japan running news

by Brett Larner With its long history of hosting Russians now interrupted by the IAAF's doping scandal suspension of all Russian athletes, Japan's Nagano Marathon proudly welcomes two other athletes with recent drug suspensions to lead the women's field at next weekend's 18th edition.  Gladys Tejeda (Peru) tops the list with the loss of her gold medal in last summer's Pan-Am Games marathon after testing positive for the masking agent furosemide .  Close behind is Kaori Yoshida (Runners Pulse), who holds the honor of being the only Japanese athlete to have been publicly suspended for EPO after testing positive at the 2012 Honolulu Marathon . With both having run 2:28 bests last year they are almost 4 minutes ahead of the fastest athlete in the field never to have served a drug suspension, Kenya's Hellen Mugo .  Neither is currently under suspension, an indication that Nagano and its elite coordinator share the familiar focus here on details at the expense...

by Brett Larner In wet conditions on an untested course full of twists, turns and ups and downs, Ethiopian Atsede Baysa scored an easy win at the first running of the Saitama International Marathon , pulling away from the rest of the small front group after 30 km to open a lead of nearly a kilometer on the way to a 2:25:44 finish.  Kaori Yoshida (Runners Pulse) ran down Kenyan Rebecca Kangogo Chesir to take 2nd in a PB 2:28:43, putting her name into contention, distantly, for the Rio Olympic team.  Former national record holder Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) came up short of her Olympic hopes, 4th in 2:31:06 after running up front until late in the race. The race itself will be covered in more detail elsewhere , but as an inaugural event, as an Olympic selection race, and in other aspects, Saitama brought up a lot of cause for reflection. A step down from its Tokyo International Women's Marathon and Yokohama International Marathon predecessor, Saitama joine...

by Brett Larner With the demise of the Sapporo International Half Marathon, Hokkaido's Shibetsu Half Marathon has taken on a bigger role as a major domestic summer half marathon, especially for members of Japanese national teams for international championships.  Despite generally hot conditions and the apparent cutting of the elite women's 10 km this year, both the women's and men's races featured solid fields. Kenyan Winfredah Kebaso , the main support of the fledgling Nitori corporate women's team, easily took the win in 1:12:36 over Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku), one of the three Japanese women in the marathon at next month's Beijing World Championships.  Ito was a distant 2nd behind Kebaso in 1:14:47 but had little trouble holding off teammate Yui Okada , 3rd in 1:15:13.  Runners from the Noritz corporate team featured prominently, taking 4 of the top 10 places, while Nitori's Remi Nakazato continued her comeback from a cancer diagnosis last Nove...