japan running news

Another busy weekend in Japan as its road races and marathons continue to return from pandemic-era hiatuses, with two 30 km races, four big marathons, and a post-season university ekiden. In Kumamoto, Yuki Sato (SGH), 36, put in a hard last 5 km to pull away from the massive leading pack and win the Kumanichi 30 km in 1:30:57, the oldest athlete to win Kumanichi to date. Kira Migita (Toyota Kyushu) was 2nd in 1:31:13, just beating Sato's teammate Kazuto Kawabata (SGH) by 1 second. Rui Nishida (Higo Ginko) won the women's race by over 2 minutes in 1:46:58. Sato, who ran a 1:00:35 PB at last weekend's National Corporate Half Marathon, said post-race that he'd done a 30 km training run on Thursday and that Kumanichi had been only a workout effort. In western Tokyo, 2018 Ome 30 km Road Race men's winner Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Danryoku), 38, led almost start to finish in pursuit of a second win on the hilly Ome course, but in the home straight he fell victim to a...

For the second year in a row Bahraini Shitaye Habtegebrel found herself knocked down to 2nd in the Saitama International Marathon 's home straight, this time to fellow Ethiopian-born emigrant Dalila Gosa . Part of a group of nine that immediately separated from the main body of the elite women-only race behind three pacers, both Gosa and Habtegebrel stayed at the front of the pack on mid-2:25 to low-2:26 pace as its five Japanese constituents and lone Ethiopian national Fatuma Sado dropped off one by one. When the last pacer stepped off at 30 km Habtegebrel and Gosa took turns leading in a successful effort to drop Kenyan Sylvia Kibet . Last year Habtegebrel lost out to Flomena Cheych Daniel of Kenya by 3 seconds in the home straight, both of them ultimately having their times disallowed due to poor direction on the final corner . This time both Gosa and Habtegebrel successfully turned at the right spot thanks to improved course marking and marshaling, but Habtegebrel agai...

Wind and rain hit the 20th anniversary Nagano Marathon hard enough to slow things down, Japan's Asami Furus e (Kyocera) and Ethiopian Abdela Godana taking the top spots in the women's and men's races. Coached by former men's half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato , Furuse and teammate Saki Tokoro were part of a lead group of five women that set out on low 2:33 pace. Kenyan Beatrice Jepkemboi dropped off he group near 20 km and Yukiko Okuno (Shiseido) did the same a few minutes later, leaving the Kyocera duo to face remaining Kenyan Pauline Wangui over the second half. Tokoro cracked just before 30 km and Wangui around 32 km, leaving Furuse to push on alone to an evenly-paced 2:34:09. Wangui faded to 4th, run down first by Tokoro and then by Okuno. Tokoro made it a 1-2 finish for Kyocera, another success for Sato is his short coaching career to date. 4th last year, former Tenmaya runner Aki Otagiri moved up from the second pack to take the 5th spot...

20th Nagano Marathon Elite Field Highlights Nagano, 4/15/18 times listed are best within last three years except where noted click here for complete field listing Men Abdela Godana (Ethiopia) - 2:09:45 (Seoul 2017) Julius Keter (Kenya) - 2:09:55 (Santiago 2017) Shoya Osaki (Japan/Chudenko) - 2:11:03 (Gold Coast 2017) Kazuya Ishida (Japan/Nishitetsu) - 2:12:25 (Beppu-Oita 2016) Shinichi Yamashita (Japan/Takigahara SDF Base) - 2:12:32 (Hofu 2017) Jackson Kiprop (Uganda) - 2:12:45 (Amsterdam 2017) Kohei Futaoka (Japan/Chudenko) - 2:13:28 (Beppu-Oita 2018) Yuki Munakata (Japan/Kanebo) - 2:13:53 (Beppu-Oita 2016) Kazuya Deguchi (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 2:14:24 (Nobeoka 2018) Hiroshi Ichida (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 2:15:15 (Biwako 2017) Women Tigist Girma (Ethiopia) - 2:29:05 (Beirut 2017) Beatrice Jepkemboi (Kenya) - 2:30:35 (Buenos Aires 2015) Asami Furuse (Japan/Kyocera) - 2:30:44 (Osaka Int'l 2017) Pauline Wangui (Kenya) - 2:30:49 (Sevilla 2017) Yukiko Okuno (Japan/...

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2016/11/24/kiji/K20161124013780460.html http://www.ryoutan.co.jp/news/2016/11/23/010999.html translated and edited by Brett Larner 4,544 people were entered in the 29th Ohtawara Marathon in Ohtawara, Tochigi on the Nov. 23 national holiday.   Takahiro Gunji (25, Team Komori Corp.) won the men's division in 2:22:56, with Hiroko Yoshitomi (32, Team Memolead) winning the women's division for the second year in a row in 2:37:20.  Both runners were awarded the Sponichi Cup. Gunji came from far behind to score his first Ohtwara win in the last kilometer. Five minutes behind the leader at halfway, he left the chase pack near 30 km and began to pick up the pace.  Running into a strong headwind Gunji was discouraged by the distance to the leader, but, he said, "People on the side of the road kept shouting at me not to give up."  Doing exactly that, he drew closer and closer to the lead and around 41 km moved into the top positi...