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...

Kenji Yamamoto age: 29 sponsor: Mazda graduated from: Yugakkan H.S., Toyo University best time inside MGC window: 2:08:42, 7th, 2019 Lake Biwa Marathon PB: 2:08:42, 7th, 2019 Lake Biwa Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 13:55.42 (2013) 10000 m: 28:26.35 (2015) half marathon: 1:01:47 (2014) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) 7th, 2019 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:08:42 – PB 9th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon, 2:08:48 other major results: 4th, 2019 San Diego Half Marathon, 1:02:01 20th, 2019 National Corporate Half Marathon, 1:02:34 1st, 2019 Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden Sixth Stage (15..9 km), 47:49 3rd, New Year Ekiden Fourth Stage (22.4 km), 1:05:30 1st, 2018 Chugoku Corporate Ekiden Third Stage (11.6 km), 35:43 4th, 2018 San Diego Half Marathon, 1:02:45 4th, 2017 San Diego Half Marathon, 1:03:14 10th, 2017 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:15:19 2nd, 2012 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage (21.5 km), 1:02:43 1st, 2011 Hakone Ekiden Tenth Stage (23.1 km), 1:09:36 Another ...

With a mix of confidence and regret in their hearts a day after their third-straight runner-up finish and tenth-straight top 3 placing at the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden , the members of the Toyo University men's ekiden team assembled early in the morning on Jan. 4 for their first training session of the new year. The session began with a 6:30 a.m. team meeting at its dormitory in Kawagoe, Saitama. Head coach Toshiyuki Sakai , 41, was passionate as he told the team members, "The way we finished 2nd this year was different from last year. This time we won Day One and led for the first 15 km of the Sixth Stage on Day Two. This was the first step in our counterattack." The 2014 Hakone champion, Toyo's margin of loss behind four-time winner Aoyama Gakuin University has shrunk from 11:55 in 2015 to 7:11 in 2016 to 7:21 in 2017 and finally to 4:53 this year. Its Day One winning lineup of First Stage winner Kazuya Nishiyama (1st yr.), Second Stage 3rd-placer Akira Aizaw...

The team that brought Japan's greatest race into the modern era with its historic 2012 sub-3 min/km win, Toyo University came out swinging to win Day One of the 2018 Hakone Ekiden . Intensely popular with fans, Toyo has struggled this season with its entire senior class out with injury. With its fate in the hands of its younger members Toyo 1st-year Kazuya Nishiyama , freshly 19 in November, stepped up and took control of the race with both hands. Midway through the fast First Stage Nishiyama surged hard to go out front alone, 2017 World University Games half marathon gold medalist Kei Katanishi (Komazawa Univ.) and relative unknown Yuhei Urano (Koku Gakuin Univ.) the only ones to try to go with him. Nishiyama covered the 21.3 km stage in 1:02:16, equivalent to a 1:01:40 half marathon, with Urano and Katanishi around 15 seconds back. 3-time defending champ Aoyama Gakuin University was 25 seconds behind in 5th at the first exchange, 2017 Izumo Ekiden winner Tokai University ...