japan running news

by Brett Larner Fired from the Toyota Boshoku corporate team last month after asking its head coach for more flexibility, Ryotaro Otani , a 2013 graduate of two-time Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University , took fans by surprise when he won Sunday's Japan Triathlon Union Qualifying Time Trial in one of the fastest times in the event's history. 先輩が新たなスタートを。認定記録会1位(スイム400m4'40、ラン5000m14'22) #JTU認定記録会 #トライアスロン pic.twitter.com/TlhEEar7dz — 高木聖也 (@iinorun) March 27, 2016 Before becoming a runner Otani was a youth swimmer, making it to the national level before switching over to his junior high school's track and field team full-time. Alongside Takehiro Deki , at Aoyama Gakuin he was one of the star runners who helped turn AGU into national names, beating top-level men Yuta Shitara (Toyo Univ.) and Ikuto Yufu (Komazawa Univ.) to break the Fourth Stage course record and pave the way for AGU to score its first-ever Big Three University Ekiden win at ...

'Budd and Herron Win the 28th IAU 100 km World Championships' click here for complete results Japanese results Men 11. Tatsuya Itagaki - 6:52:37 35. Yoshikazu Hara - 7:13:33 42. Yoshiki Takada - 7:21:52 63. Tsutomu Nagata - 7:45:57 Women 13. Mikiko Ota - 7:52:39 15. Mai Fujisawa - 7:56:59 DNF - Shiho Katayama DNF - Chiyuki Mochizuki 'Jepchirchir Shatters Course Record at Usti Nad Labem Half Marathon' click here for complete results Japanese Results Men 12. Yuki Matsuoka - 1:04:34 13. Rikinobu Watanabe - 1:04:57 15. Ryuji Okada - 1:06:49 Women 7. Mizuki Matsuda - 1:12:54 8. Ai Inoue - 1:13:32 'Karoki Runs World-Leading 59:14 in Copenhagen' click here for complete results Japanese Results Men 25. Ryotaro Otani - 1:05:20 'Farah and Keitany Successfully Defend Great North Run Titles' click here for complete results Japanese Results Men 9. Masato Kikuchi - 1:03:13 DNS - Suguru Osako Women 6. Reia Iwade - 1:12:41

by Brett Larner It's almost time for Japan's biggest and best sports event, the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden , the Kanto region university men's championships.  It seems like every year I've come on here and said, "This is going to be the greatest Hakone ever," but it's true.  Things have been accelerating very rapidly in Kanto collegiate distance running.  There have been course records at Hakone the last two years, and this fall the other two Big Three University Ekidens, the Izumo Ekiden and National University Ekiden Championships, also saw course records.  Two years ago 15 athletes in Hakone's field had bests at the sub-13:40, sub-28:30 and sub-1:03:00 level.  Last year there were 19.  This year there are 32, from 15 of the 20 schools in the field.  Where is it going to end?  The battle between the three course record-setting schools this year, Toyo University , Komazawa University  and Aoyama Gakuin University , looks set to be ...

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20121112-1046022.html translated and edited by Brett Larner On Nov. 12 Rikuren, the Japanese Federation, released the entry lists for the Nov. 23 International Chiba Ekiden , a six-stage, 42.195 ekiden featuring teams of three men and three women.  Thirteen national teams along with a Japanese University select team and a team from hosts Chiba Prefecture make up the field. The Japanese national team includes London Olympics women's 10000 m 9th-place finisher and 5000 m national champion  Hitomi Niiya  (Team Univ. Ent.) and her Olympic teammate, 10000 m national champion Mika Yoshikawa  (Team Panasonic) along with top-ranked collegiate runner Suguru Osako  (Waseda Univ.) and past 1500 m and 5000 m national champion Yuichiro Ueno  (Team S&B).  The Japanese University team features three members of Izumo Ekiden course record-setters Aoyama Gakuin University, Takehiro Deki , Kazuma Kubota...

by Brett Larner Less than two weeks after their unexpected course record win at the Izumo Ekiden, Aoyama Gakuin University fired a serious warning shot across the bows of impending Hakone Ekiden rivals Toyo University , Komazawa University , Waseda University and Meiji University . Despite the absence of captain and course record holder Takehiro Deki , Aoyama Gakuin runners swept the top ten at the Takashimadaira 20 km in Tokyo on Oct. 21. First-years Kazuma Kubota and Yusuke Ogura , key elements in their team's Izumo win, led the way with solid 59:28 and 59:59 clockings for 1-2, but the team as a whole was impressive as its tenth finisher was under 1:00:30. Even without 58:51 man Deki. Any questions about Aoyama Gakuin's ability to translate its improvement over the relatively short distances at Izumo to the longer half-marathon stages of Hakone appear to be answered two and a half months out from the main event. 2012 Takashimadaira Road Race 20 km Takashimadaira,...

by Brett Larner Far outrunning pre-race expectations, their own included, Aoyama Gakuin University pulled off an inspired win at the 2012 Izumo Ekiden as it broke powerhouse Waseda University 's two-year-old course record by nearly thirty seconds to set a new mark of 2:09:41 for the six-stage, 44.5 km course in Aoyama's first-ever Big Three University Ekiden win.  Defending champion Toyo University  was 2nd a minute and a half behind, Chuo University  rounding out the top three just back from Toyo.  The strongest teams on paper, Waseda, Komazawa University and the nominally Ivy League U.S. Select Team , had their share of problems and went 5th, 6th and 8th. In a solid team effort, Aoyama's first year  Yusuke Ogura  opened 7th on the First Stage ahead of favorites Toyo, Komazawa and Waseda.  Second Stage runner Takuya Fujikawa surprised himself and everyone else by advancing to 2nd behind leader Juntendo University , putting Aoyama's first-y...

by Brett Larner Aoyama Gakuin University cleaned up at the June 25 National University Ekiden Kanto Regional Qualifier meet, its runners taking three of the four 10000 m heats to put the school into the winner's circle for Aoyama Gakuin's first-ever Nationals appearance. Combined with Aoyama Gakuin's seeded finish at January's Hakone Ekiden to qualify for both the 2011 Izumo Ekiden and the 2012 Hakone Ekiden, this season will be the school's first time making all three major university men's ekidens. With four heats of 10000 m and twenty schools fielding two runners apiece in each heat, the final team standings at the meet are determined by the combined times of all eight runners from each school, an unusual format in the Japanese distance running world. Aoyama Gakuin was already in the lead after a win by junior Takuya Yokoyama in heat two, and junior Ryotaro Otani 's breakaway win in heat three helped to extend the school's slim lead over rival Tei...

by Brett Larner Aoyama Gakuin University's Takehiro Deki , who came from nowhere to win October's Takashimadaira 20 km in a course record-tying 58:51 before showing that time was not a fluke with an outstanding run on the Second Stage of last month's Hakone Ekiden, won the 33rd Kanagawa Half Marathon Feb. 6 in Yokohama. Deki's time of 1:04:16 was not especially quick but good enough for a comfortable win over pro Akinori Tachibana (Team Press Kogyo). Deki's teammate Shungo Kawamura rounded out the top three in 1:04:35. 2011 Kanagawa Half Marathon 1. Takehiro Deki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:16 2. Akinori Tachibana (Team Press Kogyo) - 1:04:31 3. Shungo Kawamura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:35 4. Yoshihiro Tezuka (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:04:39 5. Shingo Ajima (Senshu Univ.) - 1:04:45 6. Nozomu Hashizaka (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:48 7. Shun Imamura (Team Press Kogyo) - 1:04:49 8. Yuya Kayahara (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:04:54 9. Shunji Matsuo (Senshu Univ.) - 1:05:20 10. R...