japan running news

Ecopa Stadium, Shizuoka, 5/3/12
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Men's 5000 m
1. Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 13:19.18
2. Patrick Mutunga (Kenya/Team Toyota Boshoku) - 13:21.22
3. John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota) - 13:23.41
4. Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 13:27.06
5. Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) - 13:41.56
6. Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) - 13:46.35
7. Kazuharu Takai (Team Kyudenko) - 14:00.31
8. Hayato Saito (Team Honda) - 14:05.13
9. Yusei Nakao (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 14:08.95
10. Wataru Ueno (Komazawa Univ.) - 14:18.77

Women's 5000 m
1. Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:30.95
2. Ai Igarashi - 15:31.72 (Team Sysmex) - 15:31.72
3. Susan Wairimu (Kenya) - 15:31.74
4. Grace Kimanzi (Kenya/Team Starts) - 15:32.23
5. Yurie Doi (Team Starts) - 15:37.32
6. Megumi Kinukawa (Mizuno) - 15:40.73
7. Doricah Obare (Kenya/Team Hitachi) - 15:43.95
8. Mai Ishibashi (Team Denso) - 15:45.25
9. Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Team Univ. Ent.) - 15:51.85
10. Ayuko Suzuki (…

2012 Oda Memorial Track & Field Meet
Big Arch Stadium, Hiroshima, Apr. 28-29, 2012
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Women's Grand Prix 5000 m
1. Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 15:19.27
2. Beatrice Wainaina Murugi (Kenya/Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:38.71
3. Toshika Tamura (Matsuyama Univ.) - 15:49.11
4. Ayame Takagi (Meijo Univ.) - 15:54.80
5. Yoko Aizu (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 15:57.38
6. Azusa Kurusu (Juntendo Univ.) - 16:07.19
7. Yuka Ando (Team Mizuno) - 16:10.19
8. Sayuri Sendo (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 16:10.85
9. Michi Numata (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 16:18.85
10. Mika Tanimizu (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 16:22.46

Men's Grand Prix 5000 m
1. Charles Ndirangu (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) - 13:36.29
2. Jeremiah Karemi (Kenya/Toyokawa H.S.) - 13:40.64
3. Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) - 13:42.27
4. Ryo Matsumoto (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 13:46.02
5. Yasuhito Ikeda (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 13:46.58
6. Yasuhiro Tago (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 13:47.28
7. Naoki Okam…

by Brett Larner



Toyo University's Yuta Shitara has had a busy last month.  After a 1:01:48 PB at the March 18 New York City Half Marathon he beat marathoner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) over ten miles on April 1 and set a meet record for 3000 m on April 8 before travelling to Lodz, Poland for the 18th World University Cross-Country Championships on April 15.  Leading the first part of the race and working together with Tokai University's Daichi Motomura to control the pace, Shitara ended up going head-to-head against Algerian Abdelmajed Touil for the win but falling four seconds short as Touil outkicked him for the win, 29:11 to 29:15.  Leading at halfway, Motomura hung on to 3rd in 29:22.  Komazawa University's Kazuhiro Kuga placed 7th and Daito Bunka University's Hiroshi Ichida, like Shitara an identical twin, 24th to give the Japanese men the team gold medal alongside Shitara and Motomura's individual silver and bronze.  The Japanese women fell short of individ…

by Brett Larner

A week out from the National University Ekiden Championships, the Kanto region men's scene became even more complicated as Izumo Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University, already holding ten men with sub-14 PBs for 5000 m, six of them with 10000 m bests under 29 minutes, added another name to its top ranks.  Junior Toshiaki Nishizawa took nearly a minute off his 10000 m PB as he finished 13th in the Nittai Univ. Time Trials 10000 m A-heat in 28:51.05 to give Komazawa crucial depth beyond the ten men necessary for January's Hakone Ekiden.  Nishizawa's step up puts further pressure on defending national and Hakone champ Waseda University and on this year's Izumo winner Toyo University.

The injury-plagued Waseda's chances did take a turn for the better as sub-29 senior Takuya Nakayama, son of former 10000 m and marathon national record holder Takeyuki Nakayama, returned to competition after sitting out most of his sophomore and junior years.  Nakayama fin…

by Brett Larner

The 2009 National University Individual Track and Field Championships took place June 12-14 in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture just south of Tokyo. An elective meet in which student athletes can choose to compete as opposed to September's team-oriented National University Track and Field Championships, the National Individual Championships offer a rare chance to see athletes from other parts of the country take on those from the powerful, Tokyo-centric Kanto Region.

Coached by Keiichi Murai, the husband of two-time World Championships marathon medalist Reiko Tosa, Matsuyama University's Mami Sogabe and Toshika Tamura both broke the year-old women's 1500 m meet record. Sogabe clocked 4:29.03 and Tamura 4:29.10, with Ritsumeikan University's Hanae Tanaka getting under the old record as well in 4:29.12.

New meet records also came on the track in the men's 3000 mSC, with Masamori Kabuki of Tohoku Fukushi University running 8:58.79 to mark the meet's fir…