japan running news

http://www.plus-blog.sportsnavi.com/kmanabu/article/133

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Team Kyudenko's Pauline Kiragu Wanguru won a five-way sprint finish at the 2008 Sanyo Women's Road Race half marathon to win in a PB of 1:10:54. A hilly course, cold temperatures and strong winds in the second half made for an overall tactical race. Five runners remained together with 400 m to go, meaning the race would go to the strongest kicker. Wanguru pulled ahead by a step to beat Team Sysmex's Megumi Seike, who came fresh from winning the Nov. 30 Shanghai Half Marathon, and Second Wind AC newcomer Ruth Wanjiru. Team Tenmaya's Yuka Izumi was 4th in a PB of 1:10:58, with Wanjiru's teammate Akemi Ozaki a short distance behind in 5th.

Second Wind AC head coach Manabu Kawagoe commented that the race was excellent preparation for Ozaki and Wanjiru's planned run in next month's Osaka International Women's Marathon, but that Ozaki was feeling in top condition and wo…

by Brett Larner

The 2008 Golden Games in Nobeoka track meet took place May 31. The meet acts as a kind of championship for professional jitsugyodan runners in the leadup to the National Championships in late June and is somewhat unusual in that it features a limited number events, with only the 800, 1500 and 5000 m distances contested along with a 3000 m event for junior high school students. The 5000 m is the main event of the day, with 10 heats for men and 4 for women. Primarily featuring jitsugyodan runners with heavy representation by teams` foreign ringers, the meet also attracts the most ambitious of the nation`s university runners, those who want to run against the strongest competitors.

The most impressive result of the day came in the women`s 800 m, where Team Natureal`s Miho Sato broke the meet record by over one second to win in 2:04.10. 2nd place finisher Ayako Jinnai of Saga University also broke the old meet record but was far behind Sato in 2:05.11. The men`s 1500 m also …

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/item/23243

translated by Brett Larner

The men`s and women`s 10000 m events were held on the first day of the Kyushu Jitsugyodan Track and Field Championships, May 17 at Sayagatani Field in Kitakyushu, Kyushu Prefecture. The men`s race was won in a meet record time of 27:56.79 by Team Toyota Kyushu`s Samuel Wanjiru, who will compete in the Beijing Olympics as part of the Kenyan marathon team. 0.07 seconds behind Wanjiru in 2nd place was Athens Olympics 10000 m competitor Ryuji Ono (Team Asahi Kasei). Ono`s time met the Olympic B-standard of 28:10.00 but was not sufficient to meet the 27:50.00 Olympic A-standard. 3rd place finisher Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu), who ran the 5000 m at the Osaka World Championships, likewise made the Olympic B-standard with his time of 28:05.45. Osaka World Championships 10000 m competitor Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudendo) was a disappointing 7th in 28:26.04. Pauline Wanguru (Team Kyudenko) won the women`s race in 32:10.86.

On…