japan running news

Two-time New Year Ekiden national champion Nissin Shokuhin Group announced on Jan. 10 that it is making major cuts to its men's ekiden team. With the exception of MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials qualifiers Akinobu Murasawa, 27, and Yuki Sato, 32, it will eliminate its other twelve athletes from the team. It has also canceled contracts with two graduating university fourth-years who were scheduled to join the team in April following their graduation.

The Nissin Shokuhin Group team has been one of the leaders of Japanese long distance, home to top class athletes including current marathon national record holder Suguru Osako, 27. The change in its policies comes suddenly. According to a person involved in the situation, of the team's fourteen members the twelve other than Murasawa and Sato have been asked to leave the team. Those who wish to continue their athletic careers will receive support in transferring to another team, while those who wish to retire will have the op…

by Brett Larner

click here for JRNLive's detailed race commentary

Click photo for a gallery of images from the 2010 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon.

In a tactical race of few surprises, Jonathan Kipkorir (Kenya), the strongest man of '09 in the field, took the 2010 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon on Feb. 7 in a sprint finish over the final 500 m against aging 2:06:16 runner Daniel Njenga (Kenya/Team Yakult), holder of the fastest PB in the field. Japanese debutant Atsushi Ikawa (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) had a good race, 4th overall in 2:11:04 after repeatedly attacking the lead pack of eight over the final 10 km. Track darling Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu) performed below expectations in his own marathon debut, 9th in 2:12:59. However, the biggest news of the race was Australian Jeffrey Hunt.

Debuting at the marathon, Hunt spent the early parts of the race far back in the third pack while the leaders ran on track for 2:08. Despite a fast new course and good conditions, the pacemakers sagg…

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/item/150060

translated by Brett Larner

Sunday's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon will be the final run for one of the country's best, 1999 Seville World Championships marathoner Tadayuki Ojima (33, Team Asahi Kasei). For 15 years he has been a force in the Japanese marathon and ekiden circuit, ranked all-time #3 in the Kyushu Isshu Ekiden with a lifetime total of 38 stage best titles, running in the World Championships and narrowly missing out on the Athens Olympics but always remaining quietly focused on challenging his own limits. Now, his strength spent, he prepares for retirement with a deep feeling of gratitude toward the people of Kyushu. His final 42.195 km will be his way of saying thank you. "I've given it everything I have for 15 years," Ojima says. "Really, I just don't have anything left to give."

"He doesn't waste words on excuses," says Team Asahi Kasei head coach Takeshi Soh. "He just does …

by Brett Larner

There's a lot of negativity in Japanese men's marathoning these days. After the dismal Beijing Olympics, 2009 was one of the worst years in the country's history. Sure, Japanese men still took the team bronze at the Berlin World Championships and over the course of the year outperformed every non-African country in the world, but in absolute terms it was their worst since 1996 and relative to world standards their poorest showing ever. The venerable circuit of elite men's marathons has struggled to remain relevant in an era when richer overseas majors draw the best talent, and the rise of the Tokyo Marathon has only worsened their predicament. In this atmosphere comes the 59th running of the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon this Sunday, Feb. 7.

Beppu-Oita, or Betsudai as it is usually abbreviated in Japanese, is one of the oldest Japanese marathons but has long occupied a difficult position as the most minor of the four main elite men's races. It has been…

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/flash/KFullFlash20100118119.html
http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2010011800601
http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/news/20100119k0000m050076000c.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Jan. 18 the organizing committee for the 59th Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon announced the elite field of 15 for this year's Feb. 7 running. At the top of the list of ten Japan-based athletes is Kenyan Daniel Njenga (Team Yakult), who won last summer's Hokkaido Marathon and holds a PB of 2:06:16. Lining up against Njenga in his marathon debut is 2007 World Championships track runner Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu). Athens Olympics marathon 6th place finisher Toshinari Suwa (Team Nissin Shokuhin) is also in the field, and 2:08 man Tadayuki Ojima (Team Asahi Kasei) will be running as his final race before retirement.

The 5 overseas invited athletes are led by Kenyan Jonathan Kipkorir, who set his PB of 2:07:31 last year at the Paris Marathon. Joining him …

by Brett Larner

Nov. 21 was a busy morning at Oda Field, central Tokyo's main public track. Alongside the high school and amateur clubs which had gathered for morning practice, 2009 double 1500 m and 5000 m Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) ran a solo workout of 400 m repeats to tune up for Monday's International Chiba Ekiden with one of his coaches in attendance. As he ran, members of Team Nissin Shokuhin began to assemble for a group workout.

Nissin won the East Japan Corporate Ekiden Championships earlier this month. With a young roster including Gideon Ngatuny, Yuki Sato, Satoru Kitamura and Bene Zama they are the heavy favorites to win the 2010 New Year Ekiden national championships. Their full team including coaches was present at Oda Field, but several members were apparently injured. Ngatuny, originally slated for the International Chiba Ekiden but then left off the entry list, spent the entire workout sitting on the retaining wall and pouring drinks for the other team member…

by Brett Larner

The 2009 Hokkaido Marathon takes place Sunday, Aug. 30. Typically run under hot summer conditions, the Hokkaido Marathon isn't known as a speed race but in most years attacts a top domestic field and several good overseas runners.

The highlight of this year's race, the first edition on a new course, will be the women's event. Defending champion Yukari Sahaku (Team Aruze) will be back straight from her disappointing run in the 10000 m at the Berlin World Championships. Her strongest competition and arguably the race favorite is her teammate Mizuho Nasukawa (Team Aruze), the 2009 Tokyo Marathon winner. Heat specialist Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC), who ran her PB of 2:26:14 in Hokkaido four years ago, ran her best half marathon in several years at last month's Sapporo International Half Marathon and may also be a threat. Also conceivably in contention is Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya), whose six-year old PB of 2:21:51 marks her as the fastest in the fiel…

by Brett Larner

The Hokkaido Marathon has announced the elite field for this year's race, scheduled for Aug. 30 on a new course. The premier summer Japanese marathon, Hokkaido has attracted a top field of domestic athletes not running the World Championships a week prior.

The women's race promises to be the highlight of the event, with this year's Tokyo Marathon winner Mizuho Nasukawa (Team Aruze), inexplicably omitted from the World Championships marathon team, squaring off against teammate and defending champ Yukari Sahaku (Team Aruze) who is running the 10000 m in the Berlin World Championships, 2008 Tokyo Marathon winner Claudia Dreher (Germany), 2008 Honolulu Marathon winner Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC), 2006 Hokkaido winner Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) and more.

In the men's race, defending champ Masaru Takamizawa (Saku Chosei H.S.) will face former teammates Yuzo Onishi (Team Nissin Shokuhin) and Toshinari Suwa (Team Nissin Shokuhin), Kenyan great Daniel Nje…

by Brett Larner

The 19th edition of the Sendai International Half Marathon takes place May 10. The second of Japan's three selection races for its World Half Marathon national team, Sendai features some of the country's top pro and university runners on both the women's and men's side along with a good number of Japan-resident Kenyan aces. Setting Sendai apart from the other Japanese half marathons with the 'international' title is its policy of inviting groups of three amateur runners from Sendai's sister cities around the world rather than professionals.

Unquestionably the main attraction at this year's race is the season debut of Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren). Akaba's spectacular 2008 began with her running 1:08:11 to win the Jitsugyodan Half Marathon and break the course record set by Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex). Her time made Akaba the third-fastest Japanese woman ever, and she went on to duplicate the feat over 5000 m and 10000 m. She ran in both…

http://www.kahoku.co.jp/news/2009/04/20090415t14022.htm
http://www.sendaihalf.com/jp/document/2009news0414a3.pdf

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The 19th edition of the Sendai International Half Marathon takes place May 10. Headlining the women's and men's fields are Beijing 5000 m and 10000 m Olympian Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) and 2004 Athens Olympics men's marathon 6th place finisher Toshinari Suwa (Team Nissin Shokuhin). Akaba made her marathon debut this year at the Osaka International Women's Marathon, finishing 2nd overall. This will be her fourth time running Sendai. Suwa was 7th in the 2007 Osaka World Championships marathon and continues to be one of the strongest of Japan's marathon men.

In the women's race, last year's runner-up Julia Mombi (Team Aruze) and 3rd place finisher and Sendai native Yuko Machida (Team Nihon ChemiCon) will return. Joining them are 2009 Osaka Half Marathon winner Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC) and former world-cla…

by Brett Larner

Far from the spotlight of Haile Gebreselassie’s historic 2:03:59 world record run, Japan’s two entrants in the Berlin Marathon, Team Nissin Shokuhin runner Toshihari Suwa and Team Nissin Shokuhin coach Kenjiro Jitsui, also achieved results which were in opposing ways noteworthy.

Suwa is one of Japan’s best-ever marathoners, with a PB of 2:07:55, a 6th-place finish in the 2004 Athens Olympics marathon and a 7th-place finish in the 2007 Osaka World Championships marathon among his credentials and at 31 still young enough to have a future. At the same time, he is cursed: since his debut at the 2001 Nagano Marathon Suwa has never, not even in his 2:07 run, been the top Japanese finisher in a marathon when other Japanese were running.

Jitsui is a true veteran, having run his PB of 2:08:50 in 1996 while qualifying for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics marathon where he finished 93rd. Although he afterwards faded into the relative anonymity of the Japanese corporate running world, Jit…

http://www.iaaf.org/LRR08/news/newsid=47850.html

Includes comments by Japanese runner Toshinari Suwa of Team Nissin Shokuhin. Strangely, Suwa is mistaken. He ran against Haile Gebrselassie at the 2006 Fukuoka International Marathon, which the Ethiopian won in 2:06:52 to Suwa's 2:08:52 5th-place finish.

Suwa's teammate Kenjiro Jitsui, a veteran of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, will also be running in Berlin.

by Brett Larner

A quick list of elite Japanese runners who are scheduled to race overseas and in major domestic races in the upcoming season.

Beijing Paralympics Marathon - 9/17/08
men - Yuichi Takahashi; guide: Shinji Kawashima, Toyo University coach

Super Track and Field Meet in Kawasaki - 9/23/08
men's 100m - Nobuharu Asahara last run, and others

Berlin Marathon - 9/28/08
men - Toshinari Suwa, Team Nissin Shokuhin

Chicago Marathon - 10/12/08
women - Kiyoko Shimahara, Second Wind AC

World Half Marathon Championships, Rio de Janiero - 10/12/08
Japanese team:
women - Yukiko Akaba, Team Hokuren, and others
men - Masato Kihara, Chuo Gakuin Univ., and others

Kenyan team:
women - Philes Ongori, Team Hokuren, and others
men - Mekubo Mogusu, Yamanashi Gakuin Univ., and others

Tokyo International Women's Marathon - 11/16/08
Yuri Kano, Second Wind AC
Naoko Takahashi, Team Phiten, and others

Osaka International Women's Marathon - 1/25/09
Naoko Takahashi, Team Phiten, and others

Nagoya International Wome…