japan running news

by Brett Larner
Apart from the Fukuoka International Cross Country Meet and Sunday's epochal Tokyo Marathon, three other significant races took place in Japan on Feb. 27.
Tomoyuki Morita (Team Kanebo) took the Kumanichi 30 km road race, winning in 1:32:14 by 18 seconds over Komazawa University's Akinori Iida. No women competed in this year's running.
At the 60th running of the venerable Kashima Yutoku Road Race, Hiroaki Koike (Toyo Univ.) won the men's half marathon in a modest 1:05:04, the only runner to break 66.
Korean university runner Seung Ho Baek beat Toyo University's Koshi Watanabe by 1 second to win the Inuyama Half Marathon in 1:03:47, while Mao Kuroda lead a near-sweep by Team Yutaka Giken runners in the women's division in a strong 1:12:21. Six women went under 35 minutes and six men under 30 in Inuyama's 10 km.
Kumanichi 30 km Kumamoto, 2/27/11 1. Tomoyuki Morita (Team Kanebo) - 1:32:14 2. Akinori Iida (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:32:32 3. Shota Yamaguch…

by Brett Larner

2007 World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist and 10 mile junior world record holder Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Team Suzuki) set a stunning new stage record at the 64th Meigi Ekiden on Feb. 7, the last major ekiden of the season. On a day of ideal conditions Mathathi covered the 9.8 km Fourth Stage, a point-to-point leg with a net elevation loss of 1 m, in 25:55. With a flat conversion to 10 km Mathathi's time would be a stunning 26:27, well ahead of the road 10 km world record of 27:01 set last year by Kenyan Micah Kogo. Mathathi also held the previous Fourth Stage record of 26:19 set in 2007. Takeshi Kumamoto (Team Toyota) likewise set a new stage record, running 17:20 for the 6.2 km Fifth Stage.

Despite Mathathi's sensational run, which advanced Team Suzuki to 3rd place, Suzuki finished only 4th. Team Toyota took the win, never lower than 2nd place but battling the entire way against Team Aichi Steel. Kumamoto's stage record run put Toyota into position, an…

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…

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/local/20080208/20080208_001.shtml

translated by Brett Larner

On Feb. 7 the organizing committee of the 46th Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon, sponsored by Kyushu Rikuren, Nobeoka City and the Nishi Nihon Newspaper Group, held a press conference at Nobeoka City Hall in Miyazaki Prefecture to announce the elite field for this year's race, to be held on Feb. 24. The invited field includes 24 athletes, 7 more than last year, with total entries standing at 356 runners, also up from last year.

The elite field includes several members of local team Asahi Kasei. Muneyuki Ojima, the fastest man in the field with a PB of 2:08:43, will be running his final race before retiring. Also appearing from Asahi Kasei are Fumiyuki Watanabe, who was injured and had to withdraw from last year's race, and Masaya Shimizu. These athletes will all be spurred on by the extra motivation of having watched their teammate Tomoya Adachi win the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon on Feb. 3…