japan running news

by Brett Larner Always a big meet on the Japanese calendar, Stanford University's May 1 Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational produced some exceptional performances. For Bitan Karoki (Team S&B), on the entry lists as 'Bedan' but listed as 'Bitan' on his IAAF profile and elsewhere, it was an international coming-out party as he became the third Japan-based Kenyan in nine days to set a world leader in men's 10000 m, 1st in a 10-second PB of 27:13.67 after dropping the rest of the field with comedic ease. The leading Japanese men's and women's half-marathoners of the year, Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) and Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal), each set the year-leading Japanese time for 10000 m, Ugachi with a 20-second PB of 27:41.97 just 2 seconds off a World Championships A-standard time and 6 seconds off the national record despite tripping and nearly falling late in the race, and Fukushi 3rd in 30:54.29 in her best time since 2002 and first time...

by Brett Larner Stanford University's Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational has a long history of being an important spring meet on the Japanese track calendar, the site of multiple national records including both the current men's and women's 10000 m records. This year's meet features a large contingent of Japanese athletes, particularly in the men's 10000 m where virtually all of the current top men will be shooting for World Championships and Olympic qualifying times. Below is a quick preview to the Japanese athletes in each event. The meet will be webcast live by Flotrack beginning at 10:45 a.m. Japan time on May 2. Click here for more info on the meet and webcast . Men's 3000 mSC - Section 1 #13 - Aoi Matsumoto (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - PB: 8:30.49 (2010) #21 - Hiroyoshi Umegae (Team NTN) - PB: 8:34.96 (2010) With the departure of national record holder Yoshitaka Iwamizu (Team Fujitsu) from the steeple for longer events, Matsumoto and Umegae are the to...

by Brett Larner photos by Daniel Seite #30 Kenta Murayama (Meisei H.S.) on the shoulder of 2010 Tokyo Marathon winner #16 Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda). Hot from a 13:49.45 PB two weeks ago, Meisei High School's Kenta Murayama ran the fastest 10000 m time of the year by a Japanese high schooler, 28:23.18, to finish 3rd in the A-heat at the 213th Nittai University Time Trials meet Dec. 4 in Yokohama. Ahead of Murayama were only Kenyans Jacob Wanjuki and Samuel Ndungu of Team Aichi Seiko, Wanjuki winning in a strong PB of 27:49.44. Among the Japanese competition to finish behind Murayama were 2010 Tokyo Marathon winner Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda) and 2010 Kanto Regional University 5000 m champion Taku Fujimoto (Kokushikan Univ.), who battled head to head to finish 5th and 6th in 28:27.52 and 28:27.66. 10000 m A-Heat winner Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko). Murayama's time improved the high school year best time by 30 seconds over the sub-29 time set two weeks ago b...

by Brett Larner 2010 National Jitsugyodan T&F Championships - Top Results click here for complete results Men's 5000 m Heat Three 1. Josephat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) - 13:56.08 2. Kenta Murotsuka (SDF Academy) - 13:56.13 3. Yuki Matsuoka (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 13:56.61 4. Hiroki Kadota (Team Kanebo) - 13:56.62 5. Takamasa Uchida (Team Toyota) - 13:56.79 6. Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 13:57.01 7. Tsubasa Maeda (Team YKK) - 13:58.44 8. Hidehito Takamine (Team Fujitsu) - 13:58.73 9. Yoshikazu Kawazoe (Team Asahi Kasei) - 13:59.28 10. Hitoshi Nishi (Team Sagawa Express) - 14:03.99 Women's 5000 m Heat One 1. Ann Karindi (Kenya/Team Toyota Jidoshoki) - 15:59.42 2. Kaori Urata (Team Tenmaya) - 16:00.14 3. Shoko Mori (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 16:00.20 4. Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) - 16:00.38 5. Tomoka Inadomi (Team Wacoal) - 16:00.38 6. Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Giken) - 16:00.43 7. Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Team Universal Ent.) - 16:02.72 8. Hiroko Shoi (T...

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/100214/spg1002141840005-n1.htm translated by Brett Larner At the 50th anniversary Karatsu 10-Mile Road Race on Feb. 14, 2008 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon winner Tomoya Adachi (Team Asahi Kasei) took 1st in an excellent time of 47:01. Re-entering the track in a tight pack for a final lap at the end of the race, Adachi outkicked last year's runner-up Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) and Akihiko Tsumurai (Team Mazda) for his first Karatsu win. First-time winner Adachi commented, "I ran with a margin to spare. 47 minutes was my target time," indicating that the run had gone according to plan. In the early stages Adachi was relaxed, looking around at the others up front. With 3 km to go he took charge, leading the pack all the way back to the track for the finish. Adachi plans to run the Feb. 28 Tokyo Marathon and ran Karatsu as a final tune-up. But even though it was a tune-up, Adachi says, "If I had a chance to win I wanted to go ...