japan running news

http://www.asahi-kasei.co.jp/asahi/jp/csr/sports/rikujo/result/2009/090408.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner
click thumbnails for full-sized photos via Team Asahi Kasei

Atsushi Sato leads Tomoya Shimizu, one of the Matsumiya twins, Satoru Sasaki and Seiji Kobayashi.

Japan's top male marathoners departed on Mar. 30 for a Rikuren-sponsored training camp in New Zealand. Lasting until Apr. 15, the training camp is taking place at the northernmost tip of New Zealand's southern island, in the town of Nelson. 2009 Berlin World Championships marathoner Masaya Shimizu (Team Asahi Kasei) is taking part in the camp along with his junior teammate Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei). Also at the camp are prospective World Championships team members Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku), who is training for this month's London Marathon, and Seiji Kobayashi (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki), who was 2nd in February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon. Others in the training group include S…

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/p-sp-tp0-20090302-466450.html

translated by Brett Larner

The older of the Shimizu twins, Team Asahi Kasei's Masaya Shimizu, 28, secured his place on the men's marathon team for August's World Championships in Berlin with a 4th place finish in 2:10:50 at the Mar. 1 Biwako Mainichi Marathon. Masaya was the top Japanese finisher, beating out his brother Tomoya (Team Sagawa Express) who was 6th overall and 2nd Japanese in the brothers' first-ever head-to-head matchup in a marathon. His successful run adds to Masaya's happiness this month as he will be getting married on the 29th, but not all is wine and roses. Rikuren officials were harsh in their evaluation of the disparity between current world-class standards and the results of the Shimizu brothers and other Japanese runners. Former world record holder Paul Tergat (Kenya) won Biwako for the first time.

As Japanese runners fell out of the lead pack one by one, Masaya Shimizu kept …

by Brett Larner

Click photo for video highlights courtesy of NHK.






Windy conditions kept times slow overall, but aging former world record holder Paul Tergat (Kenya) overcame his opponents in an international group of five to win the 2009 Biwako Mainichi Marathon in a time of 2:10:22, his first marathon win since the 2005 New York City Marathon and only the third marathon win of his career. Tergat dropped two-time Biwako winner Jose Rios (Spain) at the 41 km mark to seal his win after sitting in the pack for 29 km and then running with Rios, Yared Asmerom (Eritrea), Masaya Shimizu (Japan) and Abiyot Guta (Ethiopia) for 12 km. Rios finished 2nd in 2:10:36, with Asmerom just outkicking Shimizu for 3rd in 2:10:49.

In his post-race interview Tergat was pleased with his performance and showed his keen political sense as he commented, "I'm happy I won the race. It was a great competition with great athletes, and incredible that until 35 km we were about six athletes. Amazing was the yo…

http://www.iaaf.org/LRR09/news/newsid=49499.html

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2009022600881

translated by Brett Larner

The 42.195 km Biwako Mainichi Marathon takes place Mar. 1 in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture. As a selection race for August's World Championships in Berlin, the top Japanese finisher will automatically earn a spot on the team. With all five of the domestic invited elites close in ability the race will likely come down to who is best able to summon up a strong finish.

The Japanese runner with the best time is Yuzo Onishi (Team Nissin Shokuhin), who set his mark of 2:08:54 at last year's Biwako where he was 4th. In the same race Tomoya Shimizu (Team Sagawa Express) was 5th, running 2:09:23 in his marathon debut. Both runners are looking for a big leap in their performances this year. Shimizu's twin brother Masaya (Team Asahi Kasei) and veterans Kazutoshi Takatsuka (Team Komori Corp.) and Takashi Ota (Team Konica Minolta) make up the rest of the invited domestic field.

After the failure of Japanese men's…

by Brett Larner

On Feb. 18 the Biwako Mainichi Marathon released the elite field for this year's running to be held on Sun., Mar. 1. Headlining the field is former marathon world record holder Paul Tergat of Kenya. The 39 year old Tergat was scheduled to run the 2007 Fukuoka International Marathon but withdrew at the last moment citing required military service, meaning that Biwako, also known as Lake Biwa and Otsu, will be his first time appearing in a marathon in Japan.

Among the foreign competition facing Tergat are last year's runner-up Yared Asmerom (Eritrea) and past champion Jose Rios (Spain). Both Asmerom and Rios recorded their personal bests on the Biwako course. Also on the bill are Abderrahime Bouramdane (Morocco), Abiyot Guta (Ethiopia), Vitaliy Shafar (Ukraine) and Pawel Ochal (Poland).

Biwako is a selection race for the Japanese men's marathon team for the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. The top Japanese finisher will earn a spot on the team, and other runn…

by Brett Larner

The next selection race for the Japanese men's marathon team for the 2009 World Championships in Berlin takes place Mar. 1 at the Biwako Mainichi Marathon, one of Japan's most prestigious elite races. Biwako, also known as the Lake Biwa Marathon and usually referred to in official listings as the Otsu marathon after the town in which the race takes place, became Japan's first IAAF Gold Label road race earlier this year in a suprising move possibly designed to counter main sponsor Rohm's withdrawal of support following this year's race. Biwako's future may be in question but as a World Championships selection race this year's edition is sure to continue the event's history of offering the spring's most dramatic domestic men's racing.

Biwako has not yet released its official entry list, but below is a compilation of athletes who have thus far publicly declared an intent to run. The official entry list should be available within the w…

by Brett Larner

The 2008 Hokkaido Marathon saw suprise winners in both the men's and women's races, with retired professional runner turned high school teacher Masaru Takamizawa running a PB of 2:12:10 in the heat to take the men's win and tiny 19 year-old Yukari Sahaku, a disciple of Naoko Takahashi's former coach Yoshio Koide, running to victory with a 2:31:50 marathon debut.

Takamizawa, 27, is a former member of Team Nissin Shokuhin and a graduate of Yamanashi Gakuin University where he ran the Hakone Ekiden's second stage, its most competitive. In March this year he retired from the jitsugyodan world to take a job teaching information technology at Nagano's Saku Chosei High School, which he had attended as a student. Not coincidentally Saku Chosei is one of Japan's top running high schools, and Takamizawa also took on duties as an assistant coach for the school's ekiden team under his own high school-era head coach Hayashi Morozumi. Since taking the j…

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 pack reto…