japan running news

by Brett Larner Photo via komagusan . Click for more from Hofu. What is there to say about Yuki Kawauchi ? Nobody understands why he did the two-week 2:09:57 / 2:12:33 double at the Fukuoka International Marathon and Hofu Yomiuri Marathon last year, but for reasons known only to himself, two weeks after a failed bid for a sub-2:08 in Fukuoka this year resulted in a disappointing 2:10:29 Kawauchi was back for a negative-split 2:10:46 win in Hofu, an apparent world record for the shortest-ever time between sub-2:11 performances,  the 4th-fastest winning time in Hofu's 43-year history and the 4th-best of his own career. Fukuoka was his 3rd-best. Pacers Yuichiro Ueno  (Team S&B) and James Mwangi  (Kenya/Team NTN), both of whom were in Fukuoka, took things out just sub-2:12 pace through 5 km and then proceeded to gradually ratchet things down ever so slightly.  By Ueno's departure at 20 km the lead group of eight was down to 2:11:33 pace, Kawauchi never ...

by Brett Larner On Nov. 28 the organziers of the 2011 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon , the last elite marathon of the year, announced the lineup of this year's invited athlete field.  One of the most competitive editions in Hofu history, the field includes 2010 Asian Games marathon gold medalist Youngjun Ji  (South Korea), Tokyo Marathon hero Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref.), defending champion Serod Batochir  (Mongolia) and Fukuoka University ace Takuro Nakanishi  among others. Ji leads a contingent of three strong Korean athletes and is the likely favorite, but Batochir returns to Hofu with a solid 2:11:35 PB from April's London Marathon and should present a serious challenge to Ji's chances.  On paper Kawauchi is the leading man among the Japanese runners, but Hofu will be his fourth marathon in the last three months and, coming just two weeks after his bid for an Olympic team spot at the Fukuoka International Marathon seems unlikely to be more than a recovery...

http://www.pjnews.net/news/291/20111030_2 translated and edited by Brett Larner Stretching from Osaka City Hall to the south part of Osaka Bay, 27,000 runners took part in Kansai's first mass-participation marathon, the Oct. 30 Osaka Marathon.  With a surge at 30 km  Elijah Sang  (Kenya) became the race's first champion, winning in 2:12:43.  In post-race comments Sang told the media, "I think this will be a very fast course.  The cheering was incredibly loud, so I never got tired or had to back off.  Things went as planned and I made a move at 30 km.  I was able to win because I was running for the win." Veteran  Lidia Simon  (Romania) won the women's race in 2:32:48.  "The course is an easy one without any difficult sections," she said, "but I had trouble maintaining my speed after the turnaround.  I wasn't able to hit my target of a sub-2:30 time, but I did manage to achieve my other goal of winning.  My next goal will ...

by Brett Larner The organizers of next month's first edition of the new Osaka Marathon have officially made their entry into the already crowded fall marathon season with the release of the elite field for the Oct. 30 race. Topping the men's field with a 2:07:29 best is 2009 Tokyo Marathon champion Salim Kipsang  (Kenya).  His best competition, a surprise entry coming just less than two months after the Daegu World Championships, is 2:08:37 runner Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref.) who beat Kipsang at the 2010 Tokyo Marathon.  Other overseas runners include Elijah Sang  (Kenya) and Woody Harrelson lookalike Alexsey Sokolov  (Russia), who also ran in the World Championships.  The small domestic field includes Japan's two other top amateur runners after Kawauchi, 2009 Copenhagen Marathon winner Toyokazu Yoshimura  and infamous wig runner Nobuaki Takata . The women's field consists primarily of veterans, led by Olympic medalist Lidia Simon  (R...

JRN's mobile unit sustained damage during our recent trip to cover Grandma's Marathon. Apologies in advance for irregular service over the next week as the laptop is repaired, and likewise apologies for delays in responding to email over the same period. At Grandma's, diminutive 2010 Senshu International Marathon winner Chihiro Tanaka experienced difficulty with the prevail headwinds of the day and finished only 12th. Tanaka did pick up an award for first in the 40+ age group but overall was disappointed with her showing. Invited male athlete Toyokazu Yoshimura ran in the lead pack through halfway before experiencing sharp pain in his left knee and dropping precipitously back in the field. Japanese runners had a better day at the Steamboat Classic 4-Miler, taking four of the top ten spots in the women's race. Women's results are reproduced below. 2010 Steamboat Classic 4-Miler - Top Women's Finishers click here for complete results 1. Edna Kiplagat (Kenya)...

JRN will be on location this weekend at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota to cover the race for Runners magazine. Apologies in advance for any interruptions to regularly-scheduled service.

JRN's Brett Larner was at the 2010 Rome Marathon covering the race for Runners magazine and representing invited runners Satoko Uetani and Toyokazu Yoshimura. A number of retired Japanese elites were also onhand as part of a JTB-sponsored tour group promoting a closer relationship between the Tokyo and Rome Marathons on the 50th anniversary of the 1960 Rome Olympics. Click here to read the IAAF's report on this year's elite race. Better late than never, below are photos from the entire race weekend. Thanks to Rome Marathon elite athlete coordinator Massimiliano Monteforte, Kassa Tadesse and everyone else in the Rome Marathon office who helped make the event and JRN's presence possible. click photos for larger versions all photos (c) 2010 Brett Larner all rights reserved no reproduction without permission Press Conference, Mar. 19 The 2010 Rome Marathon elite field. Part of the women's elite field. Satoko Uetani and Toyokazu Yoshimura. Marathon Expo Presentation of ...

by Brett Larner The 2010 Rome Marathon elite field. The 16th Rome Marathon takes place this Sunday, Mar. 21. In the 50th anniversary year of 1960 Rome Olympics, the Rome Marathon has formed a partnership with the Tokyo Marathon, site of the 1964 Olympics, to work together to promote cooperative bids from each city for the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games. A handful of elite Japanese runners will join the Rome field this year for the first time, two as invited elites and three as special guests in honor of the Rome-Tokyo cooperative relationship. As the 50th anniversary of the legendary barefoot win by Ethiopian great Abebe Bikila in the 1960 Olympics, Rome organizers have offered a unique bonus: if either the men's or women's leader in this year's race runs the final 300 m over cobblestones barefoot they will receive a 5000 euro bonus and 20 seconds off their finish time to compensate for the time spent stopping and taking off their shoes. The men's race features a solid f...

JRN will be on location at the Mar. 21 Rome Marathon to cover Satoko Uetani and Toyokazu Yoshimura's runs. We apologize in advance for any interruptions to regularly scheduled service that this may create.

by Brett Larner There’s no getting around the hard facts: 2009 was one of the worst years in the modern history of Japanese men’s marathoning. In a time when the world standard has undergone remarkable improvement with the ten fastest times of the year under 2:06 for the first time, Japanese men took a large step backwards. Only one Japanese man, Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku), broke 2:10 this year, the first time this has happened since 1996. The average of the top ten Japanese times of the year, 2:11:21, was also the slowest since 1996. Relative to the world top ten average, 2:05:13, the year was Japan’s worst-ever. To be fair, Japan did manage to take the team bronze medal at the Berlin World Championships, and all three of this year’s major Japanese spring marathons suffered windy conditions, in the case of March’s Tokyo Marathon verging on the extreme. There have also been troughs in the record before when the aging stars of one generation pass their prime before the next h...

by Brett Larner Veteran Akinori Shibutani (Team Yanagawa Seiki) came within steps of breaking his nearly 10 year-old PB on Dec. 20 as he scored his first-ever win at the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon , taking the 40th anniversary edition of the race in 2:13:58. Following the departure of pacemaker Samuel Ganga (Team Mazda) at 25 km after a 1:06:38 first half Shibutani emerged from the pack to first edge and then cruise away to victory. It was a major triumph for Shibutani, a former teammate of national record holder Toshinari Takaoka at Team Kanebo, who found a position with the minor-league Team Yanagawa Seiki after losing his place on the Kanebo lineup several years ago. For his win Shibutani picks up an invitation to the 2010 Berlin Marathon. 2003 Fukuoka International Marathon winner and Athens Olympian Tomoaki Kunichika (Team S&B) initially remained behind in the pack when Shibutani broke away and was followed by Fumiyuki Watanabe (Team Asahi Kasei) and 2009 Copenhagen Marathon wi...

by Brett Larner The last competitive marathon of the year takes place this Sunday, Dec. 20 in Hofu, Yamaguchi at the 40th anniversary Hofu Yomiuri Marathon . Long one of Japan's second-tier elite marathons, Hofu is a place where younger pros come to debut and older veterans go for one more win. The occasional first-rate race results, as in Ethiopian Hailu Negussie's course record 2:08:16 battle against future Olympic team member Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) in 2002. Like other elite marathons on the Japanese circuit Hofu has struggled to adapt to changes in the marathoning environment, particularly those brought on by the rise of the Tokyo Marathon. Where venerable races like the Biwako Mainichi Marathon and Beppu-Oita Marathon have redesigned their courses in the last year to improve their appeal as fast races and taken other steps to improve their image, Hofu has embraced the amateur. Beginning with this year's 40th anniversary race Hofu has relaxed its qualificat...

by Brett Larner Brett Larner, Toyokazu Yoshimura and Wilson Kipketer at the finish of the 2009 Copenhagen Marathon. Photo by Piia Doyle (DMG). Update 5/29: I missed Daniel Gitau's 800m record at the Kanto Championships and have updated the summary below. I just got back from Copenhagen yesterday. There was a fair amount of overseas action featuring Japanese runners and at least one big domestic meet this past weekend that I couldn't cover at the time, but for the sake of thoroughness I wanted to put up a few summaries. I'll go in reverse chronological order. Los Angeles Marathon Men's marathon 60+ world record holder Yoshihisa Hosaka ran the L.A. Marathon in 2:39:31. Although he fell 3 minutes 2 seconds shy of breaking his own world record set in February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, Hosaka was a highly creditable 27th overall and the 19th place male finisher. Needless to say, he won his age group. The June issue of Running Times magazine contains an interview wi...

by Brett Larner 800 m and 1000 m world record holder Wilson Kipketer congratulates 2009 Copenhagen Marathon winner Toyokazu Yoshimura and his parents. Toyokazu Yoshimura and Chihiro Tanaka scored a double Japanese victory at the 2009 Copenhagen Marathon . Having grown from just under 3000 to nearly 11000 in the last three years, this year's Copenhagen Marathon featured invited elites for the first time. Danish Crown Prince Frederick started off the field under ideal conditions. Yoshimura ran within a lead pack of four which included Jonah Kemboi (Kenya), Luigi La Bella (Italy) and debutant Matthew Janes (Wales) along with pacemaker Neilson Hall (U.K.). La Bella was the first to drop off as Yoshimura began to press Hall after 9 km. Soon Janes and then Kemboi likewise fell behind. Behind them Tanaka ran a lonely race far ahead of the next woman, accompanied only by a guide cyclist and right on her goal 2:35 pace. Chihiro Tanaka goes it alone. Yoshimura and Hall hit halfway in bang on...

by Brett Larner The Copenhagen Marathon is one of Europe's fastest-growing marathons, moving from a field of less than 3000 in 2006 to over 10000 this year. For the first time the 2009 race will feature invited runners. Rather than try to stack the field with as many sub-2:10 runners as possible, elite coordinator Gavin Doyle has sought to do something different and put the race's focus on giving a chance to athletes right on the borderline between amateur and professional. The first two runners to be invited and the favorites in both the women's and men's races are Kobe-based Chihiro Tanaka and Osaka native Toyokazu Yoshimura. Chihiro Tanaka wins the 2003 Hokkaido Marathon. Chihiro Tanaka Born: Nov. 13, 1969 in Hyogo, Japan Marathon PB: 2:29:30 (Nagoya International Women’s Marathon 2002) Other PBs: 5000m: 16:14.50 10000m: 33:32 Half-marathon: 1:12:00 Other key marathon performances: 2:33:30 (winner, Hokkaido Marathon 1997) 2:34:11 (winner, Hokkaido Marathon 2003) 2...

by Brett Larner Kentaro Ito of Team Kyowa Hakko Bio outlasted an international cast of rivals at the 39th Hofu Yomiuri Marathon on Dec. 21, running 2:16:01 in stormy conditions to score his first win in the race where he set his PB back in 2001. 2008 Asian Marathon Champion Koichiro Fukuoka (Team Mitsubishi Juko) ran as the designated pacemaker, taking the lead pack of 22 through 5 km in 15:42. Just before 10 km, 2008 Beijing Olympics Test Marathon winner Batochir Serod (Mongolia) lost patience and set off on his own, reaching 10 km in 31:14, 7 seconds ahead of Fukuoka and the pack. At 15 km he was 44 seconds up in 46:26, and at 20 km was 1:06 ahead in 1:01:54. Halfway came for Serod in 1:05:16, well ahead of the pace he ran in his 2:14:15 PB win in Beijing. Fukuoka brought the pack, now down to 11, through the half in 1:06:26. Fukuoka bowed out after reaching 25 km in 1:18:51, at which point only 7 runners remained in pursuit of Serod who was all but invisible and now 1:37 ahead. Ser...

http://4ch.kry.co.jp/tv/marathon_2007/ by Brett Larner *Updated 12/11/07 with links to photos and many more detailed articles in Japanese. Kazuya Nakamori of Team Otsuka Seiyaku ran 2:15:40 to win the 2007 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon yesterday, coming from behind in the final kilometer to stage an upset over breakaway leader Mitsuru Irifune of Team Kanebo. An early pack of 24 led by Team Toyota`s Kazuki Enoki went through 5 km in a solid time of 15:31. Enoki maintained both lead and pace, passing 10 km in 31:04, 15 km in 46:42, and 20 km in 1:02:20. By the halfway point, 1:05:47, the lead pack had dwindled to 8 runners including Korean elite Hyon Je Yon who ran his PB of 2:10:37 while finishing 2nd in the 1999 Hofu. Shortly after the halfway point, Enoki and Nakamori broke away from the other contenders, hitting 25 km in 1:18:17 compared to the remaining 6 leaders` 1:18:37. The pack broke apart between 25 and 30 km as Irifune, the younger brother of 2005 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon winner...