japan running news

by Brett Larner for photos click here or here Half marathon national record holder and 2010 double 5000 and 10000 m national champion Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) quietly returned to the half marathon distance without fanfare after a three and a half year absence with a win at the 24th Shibetsu Half Marathon on July 25 in Shibetsu, Hokkaido. Fukushi ran the race together in a pack of three with defending champion and 2010 World Half Marathon team member Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) and marathoner Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren). Akaba fell behind after 15 km while Miyauchi managed to hang on until the final 2 km when Fukushi pulled away to the win in 1:12:25, her slowest time ever over the distance and no doubt a minimum-effort victory. Miyauchi, who was 4th behind Fukushi and Akaba in the Nationals 10000 m last month, was 2nd. Akaba, 3rd at Nationals, was again 3rd. Both women joined Fukushi in going under 1:13 on the hot and sunny race day which saw temperatures of 25 degrees at th...

by Brett Larner Team Toyota Boshoku's rookie Yusei Nakao had the strongest Japanese performance at the Rio World Half Marathon Championships on Oct. 12, finishing 5th in the men's race in 1:02:05, while the Japanese women came up with another bronze medal-winning team performance led by the 10th place finish of Team Hokuren's Yukiko Akaba. In the men's race, Masato Kihara (Chuo Gakuin University) led the way as the sole non-African in the lead pack of thirteen at the 5 km point, crossing the mark in 14:07. Although he has run faster than this before in a half marathon, Kihara soon ran into trouble and began to move backward, eventually finishing 83rd of 86 finishers in a shocking 1:20:05. Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN), Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) and Tetsuo Nishimura (Team YKK) set out at a more conservative pace and finished accordingly. Nakao, who ran a massive PB of 1:02:00 in May's Sendai International Half Marathon, ran the early stages of the race in...

http://www.iaaf.org/WHM08/news/kind=100/newsid=47971.html

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20080616-OYT1T00581.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner On June 16, Rikuren announced the members of the Japanese team for the World Half Marathon Championships to be held October 12 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Leading the team of five men and five women will be two-time Olympic marathoner Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex). The complete lineup of each team, with qualification data: Men Yusei Nakao (Team Toyota Boshoku): 1:02:00 (2nd, Sendai, 5/11/08) Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko): 1:02:05 (3rd, Sendai, 5/11/08) Masato Kihara (Chuo Gakuin Univ.): 1:02:07 (5th, Sapporo, 6/15/08) Tetsuo Nishimura (Team YKK): 1:02:35 (3rd, Jitsugyodan, 3/16/08) Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN): 1:02:40 (4th, Jitsugyodan, 3/16/08) Women Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren): 1:08:11 (1st, Jitsugyodan, 3/16/08) Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex): 1:08:25 (1st, Sendai, 5/11/08) Chisato Osaki (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo): 1:09:16 (2nd, Sapporo, 6/15/08) Miki Ohira (Team Mistui Sumitom...

http://www.daily.co.jp/general/2008/05/27/0001078429.shtml http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2008052600810 translated and edited by Brett Larner On May 26, Rikuren announced that Beijing Olympics women`s marathon team leader Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) will compete in October`s World Half Marathon Championships in Brazil. Noguchi won the Sendai International Half Marathon earlier this month and expressed her interest in competing in the World Half following the Olympics. Noguchi also announced that due to the recent earthquake in China she has cancelled her planned altitude training camp in Kunming, China. Noguchi will instead continue her training for the Olympics at an alternate location in Japan. June`s Sapporo International Half Marathon is the last of the three domestic races Rikuren will use to select the five-member team for the World Half Marathon Championships. The top male and female Japanese finishers at March`s All-Japan Jitsugyodan Half Marathon and May`s Sendai Int...

by Brett Larner The last major race of the Japanese running year, the 36th Jitsugyodan Half Marathon championships, took place Mar. 16 in Yamaguchi. Warm, somewhat windy weather made for more difficult conditions than usual and the absence of entered big names such as course record holders Mizuki Noguchi and Toshinari Takaoka marginally reduced the excitement of this year's event, but both women's and men's races nevertheless featured impressive performances. The Men's Race Coming at the end of the professional Japanese marathon season in an Olympic selection year, the Jitsugyodan Half Marathon was absent many of the top runners. Advertised entrants including Takaoka, Yu Mitsuya and Masato Imai did not appear, leaving the field dominated by recent recruits. Among these, Team Toyota's Tomohiko Sumi took the lead from the gun, running 2:45 for the 1st km with a substantial gap over the rest of the field. It was a replay of his three runs as a Nittai University student...

http://www.iaaf.org/WRU07/results/gender=M/discipline=HMAR/combCode=hash/roundCode=f/index.html written by Brett Larner Atsushi Sato set a new Japanese and Asian half-marathon record of 1:00:25 at the World Road Running Championships in Udine, Italy on Oct. 14, 2007. Sato placed 9th overall. Japan-based half-marathon world record holder Samuel Wanjiru, suffering from a knee injury, finished 51st in 1:03:31, behind Japan`s Sato; Kazuhiro Maeda, 30th in a PB of 1:02:08; and Kenji Noguchi, 33rd in a PB of 1:02:20. Tetsuo Nishimura was close behind Wanjiru, finishing 54th in 1:03:41. The Japanese team placed 7th out of 17 teams. Japan`s women`s team finished 3rd of 8 teams led by Chisato Osaki`s 7th place finish in a PB time of 1:08:56. Other Japanese results included Akane Taira, 12th in 1:09:17 (PB); Yoshimi Ozaki, 13th in 1:09:26 (PB); Yuko Machida, 26th in 1:11:55; and Yurika Nakamura, 39th in 1:13:13.

http://www.iaaf.org/WRU07/news/Kind=2/newsId=42057.html