japan running news

by Brett Larner Four regions across Japan held their qualifying races on Sunday for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships.  In the Chugoku region, Team Chugoku Denryoku  suffered a scare in its pursuit of a 17th-straight win, trailing trailing Team Mazda  until the sixth of the ekiden's seven stage before advacing to earn its place in Maebashi on New Year's Day.  Ideal conditions helped runners set new records on five of the ekiden's seven stages, led by a scintillating 19:41 record on the 7.2 km Second Stage by Ethiopian Ayele Abayneh  (Team Mazda), who outran Team JFE ace Kenyan Charles Ndirangu  by nine seconds.  Four teams in all from the Chugoku region qualified. Six teams made the grade in the Kansai Region, where Team Sagawa Express  won despite the absence of London Olympics marathoner Ryo Yamamoto .   Team Osaka Gas had a close victory over the Osaka Police Department team to pick up the last qualify...

by Brett Larner Along with marathoner Yuki Kawauchi 's anchor stage win at the Okumusashi Ekiden , three other ekidens around the country on Sunday saw significant action. At the biggest of them, the 75th Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden, Team Mazda  had a surprise upset over local stronghold Team Chugoku Denryoku  thanks to a spectacular anchor run from ace Akihiko Tsumurai .  Starting the 11.1 km Seventh Stage 43 seconds behind Chugoku Denryoku anchor Takumi Kiyotani , Tsumurai ran him down and won by three seconds, with Mazda finishing in 4:11:49 for the seven-stage, 84.4 km course to Chugoku Denryoku's 4:11:52.  Tsumurai clocked a new stage record of 31:21, a flat conversion to 28:07 for a road 10 km, just two seconds off   the national record held by Chugoku Denryoku's Atsushi Sato .  2011 national champion Sera H.S.  was a surprise 3rd in 4:14:13, one second ahead of the pro Team Sagawa Express  thanks to a sizeable lead from opening Kenyan John...

by Brett Larner It's you, baby. Shinobu Kubota brings Komazawa University home to its 9th national title in 17 years. Click photo for video highlights of the race. After a few shaky seasons Komazawa University  head coach Hiroaki Oyagi  reconfirmed his position as Japan's most successful university coach with his ninth National University Men's Ekiden Championships title on Nov. 6, the 17th major ekiden win in his 17 years at Komazawa.  Responding to Izumo Ekiden winner  Toyo University  and defending champion  Waseda University 's unprecedented 10 sub-29 men lineups last season, Oyagi has built a squad this year which features 11 men with sub-14 5000 m PBs, sub-29 10000 m PBs, or both, five of them with 10000 m times under 28:33.  Toyo did its best to match Komazawa's challenge and almost pulled it off but could not quite cope with Komazawa's superior speed on the shorter of the ekiden's stages.  Despite Oyagi throwing a curveball by only ...

by Brett Larner Sumiko Suzuki  (Team Hokuren) and Satoru Sasaki  (Team Asahi Kasei), teammates of Daegu World Championships marathon top finishers Yukiko Akaba  (Team Hokuren) and Hiroyuki Horibata  (Team Asahi Kasei), took their first victories at the mid-season Hakodate Half Marathon in cool conditions on Sept. 25.  Suzuki ran with little challenge, while Sasaki prevailed by only one second in a sprint finish against Norihiro Nomiya  (Team Toyota).  A short distance back from the lead pair of men were former marathon national record holder Atsushi Fujita  (Team Fujitsu) and, in his final tuneup for next month's Chicago Marathon, 5000 m and 30 km national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya  (Team Konica Minolta). 2011 Hakodate Half Marathon Hakodate, Hokkaido, 9/25/11 Women 1. Sumiko Suzuki (Team Hokuren) - 1:13:48 2. Yui Ouchi (Team Noritz) - 1:16:16 3. Miya Nishio (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 1:16:18 4. Ayumi Nakayama (Team Yamada D...

http://www.47news.jp/CN/201107/CN2011072401000293.html http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2011/07/25/kiji/K20110725001275810.html http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/110724/spg1107241552001-n1.htm http://gazoo.com/g-blog/tmcdistancerunning/351461/Article.aspx http://www.plus-blog.sportsnavi.com/kmanabu/article/474 translated and edited by Brett Larner The Shibetsu Half Marathon took place July 24 in Shibetsu, Hokkaido.  With starting temperatures of 25 degrees and dry, sunny conditions Norihiro Nomiya (Team Toyota) won the men's race in 1:05:09 and Yoko Miyauchi  (Team Kyocera) the women's race in 1:13:06.  Daegu World Championships marathon team members Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref.) and Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) also ran as part of their tune-up for the World Championships, Kawauchi placing 4th in the men's race in 1:06:24 and Ito 7th in the women's race in 1:16:15. The women's race included the last three champions.  Winner Miyauchi broke away...