japan running news

by Brett Larner Two-time defending champion Tetiana Gamera ran a 2:22:09 Ukrainian national record to win a third-straight Osaka International Women's Marathon in the race's 34-year history.  Gamera went to the front heading out of the park around Osaka's Nagai Stadium and onto the roads before 5 km, challenged only by the last woman to win Osaka before her, 2012 champ Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya).  In that race Shigetomo ran 2:23:23, more than 30 seconds up on Gamera's 2:23:58 best from her 2013 win, but without a sub-2:30 from Shigetomo since then the odds did not look to be in her favor. Shigetomo and Gamera pushed the pace to near 2:22-flat while a chase pack of eight led by 38-year-old Jelena Prokopcuka (Latvia) and 39-year-old Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) ran closer to 2:24-25 pace.  With a sub-2:22:30 requirement for auto selection to the 2015 Beijing World Championships team Shigetomo and Gamera hit the half in 1:11:15, but at the 180' turn just after ...

by Brett Larner Little-known Abraham Kiplimo  became the first Ugandan winner in the 63-year history of the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon , taking four minutes off his best to outrun two of Japan's best marathoners of 2013 for the win in 2:09:23.  Tokyo-area club runner Haruka Yamaguchi  (AC Kita) joined him in the books with the women's win in 2:41:56. In the almost complete absence of Beppu-Oita's usual wind, thick fog blanketed the course for most of the race.  After irregular pacing for the first 10 km things settled down near the mid-2:08 target pace with a large pack of over twenty men up front.  With a 2:08:00 at last year's Tokyo Marathon making him Japan's fastest marathoner last year, Moscow World Championships marathon team member Kazuhiro Maeda  (Team Kyudenko) was the favorite, but at 25 km he became the race's first major casualty as he gradually lost touch with the pack.  Top-ranked first-timers Ryo Kiname  (Team Mitsubishi Juko ...

by Brett Larner After heavy pre-race favorite Kayoko Fukushi  (Team Wacoal) faltered soon into the second half of the Jan. 29 Osaka International Women's Marathon , second-time marathoner Risa Shigetomo  (Team Tenmaya) was there to pick up the pieces as she took eight minutes off her debut time from last year's London Marathon to win in 2:23:23, the fastest time by a Japanese woman since Mizuki Noguchi 's 2:21:37 course record at the Nov., 2007 Tokyo International Women's Marathon.   Shigetomo's performance puts her as the leading contender for a spot on the Olympic team with one selection race to go, and barring a slew of spectacular runs at the Mar. 11 Nagoya Women's Marathon she is likely to become the fourth-straight Tenmaya runner to make an Olympic team.  Ukrainian Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko  and former pro XC skiier Azusa Nojiri  (Team Daiichi Seimei) also ran well, both running new PBs under 2:25 to take 2nd and 3rd after Gamera-Shmyrko ran a solid ne...

http://www.asahi-kasei.co.jp/asahi/jp/csr/sports/rikujo/result/2010/100723.html translated by Brett Larner We're deep in the heart of summer gashuku season, when Japan's high school, university and corporate teams relocate to the northern island of Hokkaido, the mountains of Nagano or elsewhere to beat the heat and focus on building a base for the upcoming fall ekiden season and the subsequent winter marathon season. Team Asahi Kasei, the best corporate team on the southern island of Kyushu, recently posted the following report about its gashuku in the mountains of Oita prefecture on its website. Click photos for full-sized versions or the link above for more pictures. Asahi Kasei's annual mountain gashuku got underway July 15 in the Chojabaru region near Kokonoemachi, Oita prefecture. Morning temperatures are around 17-18 degrees. While midday temperatures can get up to 30 degrees in the evening they fall to 23-25 degrees, leaving ample chance for the entire team to get it...

by Brett Larner Six Japanese runners competed in the elite field of the 2008 Virginia Beach Rock and Roll Half Marathon on Aug. 31. Each year the 5th and 6th place male and female Japanese finishers in March's All-Japan Jitsugyodan Half Marathon Championships are invited to run the Rock and Roll Half Marathon, the higher-tier Japanese finishers being selected for other races including the World Half Marathon Championships. This year the invited men were Team Konica Minolta's Kazuyuki Maeda, 7th overall at the 2008 Jitsugyodan Half in 1:02:50, and Team Asahi Kasei's Takaaki Koda, 8th at the Jitsugyodan Half in 1:02:52. The invited women were Team Tenmaya's Kei Terada, 7th overall at the Jitsugyodan Half with a 1:12:11, and Team Sysmex's Megumi Seike, 9th at the Jitsugyodan Half in 1:12:25. Two other Japanese women, Team Shimamura's Aya Manome and Team Wacoal's Miho Notagashira, also ran the Rock and Roll Half Marathon. Maeda ran 1:05:18 to take 4th in the men...

http://kumanichi.com/fsports/30km/index.cfm http://kumanichi.com/fsports/30km/30km52/20080225.1.cfm http://kumanichi.com/fsports/30km/30km52/20080225.2.cfm http://kumanichi.com/fsports/30km/30km52/20080225.3.cfm translated and edited by Brett Larner On Feb. 24 individual entrant Masaki Shimojo (Team Konica Minolta) won the 52nd Kumanichi 30 km Road Race in Kumamoto in 1:30:33. He became only the 3rd individual entrant to ever win the event, the last being Tomoya Shimizu (Team Sagawa Express) 2 years ago. Only 2 women were entered in the race, but winner Miho Notagashira (Team Wacoal) set a new course record by 13 seconds, running 1:44:00. Although windy conditions prevented a predicted 1:29 finish time, the men's race yielded the first dead heat finish in years. It started with a slow pace. At the 10 km point, Kodai Tanabe (Team Mazda) broke from the lead pack and opened a gap, but at the halfway point it looked likely that the finish time would be in the 1:33 range. The chase...