japan running news

Kokushikan University held its season-opening time trial meet Mar. 31 at its Tama Field track facility. Members of four-time Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University competed in the 1500 m, with first-year Keita Yoshida leading the team in 3:50.77. Breaking through at this year's Hakone with a Seventh Stage record, third-year Keisuke Hayashi ran 3:53.17. Both third-years, Sixth Stage winner Yuji Onoda ran 3:58.09 and Second Stage winner Homare Morita ran 3:58.30. Head coach Susumu Hara, 51, was pleased with the shakeout ahead of outdoor season, commenting, "Times ended up being better overall than last year."

Surpassing all the Aoyama Gakuin runners to take the spot in 3:48.47 was incoming Kokushikan Kenyan Vincent Laimoi. Laimoi arrived in Japan in mid-March, running a PB 13:43.20 in his first race in Japan, the 5000 m at a meet at Kokushikan on the 25th. Running the 1500 m for the first time ever, Laimoi showed considerable potential. Together with current team mem…

It's almost time for the weekend's biggest race, as university men's ekiden season kicks off at Monday's Izumo Ekiden. 21 university teams face off over 45.1 km split into six stages, the short stage lengths rewarding the teams with the best speed credentials. For the last few years that's been Aoyama Gakuin University, a program that rose from nearly zero to juggernaut status under talented head coach Susumu Hara, but this year AGU's time in the spotlight may be up.

Over the six years since taking over as head coach in 2011 Hayashi Morozumi has turned Tokai University into a program that can challenge AGU's depth and quality. With Morozumi having spent track season focusing his team on 1500 m speed Tokai now has fifteen men with 5000 m bests under 14 minutes, and ten of them make up Tokai's roster for Izumo. Led by second-year Hayato Seki with bests of 13:35.81 and 28:23.37, all of Tokai's best six made the cut, giving it six-man averages over 500…

As Japan celebrates 100 years of the ekiden, its greatest racing series, the Big Three University Men's Ekidens, kicks off with the Oct. 9 Izumo Ekiden.

The university men's ekiden circuit entered its modern era of mass popularity and incredible depth of quality with Toyo University's 2012 Hakone Ekiden win, when innovative young coach Toshiyuki Sakai led Toyo to become the first team in history to average under 3:00 / km for the entire ten-stage, 217 km-plus Hakone course including two stages with nearly 900 m elevation difference each. The Toyo team, led by uphill specialist Ryuji Kashiwabara and wonder twins Keita and Yuta Shitara, became superstars, Kashiwabara a national icon and Yuta the future half marathon national record holder.

In the midst of Toyo's reign, underdogs Aoyama Gakuin University arose from nothing to replace them at the top. Susumu Hara, another innovative and businesslike young coach, brought AGU up systematically from an absence of over 30 yea…

On July 28 investigative officials with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Yoyogi Station confirmed that they have sent files to the prosecutor in the case of a former Aoyama Gakuin University ekiden team member, 23, suspected of assault causing injury against a female acquaintance.

The incident in which the man is suspected took place at the woman's residence in Tokyo on January 26, 2016. He allegedly head-butted the woman in the face and punched her in the stomach, causing minor injuries. According to officials, the woman claims that when she asked the man to give her back a watch she had previously given him he became enraged and attacked her. The woman filed a report with the police in early June the same year. Police also interviewed the man about his version of the events.

A few weeks before the incident the man competed for Aoyama Gakuin University in the Hakone Ekiden, helping lead the team to its second-straight overall win. He graduated from Aoyama Gakuin in March…

JAAF marathon development project leader Toshihiko Seko, 60, and three-time Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University head coach Susumu Hara, 50, appeared together June 7 at the JAAF's kickoff meeting for its 2020 Tokyo Olympics-centered marathon development plan. Speaking frankly, the pair caused a stir in the Japanese athletics world.

Concerning Japan's biggest race Seko said, "The Hakone Ekiden is a local competition. If you have some success you're treated like you rule everything under the sun. Even athletes who haven't done anything particularly special get coverage in the media. They're quick to earn the label "God," but that is a misunderstanding. I tell you: there is no God." With the top corporate league coaches looking on he continued, "Toyota, Konica, Nissin Shokuhin, Fujitsu, they have to do better with the talented athletes they have. I'm not kidding. For real."

Hara was just as sharp in his words, saying, "…

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20170208-OHT1T50033.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

After running 2:11:34 at age 19 at last year's Tokyo Marathon to become the fastest-ever Japanese marathoner under 20, Aoyama Gakuin University third-year Yuta Shimoda has withdrawn from this year's Tokyo Marathon on Feb. 26 due to pain in his right knee.  Shimoda was set to try for the London World Championships men's marathon team in Tokyo, whose organizers made the announcement of his withdrawal on Feb. 7.

Shimoda won the Hakone Ekiden Eighth Stage on Jan. 3 to help Aoyama Gakuin claim the overall title, his second-straight Hakone stage win.  On Jan. 15 he did a 2:27:35 marathon time trial on the last day of a three-day marathon training camp conceived by Aoyama Gakuin head coach Susumu Hara, 49, but after running the anchor stage of the National Men's Ekiden a week later on Jan. 22 he began to experience pain in his right knee.

Shimoda will not run the final London sele…

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20170201-OHT1T50148.html

translated by Brett Larner

Tadashi Isshiki, star fourth-year at 2015-2017 Hakone Ekiden championAoyama Gakuin University, completed a 42.195 km training run Feb. 1 in Futtsu, Chiba.  Isshiki ran the first 40 km in 2:21:52, roughly 3:33/km, before picking up the pace to 2:52/km to complete the final 2.195 km in 6:18 for a total time of 2:28:10.  Aoyama Gakuin head coach Susumu Hara, 49, has placed a heavy emphasis on major acceleration after 40 km, but Isshiki looked fresh as he finished the run, laughing, "That was just jogging."

Isshiki took part in Aoyama Gakuin's Jan. 13-15 marathon training camp in Futtsu but came down with a sore throat after the first day and dropped out. He soon recovered.  Planning to run the March 5 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon in a bid to make the London World Championships marathon team he faces rising expectations as Japan's #1 university runner.

Also doing the 42.195 km training ru…

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/feature/hakone/20170117-OHT1T50256.html

translated by Brett Larner

Four runners from Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University including under-20 national record holder Yuta Shimoda, a third-year at Aoyama Gakuin, completed a three-day marathon training camp in Futtsu, Chiba from Jan. 13th to 15th.  Alongside them was Aritaka Kajiwara, 28, an unsponsored independent who ran the Hakone Ekiden for straight years as part of the Kanto Region Select Team while at Shoin University and who has trained with the Aoyama Gakuin ekiden team since last year.

Kajiwara quit the Press Kogyo corporate team in 2015.  At December's Fukuoka International Marathon he ran a PB of 2:14:27.  He now plans to run both the Feb. 5 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon and the Mar. 5 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon.  "I'll be going for 2:12 at Beppu-Oita and 2:10 at Lake Biwa," he said.  Aoyama Gakuin head coach Susumu Hara commented, "We're currently taking applic…

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20170115-OHT1T50072.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/1765865.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Having won the January 2-3 HakoneEkiden with an unprecedented “double triple,” victories at all three Big Three University Ekidens in a single season and three-straight Hakone titles, Aoyama Gakuin University’s marathon training camp featuring under-20 marathon national record holder Yuta Shimoda (2:11:34, age 19) wrapped up Jan. 15 with a full marathon-length run in Futtsu, Chiba.

The 42.195 km run was the last workout on the schedule of the three day, two night training camp. Two days earlier on the 13th the camp’s participants ran 32.195 km, a tough schedule coming just two weeks after Hakone. Shimoda ran the first 40 km of the final workout in 2:21:18, roughly 3:32 per km, before accelerating to 2:52 per km for the final 2.195 km. His total time for the run was 2:27:35.

Aoyama Gakuin head coach Susumu Hara views the key …

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20170113-00000096-sph-spo

translated by Brett Larner

The first school in the HakoneEkiden's 93-year history to win both three Hakone titles in a row and all three of the Big Three University Ekidens in a single season, on Jan. 13 Aoyama Gakuin University members including star senior Tadashi Isshiki and 2:11:34 under-20 marathon national record holder Yuta Shimoda trained together with 2016 Aoyama Gakuin graduate "God of the Mountain III" Daichi Kamino (Konica Minolta) in Futtsu, Chiba for upcoming marathons.  Ten days after their historic feat the strongest team in university distance running is aiming for a mountain loftier than Hakone's peak.

The 13th was the first day of Aoyama Gakuin's marathon training camp in Futtsu, with participants starting off with a 32.195 km run.  Two days later on the final day of the camp they will run 42.195 km.  At three days and two nights it's a short but dense program.  Four Aoyama Gakuin r…

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20170104-00000029-sph-spo

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Having run the inaugural HakoneEkiden in 1920, Keio University announced this week that it is promoting assistant coach Kosaku Hoshina, 32, to the position of head coach.  A graduate of Nittai University and former Nissin Shokuhin corporate runner, Hoshina will lead the team in a bid to make a fully-fledged return to Hakone for the first time since the 70th running in 1994. Although its team is currently weak with just a 28th-place finish at October's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race, Keio's prominent brand-name value may help it become a rival to three-time Hakone winner Aoyama Gakuin University.

The Keio University track and field team was founded in 1917.  Along with Waseda University, Meiji University and Tokyo Koto Shihan College, in 1920 it was one of the four universities that ran the Hakone Ekiden's first edition. Known as one of the "Original Hakone Four,&…

by Brett Larner



University men's ekiden season gets into full swing at Sunday's National University Men's Ekiden Championships, the second of the Big Three University Ekidens.  Last year Aoyama Gakuin University looked set to become just the fourth team in history to win the Izumo-Nationals-Hakone ekiden triple crown, but Toyo University put on a performance that head coach Toshiyuki Sakai tearfully described as "180%" to stop Aoyama Gakuin dead and score its first-ever national title. This year, with a solid win at the season-opening Izumo Ekiden behind it Aoyama Gakuin looks ready to do what it couldn't last year.

The top 16-ranked teams at Sunday's 48th National University Men's Ekiden. Click to enlarge.


Aoyama Gakuin is far and away the favorite, leading the field in average 5000 m, 10000 m and half marathon bests among its top eight men.  With the Nationals course featuring eight stages between 9.5 km and 19.7 km and averaging 13.35 km 10000 m and …

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 developing working runners into…

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20160229/ath16022905000003-n1.html
http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20160229/ath16022905030007-n1.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

After Aoyama Gakuin University second-year Yuta Shimoda, 19, ran a 2:11:34 debut to finish 10th overall as the second Japanese man in Sunday's Tokyo Marathon, AGU head coach Susumu Haracalled for Shimoda to be put on the Rio team, calling it essential for Shimoda's development before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.  While Katsumi Sakai, one of the JAAF executives in charge of team selection, responded flatly, "We do not take the future into account," two of Japan's marathon greats, Olympians Takeyuki Nakayama and Hiromi Taniguchi, gave more nuanced views on Hara's statement.

Takeyuki Nakayama, 4th place, 1988 Seoul Olympics and 1992 Barcelona Olympics marathons

I can understand how Hara feels, but there are a lot of opportunities to get marathon experience even without the Olympics.  Get Shimoda r…

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, 2016translated 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 Murayama (23, Team …

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20160208-OHT1T50020.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Two-time Hakone Ekiden championAoyama 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 1:02:09 half m…

by Brett Larner
photos by @rikujolove
click here for Hakone Ekiden Day One report and results

After leading the first day of Japan's biggest race the entire way, defending champion Aoyama Gakuin University did it again on the return trip to become the first school in 39 years to lead the Hakone Ekiden start to finish.  Starting the day with a margin of 3:04 over 2015 National University Ekiden champion Toyo University Aoyama Gakuin had some room for error over the 5-stage, 109.6 km Day Two race, but even so head coach Susumu Hara took a major gamble in putting unknown Yuji Onoda, a 1st-year with no university ekiden, half marathon or 10000 m credentials and a 5000 m best of only 14:15.70, onto the day's leading stage, the 20.8 Sixth Stage with 800 m of brutal descent.  In doing it he also showed why is the best current coach in Japan, as Onoda responded to the challenge by tying the course record in 58:31.  For Toyo to have a chance it needed to make up serious ground on the Six…

by Brett Larner
photos by @rikujolove

click here for Day Two and overall results and report

Last year's course record-setting Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University went halfway to its first-ever title defense today, leading the five-stage 107.5 km Day One start to finish to win in 5:25:55.

Hakone Ekiden lead pack at Shinagawa Station pic.twitter.com/QjHm9HqJyN — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) January 1, 2016
With conditions superb the entire field went out hard, all 21 teams going through the 5 km mark on the 21.3 km First Stage in 14:13, 59:59 half marathon pace.  10 km came in 28:38 with 14 teams still up front before the first notable victim, 2015 Ageo City Half Marathon winner Kenya Sonota of last year's runner-up Komazawa University, lost touch, and 13 were still in play as the pack hit 15 km in 43:23.  With wins on his stages at the season's other two major ekidens Aoyama Gakuin 4th-year Kazuma Kubota made the first real move, breaking away with only sub-2…

by Brett Larner
follow @JRNLive for live coverage of the 2016 Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2 and 3


The Hakone Ekiden Museum divides the history of one of the world's three great races into distinct eras.  According to the Museum, the Hakone Ekiden's fourth era began at last year's 91st running with Aoyama Gakuin University's inspired and inspiring win.  A young outsider coach, Sususu Hara, with a new approach to building a team radiating not just talent but positivity and a love of what they're doing.  A star runner, Daichi Kamino, whose uphill Fifth Stage run guaranteed Aoyama Gakuin the win and turned himself and the rest of the team into national celebrities for the tens of millions of fans who watched the live broadcast and turned out along the course.  A sheer depth of quality that indicated that Hara's development and organizational practices did indeed mark the start of something new.

In the year since then, a year that Hara targeted as the culmination of his p…