japan running news

by Brett Larner Aoyama Gakuin University's Takehiro Deki , who came from nowhere to win October's Takashimadaira 20 km in a course record-tying 58:51 before showing that time was not a fluke with an outstanding run on the Second Stage of last month's Hakone Ekiden, won the 33rd Kanagawa Half Marathon Feb. 6 in Yokohama. Deki's time of 1:04:16 was not especially quick but good enough for a comfortable win over pro Akinori Tachibana (Team Press Kogyo). Deki's teammate Shungo Kawamura rounded out the top three in 1:04:35. 2011 Kanagawa Half Marathon 1. Takehiro Deki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:16 2. Akinori Tachibana (Team Press Kogyo) - 1:04:31 3. Shungo Kawamura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:35 4. Yoshihiro Tezuka (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:04:39 5. Shingo Ajima (Senshu Univ.) - 1:04:45 6. Nozomu Hashizaka (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:48 7. Shun Imamura (Team Press Kogyo) - 1:04:49 8. Yuya Kayahara (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:04:54 9. Shunji Matsuo (Senshu Univ.) - 1:05:20 10. R...

by Brett Larner In the wake of yesterday's stunning Hakone Ekiden qualifier 20 km road race , three seeded Hakone schools, defending champion Toyo University, 2008 winner Komazawa University and Meiji University, sent their B-squads to run the Takashimadaira 20 km Road Race as a mid-season tuneup. Toyo's now-graduated Tomoya Onishi (Team Asahi Kasei) won Takashimadaira the last two years in an hour flat, and Tokai University's great Hideaki Date (Team Chugoku Denryoku) set the course record for the four-loop criterion race the year before. This year the absence of a single big name coupled with unusually hot and sunny conditions, minus Takashimadaira's usual wind, meant relatively conservative times. A large group of university runners ran together through 12 km before Toyo's Katsuya Honda broke away, pursued by teammate Kentaro Kami and Komazawa's Yoshihiro Tetsuka. Takanori Kawahara of Toyo hung back with Meiji's Junpei Tahara until after 15 km, when he m...