Jepkosgei became the first woman to break 68 minutes in hilly Gifu, setting a new course record of 1:07:44.  Running the race a little more evenly, runner-up Belaynesh Oljira (Ethiopia) was also under the old course record, 2nd in 1:08:19.  London World Championships women's marathon team leader Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) returned to the roads for the first time since her 2:21:36 debut at last month's Nagoya W…

by Brett Larner

In its seventh edition the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon celebrates its promotion to its new status as the only IAAF gold label half marathon in Japan with a move a month earlier to a hopefully cooler mid-April date.  Newly-crowned women's half marathon world record holder Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya) leads the women's entries for what should be an easy win should she actually run another half marathon three weeks after breaking the world record.  Mimi Belete (Bahrain) and London World Championships marathon team member Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) are the only other women in the field with recent sub-70 times, Belete with a 1:09:15 earlier this year in Verona and Ando with a 1:09:51 at the 2015 Sanyo Ladies Road Race.  Ando's London teammate Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) is also on the short women's list rounded out by Sara Hall (U.S.A.), Belaynesh Oljira (Ethiopia), Lillian Partridge (Great Britain) and formerly Japan-based Philes Ongori (Kenya).

201…

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
Karoki photo by Tsukasa Kawarai

世田谷246ハーフ

1. クイラ (コニカミノルタ) 1:02:27 大会新 pic.twitter.com/JUGqtXhD6z — EKIDEN_MANIA (@ekiden_mania) November 13, 2016
Marathons and ekidens aside, this weekend also saw high-level half marathon and track action.  At Tokyo's Setagaya 246 Half Marathon Japan based-Kenyan Paul Kuira (Team Konica Minolta) scored the third win in four half marathons in his career to date, setting a course record 1:02:27.  Kuira and university runners Takato Suzuki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and Yusuke Nishiyama (Komazawa Univ.) went out fast, ahead of the pack within the first few km and staying together through 15 km before Kuira put them away.  For Kuira it was a solid tuneup for his marathon debut in three weeks at the Fukuoka International Marathon.  For Suzuki, 2nd in 1:02:55, it was his first time breaking 1:03 in the half marathon, a result sure to elevate his position on the deep roster of Hakone Ekiden favorite Aoyama Gakuin University.  Nishiyama, who ra…

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
Sakamoto photo c/o Yichen Ding

The 100th Japanese National Track and Field Championships were the weekend's main event, but there was no shortage of road racing action at home and abroad.  The Hakodate Half Marathon was the most major, this year featuring the addition of a full marathon division for the first time.  2015 Marugame Half Marathon winner Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta) took another Japanese half title, pushing through rain and winds for the win in 1:03:14 over a small pack including Charles Ndungu (Komori Corp.), defending champion Michael Githae (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta).  Just a week after setting the 50 km national record, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) pushed up through the field late in the race to pass ten people in the last 5 km for 5th overall in 1:04:24.  Sayo Nomura (Daiichi Seimei) took the women's half in 1:13:02, while Tokyo-based amateur Takehiko Gyoba became Hakodate's first marathon champ …

by Brett Larner

Bahraini national record holder Eunice Kirwa did it again, easily breaking the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon women's course record in 1:08:55 to win by over two minutes.  Kenyan Rebecca Kangogo Chesir was the only one to put up some competition, running with Kirwa through 5 km in 15:49 before dropping back to take 2nd in 1:11:09.  Formerly Japan-based Ethiopian Betelhem Moges started much more conservatively, over 30 seconds behind the lead pair at 5 km but closing to take 3rd close enough to record the same 1:11:09 finish time as Chesir.  Japan's Rio Olympics marathon medal hopeful Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) started in the 2nd pack with Moges but fell far off pace in the second half, taking 6th overall in 1:12:04 and just holding off Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) for top Japanese honors.

In the men's race Kenyan Kenneth Keter pushed a lead group of nine, eight Africans plus Mongolian national record holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Team NTN) through a fast first 5…

Gifu, 5/15/16
click here for complete field listing
times listed are 2013-2016 bests except where noted

Women
Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) - 1:08:06 (Marugame 2016)
Rebecca Kangogo Chesir (Kenya) - 1:08:21 (Milan 2015)
Betelhem Moges (Ethiopia) - 1:09:23 (Olomouc 2014)
Visiline Jepkesho (Kenya) - 1:09:43 (Adana 2016)
Yuka Ando (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:09:51 (Sanyo 2015)
Sayo Nomura (Japan/Daiichi Seimei) - 1:10:03 (Sanyo 2013)
Kayoko Fukushi (Japan/Wacoal) - 1:10:04 (Berlin 2014)
Lauren Kleppin (U.S.A.) - 1:10:16 (Copenhagen 2014)
Eri Makikawa (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:10:27 (Marugame 2014)
Mao Kiyota (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:10:31 (Valencia 2015)
Bornes Jepkirui (Kenya) - 1:10:32 (Azpeitia 2014)

Men
Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA) - 59:14 (Copenhagen 2015)
Paul Kuira (Kenya/Konica Minolta) - 59:47 (Marugame 2015)
Kenneth Keter (Kenya) - 59:48 (Venlo 2016)
Martin Mathathi (Kenya) - 1:00:11 (Marugame 2014)
James Rungaru (Kenya/Chuo Hatsujo) - 1:00:12 (Nice 2015)
Fabiano Sulle…

http://www.jomo-news.co.jp/ns/4514557221513282/news.html

translated by Brett Larner



In a Feb. 17 interview, an official involved with the Takasaki Police Department's investigation of an incident at the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships in which a roadside spectator's dog jumped out into the course causing a runner to fall confirmed that police are preparing to file charges against a 69-year-old male resident of Takasaki on suspicion of violating Gunma prefecture's Animal Welfare and Management ordinance with regard to requirements for keeping pets under control.

According to the police official, the incident occurred around 10:00 a.m. on Jan. 1 in the town of Kamiorui roughly 3.6 km into the Second Stage.  Running in the second pack, Paul Kuira (Team Konica Minolta) tripped and fell when a small dog suddenly jumped out into the course directly in front of him.  The owner is suspected of not having had control of the dog at the time, resultin…

2015 was a complex year in Japan with lots to get excited about, a new generation of talent finally starting to break through the wall, multiple national records and world record-setting depth in what seemed like just about every major race, countered by embarrassingly bad World Championships performances, 2020 Tokyo Olympics organizational snafus that ranged from incompetent to much worse, and the consequences of the country's race organizers' and elite athlete coordinators' ready willingness to deal with people who trade freely in dirty athletes finally starting to come home to roost.  JRN's top ten most-read articles of 2015:

1.Hakone Champion AGU's Isshiki Leads 27 under 1:03 and 265 Sub-1:06 at National University Half Marathon Championships- Mar. 1
Tadashi Isshiki, a 2nd-year at 2015 Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University, ran 1:02:11 to top a field that produced historic results including a world record 265 men under 1:06:00 and 643 under 1:10:00.  I…