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Showing posts with the label Tomohiro Shiiya

Kipruto, Kirui, Yamamoto and Kubota Headline 68th Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon Elite Field

by Brett Larner

The Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Biwako for short, has finally announced the elite field for this year's 68th running.  While it lacks the sub-2:05 punch that Tokyo was able to pull in this year as a fledgling major, Biwako has put together the deepest field of any domestic Japanese marathon in the 2012-2013 season.  Up front, a small but high-quality international group including 2:05 man Vincent Kipruto (Kenya), 30 km world record holder Peter Kirui (Kenya) and 2012 Houston Marathon winner Tariku Jufar (Ethiopia) to go up against Wilson Kipsang's 2:06:13 course record.

In pursuit of both them and the Federation's sub-2:08 time requirement for a guaranteed spot on the 2013 World Championships is a solid field including four of the five Japanese men to break 2:10 at last year's Biwako, namely London Olympian Ryo Yamamoto (Team Sagawa Express), Tomoyuki Morita (Team Kanebo), Takashi Horiguchi (Team Honda) and Masashi Hayashi (Team Yakult), veterans Atsus…
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Masato Imai Looking Forward to Running the Marathon His Way After New Year Record

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/other/athletic/text/201301070004-spnavi.html

translated by Brett Larner

With all eyes on the debut of the Hakone Ekiden's "God of the Mountain" Ryuji Kashiwabara (Team Fujitsu) in the high-level pro ekiden circuit, the fireworks at the New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championship instead came from Kashiwabara's predecessor as Hakone's king of the hill, Masato Imai (Team Toyota Kyushu) on the 22.0 km Fourth Stage.  At first the main focus on the Fourth Stage was track runner Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta), who took the tasuki 34 seconds back from the lead pair of runners from the Yasukawa Denki and Toyota Boshoku teams.  Splitting a searing 27:53 through the first 10 km, Ugashi caught the leaders, London Olympics marathon 6th-placer Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Tomohiro Shiiya (Team Toyota Boshoku) at 13 km to take over the top position.

Having started 1:05 back from the leaders, Imai ran only 28:09 t…
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Collegiate 5000 m and 10000 m National Champion Omwamba Wins Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler

by Brett Larner

Alongside the Fukuoka International Marathon, Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu hosted another major road race on Sunday, the Kumamoto Kosa 10 Mile Road Race.  The world's most competitive 10-miler by a wide margin, Kosa plays an important role for the coaches of Japan's corporate teams in helping them refine their lineups for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships.  Kosa has long been dominated by Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), who has won six times since 2003 and holds the course record of 44:51 but opted for a marathon debut in Fukuoka this year.  Despite the advantages of having Africans in the race to keep things fast among the predominantly Japanese field Kosa employs a strange format with any non-Japanese entrants segregated together in an "International Division" and given a one-minute head start.  The winner of the all-Japanese division is typically reported as the winner by the Japane…
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Ekiden Weekend Roundup - Olympic Marathoner Ryo Yamamoto Returns to Action

by Brett Larner

Along with weekend's major domestic races, the Ageo City Half Marathon and Yokohama International Women's Marathon, no less than five major ekidens took place across the country. At Saturday's cold and rainy 74th Biwako University Ekiden, the eight stage, 83.6 km year-end championship for men's university teams from western Japan, Kyoto Sangyo University pulled off a third-straight win after a disappointing 2012 season. Never far from the front, Kyoto Sangyo took the lead on the 7.3 km Second Stage, losing it momentarily on the 11.0 km Third Stage to rival Daiichi Kogyo University's Kenyan ringer John Kariuki but returning on the next leg thanks to a stage win by Naoto Nakai. Kyoto Sangyo's next two runners built the team's lead up to 2:18, but a weak run by seventh man Makoto Kan cut the margin by a minute and left anchor Naoya Yoshioka with 1:16 to try to hold off Ritsumeikan University's 1500 m specialist Toshiki Imazeki over 7.7 k…
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TEPCO Ekiden Team Suspension Continues With No Sign of Return to Activity

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/f-sp-tp0-20111013-849436.html

translated by Brett Larner

On Oct. 13 TEPCO announced that as a consequence of the ongoing situation at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant the suspension of its men's long distance and ekiden team will continue indefinitely.  There are no plans for the team to compete in corporate league competition and, at the present time, it cannot take part in the fall and winter ekiden season.

Following March's earthquake and tsunami disaster the TEPCO team's athletes and coaching staff have all been sent to work in Fukushima.  A team representative commented, "We have no restrictions on them running races independently."

Translator's note: In reality, many of the team's athletes, including aces Yoshihiro Wakamatsu and Tomohiro Shiiya, have quit TEPCO since the announcement that they would be sent to work on Fukushima cleanup efforts and have been hired by other teams.  Wakamatsu now runs for …
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TEPCO Ace Shiiya Joins Amateur Ranks Outside Suspended Team

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/news/20110510k0000e050028000c.html
translated and edited by Brett Larner
In the wake of the accident at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant following the Mar. 11 earthquake and tsunami disasters, the TEPCO Group corporation suspended its men's ekiden team indefinitely, sending team members to Fukushima to help with recovery efforts. Even in such difficult circumstances, for some the situation has not meant the end of their running. Earlier this week it was annoucned that team leader Yoshihiro Wakamatsu had left TEPCO to join Tokyo-based 2010 national champions Team Nissin Shokuhin. With TEPCO not renewing its corporate league registration for the 2011-2012 season, another team member, Tomohiro Shiiya, 24, has chosen to follow a similar path to Tokyo Marathon hero Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) and run as a full-time-working amateur registered with the Tokyo Track and Field Association.
As a member of TEPCO's ekiden team Shiiya ran the ace Fo…
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Mathathi 44:59 at Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler

by Brett Larner

Junior 10-mile world record holder Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) became the first man to break the 45 minute barrier three times at the Dec. 5 Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler, taking his fifth win with a time of 44:59. His nearest competitor, John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota) was a fair way back in 45:47. Among Japanese competitors, who have a separate start from foreign runners, Ryuji Watanabe (Team Toyota Kyushu) was the top finisher in 47:21, the promised field of top-ranked young elites being entirely absent. All told 37 men broke 49 minutes.

2010 Kumamoto Kosa 10-Mile Road Race
click here for complete results
International Men's 10-Miler
1. Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 44:59
2. John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota) - 45:47
3. Micah Njeru (Kenya/Team Toyota Boshoku) - 46:45
4. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 47:48

Japanese Men's 10-Miler
1. Ryuji Watanabe (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 47:21
2. Daisuke Matsufuji (Team Kanebo) - 47:37
3. Yuya Konishi (Team Toyota Kyush…
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