japan running news

Her form has been dubbed "ninja running." Both arms held straight down with almost no movement. That idiosyncratic style carried Yuka Ando, 23, to the fastest-ever marathon debut by a Japanese woman, 2:21:36, at March's Nagoya Women's Marathon to land at #4 on the all-time Japanese lists. All at once Ando found herself catapulted to the top level of women's marathoning, a candidate for Japan's next great marathoner.

When she was younger Ando ran moving her arms like other runners, but she had a bad habit of moving robotically, her upper body and lower body not working in sync. The turning point came in 2014 when she joined Suzuki Hamamatsu AC. Working there with coach Masayuki Satouchi to eliminate the faults in her form, the pair arrived at the ninja running style that let her run relaxed. "Other people keep asking me, "Isn't it hard to run like that?" but for me it's comfortable," she said. The efficient form helped her maintain…

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/column/20170314-OHT1T50078.html

an editorial by Yuji Hosono
translated by Brett Larner



After running 2:21:36 for 2nd at the Mar. 12 Nagoya Women's Marathon to become the all-time 4th-fastest Japanese woman, the name of 22-year-old Cinderella girl Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) is now synonymous with the slightly incongruous term "ninja running."  Her lower arms hanging loosely, barely moving, gaining forward propulsion through the strength of her legs, a unique form on display throughout her duel with Rio Olympics silver medalist Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain).  It just may be enough to bring the Olympic women's marathon gold medal back to Japan for the first time since Mizuki Noguchi in Athens in 2004.

Ando's ninja running first caught my eye about a year ago at the May, 2016 Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon.  I had the impression that it seemed to be between Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal), who was expected to medal in the Rio Olympics and Ando, who …

http://www.at-s.com/sports/detail/1174213755.html

translated by Brett Larner

One of Japan's top 3000 m steeplechase runners, Tsuyoshi Takeda (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) announced his retirement following his run at the Shizuoka Prefecture Track and Field Championships.  In addition to long-lasting pain in the bottom of his right foot, Takeda, just 28, has recently had problems with the meniscus in his right knee that have meant he could not run as planned this season.  Before last month's National Championships he said, "If I don't produce results then that's it," and after finishing 9th he stuck to that decision.

For his final race he chose the Prefectural Championships, saying, "I want my family to see me run."  With his wife Aiko and sons Hayato, 2, and Futoshi, 6 months, watching, Takeda took 2nd, running an active race that saw him do much of the leading work up front.  Takeda will remain a Suzuki employee for the time being but hopes to become a coac…

by Brett Larner

In what was really and truly probably the last noteworthy ekiden of the season, course records fell Feb. 17 in two of the three divisions at the 37th Chunichi Hamanako Isshu Ekiden at Lake Hamana in Shizuoka.  Despite the absence of aces Martin Mathathi and Yusei Nakao, the Suzuki Hamamatsu AC team had no trouble winning the 53.5 km men's race, clocking 2:42:49 to runner-up Teikyo University's 2:44:15.  Suzuki men took three of the five stages, with 2010-11 steeplechase national champion Tsuyoshi Takeda setting a course record of 29:12 for the 9.6 km Fourth Stage.

In the six-stage, 42.0 km high school boys' race, 2012 National High School Ekiden runner-up Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S. ran 2:07:38 to set a new overall course record thanks to four of its runners scoring stage bests.  Fourth man Yuki Hirota, running the same 9.6 km course as Takeda in the men's race, set a new high school division record of 28:44, almost 30 seconds better than Takeda's mark.  T…