japan running news

Japan had not one but two top-level men's marathons happening at the same time today. Conditions were a little too windy at the rescendent Fukuoka International Marathon to produce the kind of times organizers were hoping for, but there was still a great race up front. Almost dead-even on 3:00/km pace the entire way despite a building headwind from around 11 km to 18 km and again from 25 km to 32 km, and a strong tailwind from 32 km to the track finish, by 35 km a lead pack of 30 dwindled down to just 2021 winner Michael Githae (Suzuki), debuting teammate Vincent Raimoi (Suzuki), 40-year-old double world champ Abel Kirui (Kenya) and Ethiopian Israeli Maru Teferi . Teferi didn't really break it apart as much as he held steadier than everyone else. From 30 to 35 km he clocked 15:01 and from 35 to 40 km 14:59, while the other three slowed to the 15:17~15:23 range on the way to 40 km. Teferi kept that pace all the way to the end, winning in a PB 2:06:43 that broke his own Israe...

Something I wrote for another outlet on the 13th but which subsequent events bumped off the priority list. On Mar. 12 the JAAF held a press conference in Koriyama, Fukushima to introduce the members of its super-prestigious women’s and men’s marathon teams for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. It was the culmination of an almost three-year process to put together a team with the best chance of winning a home-soil medal in the event Japan treasures more than any other. Let’s take a look at that process. The Background Marathons are a major spectator sport in Japan, with live nationwide broadcasts of its main races. The most important of these, for women the Saitama International Marathon, Osaka Women’s Marathon and Nagoya Women’s Marathon, and for men the Fukuoka International Marathon, Tokyo Marathon and Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, have traditionally served as selection races for Olympic teams, with consideration sometimes also given to 2nd-tier races like the Hokkaido Marathon ...

The members of the Japanese men's and women's marathon teams for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics appeared at a press conference Mar. 12 at Koriyama View Hotel in Koriyama, Fukushima to talk about their hopes and aspirations for the home soil Games. The team members also visited the grave of 1964 Tokyo Olympics men's marathon bronze medalist Kokichi Tsuburaya in Sukagawa, Fukushima, praying and swearing to medal. The JAAF chose Fukushima as the starting point for Team Japan's quest to become Tsuburaya's Olympic inheritors. At the press conference JAAF marathon development project leader Toshihiko Seko , 63, said, "Tsuburaya's run formed the bedrock upon which the marathon stands today." Appearing at the press conference were men's team member Yuma Hattori (26, Toyota), women's team members Honami Maeda (23, Tenmaya), Ayuko Suzuki (28, Japan Post) and Mao Ichiyama (22, Wacoal), along with men's alternates Shohei Otsuka (25, Kyudenko) and Ry...

Ryo Hashimoto age: 25 sponsor: GMO graduated from: Oita Nishi H.S., Aoyama Gakuin University best time inside MGC window: 2:09:29, 5th, 2019 Beppu-Oita Marathon PB: 2:09:29, 5th, 2019 Beppu-Oita Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 13:57.91 (2016) 10000 m: 28:35.37 (2019) half marathon: 1:02:55 (2019) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) 5th, 2019 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:09:29 – PB 9th, 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:11:40 other major results: 7th, 2019 HDC Fukagawa Meet 10000 m B-Race, 28:35.37 – PB 4th, 2019 Sendai International Half Marathon, 1:02:55 – PB 4th, 2018 Year-End Half Marathon, 1:03:31 4th, 2017 Gold Coast Marathon, 2:10:19 20th, 2017 Tokyo Marathon, 2:13:29 1st, 2016 Hofu Marathon, 2:11:20 23rd, 2016 Tokyo Marathon, 2:14:38 Hashimoto is totally unique in the MGC men’s field, someone who went to a Hakone Ekiden champion university but never made its starting roster for Japan’s biggest race. A benchwarmer for four-time Hakon...

2018 Jakarta Asian Games marathon silver medalist Keiko Nogami (Juhachi Ginko) turned in one of the best performances of her career Sunday, taking almost two minutes off her half marathon best to win the Sendai International Half Marathon in 1:09:27. One of just fifteen women to have qualified for Japan's MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials, Nogami quickly dropped the more accomplished Rei Ohara (Tenmaya), also an MGC qualifier, to run the last 3/4 of the race alone en route to the fastest winning time in Sendai since 2009. Ohara was next in 1:10:25, with 10000 m collegiate record holder Hikari Yoshimoto (Daihatsu) 3rd in a PB of 1:12:39. Locally-based Kenyan Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) won the men's race with the same kind of margin as Nogami, running 1:01:10 for the win, Sendai's fastest time since 2010. Back on the roads for the first time since his crash-and-burn shot at a 2:04 at March's Tokyo Marathon, Yuki Sato (Nissin Shokuhin) was 2nd in 1:02:30 ...

The Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon is known for its winds, but at today's 68th running they held off until almost the end of the race, setting the stage for Beppu-Oita's deepest-ever field to go hard from the start. A lead pack of around 40 hit 5 km in 15:00, 2:06:36 pace, backing off a bit from there but staying on high-2:07 to low-2:08 pace until the final pacer stepped off at 30 km. As in Osaka last week and Marugame earlier today, one of the favorites fell early in the race and had to drop out, in this case 2018 Hokkaido Marathon winner Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku), already qualified for the 2020 Olympic trials but in great shape and going for a fast time. Okamoto broke his left elbow in the fall, which will reportedly take two months to completely heal. Qualification for the trials event, September's MGC Race, weighed heavily on the minds of the Japanese men, dozens of whom stayed with the pace as long as they could. A short way back 2:16-level American Andrew...

2017 Ageo City Half Marathon winner Simon Kariuki (Nihon Yakka Univ.) ended 2018 with another win, beating former Aoyama Gakuin University and current GMO corporate team stars Tadashi Isshiki and Yuta Shimoda to win the 2nd edition of the Year-End Half Marathon . A new event started last year to give people whose teams missed out on the New Year and Hakone Ekidens something to do with their fitness, the Year-End Half Marathon course consisted of a short loop followed by four laps of around 5 km each inside western Tokyo's hilly Showa Kinen Park. Initially starting in a pack with others from the GMO and Raffine corporate teams and a few university men from Chuo, Asia and Meiji Gakuin, Kariuki and Shimoda pulled away over the second lap of the park with Isshiki trailing in a chase pack of four. Over the third lap Shimoda lost touch, then was overtaken by Isshiki midway through the final lap. Kariuki took the win with ease in 1:02:42, nearly two minutes better than last year...

A Gold Coast Airport Marathon press release. JRN will be on-hand at GCAM as part of its official broadcast commentary crew. Two previous winners Yuki Kawauchi and Risa Takenaka will lead a strong Japanese charge at the 39th Gold Coast Airport Marathon on Sunday 2 July. A flat and fast course will provide the stage for this IAAF Road Race Gold Label event with one of the strongest elite fields ever assembled to fight out the 42.195km race. One of the most popular runners in world athletics Kawauchi, 30, will return to the scene of his epic runner up finish last year behind Kenneth Mungara of Kenya. The two will do battle once again with Kawauchi hoping he can win this coveted race once again as he did in 2013. Takenaka had a breakout year in 2015 with a win on the Gold Coast and setting her personal best of 2:28:09 in Nagoya. The 27-year-old will be attempting to continue the stranglehold that Japanese runners have had on the women’s race with a total of 14 winners includi...

by Brett Larner Running as part of a corporate league overseas junket, 2017 National Corporate Half Marathon women's champion Ai Utsunomiya (Team Miyazaki Ginko) and other Japanese athletes at Sweden's Göteborgsvarvet Half Marathon were totally ineffectual. Utsunomiya had the best placing at 9th in 1:15:41, nearly eight minutes off Kenyan winner Fancy Chemutai 's 1:07:58, with Yuri Nozoe (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) another minute behind. Only a mid-63 runner, Ryo Hashimoto (Team GMO Athletes) went out with the lead pack for the first couple of kilometers before fading to 1:05:01 for 11th, nearly five minutes off winner Geoffrey Yegon of Kenya.  With a 1:02:01 best Shun Inoura (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) barely escaped being run down by women's winner Chemutai, finishing 17th in 1:07:26. G ö teborgsvarvet Half Marathon G o thenburg, Sweden, 5/20/17 click here for complete results Men 1. Geoffrey Yegon (Kenya) - 1:00:19 2. Amos Kipruto (Kenya) - 1:00:24 3. Le...

by Brett Larner 橋本くん、優勝おめでとう！！ pic.twitter.com/Qmm0jm5ZvI — くにちゃん (@Kunie0206) December 18, 2016 In just his second marathon, 2016 Aoyama Gakuin University graduate Ryo Hashimoto (Team GMO Athletes) ran a PB of over three minutes to win the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon in 2:11:20.  Pacers took the race through 25 km at a relatively steadily pace on target for around 2:11:45.  With their departure at 26 km Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) repeated his big play from the Fukuoka International Marathon two weeks ago, throwing in a hard surge and opening a gap of 10 seconds over the rest of the field.  Hashimoto and Taiki Yoshimura (Team Asahi Kasei) were the only two to try to follow, and by 30 km they had started to close the gap. pic.twitter.com/WnsJeY1YX9 — ペコ (@ayespeko) December 18, 2016 Hashimoto passed Kawauchi near 32 km, splitting 15:05 from 30 to 35 km as he pulled away.  It was a pace he couldn't sustain but enough to guarantee him the win with ...

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20160229-00000191-sph-spo translated by Brett Larner On Mar. 1 the major telecommunications company GMO Internet announced the launch of a new GMO Athletes corporate running team in April.  Resigning from his position at Jobu University, Katsuhiko Hanada , 44, will be the team's first head coach, with two-time Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University head coach Susumu Hara , 48, serving as adviser.  The team's initial lineup includes current Aoyama Gakuin University fourth-years Ryo Hashimoto and Toshinori Watanabe , both of whom made their marathon debuts Sunday at the Tokyo Marathon . Hanada graduated from Waseda University and ran for the S&B corporate team, running at both the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.  Becoming head coach at Jobu University in 2004, he developed the brand-new Jobu team into Hakone Ekiden regulars.  The GMO team marks the launch of the Hara Project, a concept aimed at developi...

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20160229-OHT1T50037.html http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20160229/ath16022905020006-n1.html  http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20160229/ath16022905030007-n1.html incorporates additional quotes given in interviews with Nippon TV 青学速いほんとに。 #下田裕太 pic.twitter.com/KsCY3A4Zw1 — miho (@tanami_01) February 28, 2016 translated and edited by Brett Larner Taking on the marathon for the first time as a second-year at Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University, Yuta Shimoda , 19, finished 10th overall and 2nd Japanese man at Sunday's Tokyo Marathon in 2:11:34, a new Japanese under-20 record. AGU head coach Susumu Hara , 48, made a strong appeal for Shimoda, already Japan's fastest-ever 18-year-old for the half-marathon, to be named to the Rio Olympics team.  Among the experienced marathoners and other pre-race favorites, Beijing World Championships marathon team member Masato Imai (31, Team Toyota Kyushu), was 13th, the debuting Kenta...

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20160208-OHT1T50020.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Two-time Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University 's star third-year Tadashi Isshiki , last year's National University Half Marathon champion and World University Games half marathon silver medalist, won Sunday's Kanagawa Half Marathon in 1:03:03, just two seconds short of his own course record.  In training to make his marathon debut at age 21 at the February 28 Tokyo Marathon in a shot at the Rio Olympic team, Isshiki ran a full marathon time trial just four days before his Kanagawa win, making his time truly top-class for a university athlete.  Aoyama Gakuin head coach Susumu Hara , 48, was full of optimism post-race, saying, "Rio has come into sight." The first thing Isshiki said after his solid win was, "That was a nice jog out there today."  On Wednesday, Feb. 3 in Futtsu, Chiba he ran a 42.195 km marathon time trial in 2:31:02.  With a 1...