japan running news

Hiroyuki Yamamotoage: 33
sponsor: Konica Minolta
graduated from: Kawaguchi Kita H.S., Toyo University

best time inside MGC window:
2:10:33, 10th, 2019 Lake Biwa Marathon

PB: 2:09:12, 10th, 2017 Tokyo Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 13:45.43 (2010) 10000 m: 27:55.40 (2015) half marathon: 1:02:43 (2013)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019):
10th, 2019 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:10:33
DNF, 2018 Tokyo Marathon
DNS, 2017 New York City Marathon

other major results:
6th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Fifth Stage (15.8 km), 46:53
6th, 2018 Great North Run Half Marathon, 1:02:49
5th, 2017 Great North Run Half Marathon, 1:02:03
4th, 2016 New York City Marathon, 2:11:49
3rd, 2015 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:11:48

Yamamoto was a member of Toyo University’s 2009 team that won the Hakone Ekiden for the first time in school history and launched Hakone’s transition into the modern era. A solid meat and potatoes marathoner, Yamamoto has been reliably at the 2:09 to 2:11 level in four marathon finishes includin…

Kentaro Nakamotoage: 36
sponsor: Yasukawa Denki
graduated from: Nishiichi H.S., Takushoku University

best time inside MGC window: 
2:11:34, 2nd, 2019 Krakow Marathon

PB: 2:08:35, 2nd, 2013 Beppu-Oita Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 14:04.31 (2011) 10000 m: 28:54.59 (2012) half marathon: 1:02:12 (2018)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019):
2nd, 2019 Krakow Marathon, 2:11:34
DNF, 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon
5th, 2018 Hokkaido Marathon, 2:12:54
DNS, 2018 Boston Marathon
10th, 2017 London World Championships Marathon, 2:12:41

other major results:
20th, 2019 Hakodate Half Marathon, 1:04:32
11th, 2019 Sendai International Half Marathon, 1:03:27
10th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Fifth Stage (15.8 km), 47:11
2nd, 2018 Osaka Half Marathon, 1:02:12 – PB
1st, 2017 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:09:32
5th, 2013 Moscow World Championships Marathon, 2:10:50
2nd, 2013 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:08:35 – PB
6th, 2012 London Olympics Marathon, 2:11:16
4th, 2012 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:08:53
9th, 2011 Daeg…

Tomohiro Tanigawaage: 30
sponsor: Konica Minolta
graduated from: Kumamoto Kogyo H.S., Takushoku University

best time inside MGC window:
2:12:02, 3rd, 2018 Hokkaido Marathon

PB: 2:11:39, 2nd, 2015 Nagano Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 13:51.09 (2013) 10000 m: 28:24.31 (2013) half marathon: 1:02:18 (2013)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019):
3rd, 2018 Hokkaido Marathon, 2:12:02
28th, 2018 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:18:33

other major results:
5th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Seventh Stage (15.5 km), 46:28
4th, 2018 East Japan Corporate Ekiden Seventh Stage (12.9 km), 38:12
1st, 2016 Sydney Marathon, 2:12:13

Tanigawa is the only athlete male or female in the MGC Race to have never broken the 2020 Olympics marathon qualifying time standard. He did win the gold label Sydney Marathon in 2016, equivalent to having cleared the standard, but his PB of 2:11:39 from 2015 is just shy of the 2:11:30 time standard. Tanigawa graduated from Takushoku University, alma mater of two of the three members…

Konica Minolta team members Hiroyuki Yamamoto and Tomohiro Tanigawa are training on the island of Miyako in preparation for the Marathon Grand Championship (MGC) race, the official qualifying race for the Japanese Tokyo Olympics marathon team. The pair selected Miyako for their base training to get acclimated to the hot and humid conditions expected at the Sept. 15 MGC Race.

Yamamoto graduated from Kawaguchi Kita H.S. and Toyo University before joining Konica Minolta. His PBs include 13:45.43 for 5000 m and 2:09:12 for the marathon. Tanigawa went to Kumamoto Kogyo H.S. and Takushoku University, signing on to the Konica Minolta team after his graduation. He has run 13:51.09 for 5000 m and 2:11:39 for the marathon.

The two athletes, head coach Daisuke Isomatsu and other staff members have been on the island since May 27. It is their first time training there. Each day's training is split into three workouts, one each in the early and late morning and another in the afternoon. Inclu…

The organizers of the Feb. 3 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon announced on Jan. 23 that invited elite athletes Chiharu Takada (JR Higashi Nihon) and Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta) have withdrawn with stress fractures, Takada in his right fibula and Tanigawa in a metatarsal of his left foot. In addition, general division elite Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) has also withdrawn due to shin splints in his left leg.

source article:
https://mainichi.jp/articles/20190123/k00/00m/050/146000c
translated by Brett Larner

A veteran and a first-timer made the headlines from the opposite ends of the spectrum at Sunday's Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo, Hokkaido, the first race in the second season of qualifying for the MGC Race, Japan's new 2020 Olympic trials race to be held in September next year. A passing typhoon brought cooler than usual weather to Hokkaido and a better-than-usual chance of hitting the sub-2:13 and sub-2:30 qualifying marks most Olympic aspirants would have to clear.

The men's race was simply a race of attrition, with no dramatic changes in pace or sudden moves, just a large pack of motivated people going out mid-2:11 pace in a race where only two men have ever cleared 2:12, neither of them Japanese. In the pack, 59:47 Kenyan Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta), the promising young Shohei Otsuka (Kyedenko), championships marathoner extraordinaire Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki),2016 Sydney Marathon winner Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta), luckless veteran Naoki Okamoto (Chugok…

Kenyan Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta) outran teammate Tomohiro Tanigawa and defending champ Tsubasa Hayakawa (Toyota) to win the 32nd Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon in the midst of hot and sunny conditions. All three went under the previous course record, with Kuira getting away in the final kilometer to win in 1:03:10. Hayakawa was next in 1:03:15, with Tanigawa just back in 1:03:18.

In the women's half marathon Kotomi Tsubokura won by over 30 seconds in 1:15:42. Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) won the women's 10 km in 34:08, beating Rio Olympian Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku) by 8 seconds. Newcomer Junna Suzuki (Iwatani Sangyo) was 3rd a step behind Ito in 34:17.
32nd Shibetsu Half MarathonShibetsu, Hokkaido, 7/22/18

Men
1. Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta) - 1:03:10 - CR
2. Tsubasa Hayakawa (Toyota) - 1:03:15
3. Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta) - 1:03:18
4. Ryo Matsumoto (Toyota) - 1:03:44
5. Kenta Iinuma (SGH Group) - 1:04:21

Women
1. Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal) - 1:15:42
2. Ayaka Inoue (Ots…

With just over two weeks to go the organizers of the Feb. 4 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon have released their elite field for this year's race. With its history as an elite men-only race Beppu-Oita's women's field is still tiny given its status as an IAAF silver label race, but this year promises a good race between two local 2:32 women, 2016 winner Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead) and Yuka Takemoto (Canon AC Kyushu), that should see the 2:39:57 course record fall. Defending champ Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) also returns with a 2:38:43 PB from last fall that puts her range of the course record as well.

The men's race is heavier-duty, with a spot in the MGC Race Tokyo Olympic Trials available to the top Japanese man under 2:11:00 and to up to five others if they clear 2:10. Hayato Sonoda (Kurosaki Harima) and Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) are the only Japanese men in the field to have run those kinds of times in the last couple of years, and with support from 2:09~2:10 men …