japan running news

Five Japanese men took on two of Europe's main marathons Sunday. At the Huawei Venice Marathon runners battled strong headwinds the entire way, winds that combined with high tide to seriously flood the last three kilometers of the course through Venice proper. After breaking away from a Kenyan trio coming onto the long bridge into Venice winner Gebre Mekuant Ayenew (Ethiopia) paused, slowing to a walk and almost stopping at the end of the first of the fourteen bridges that punctuate the Venice course when he found waves breaking across the course ahead of him. Gebre lost over a minute on his projected time slogging through the water to win in 2:13:23. Women's winner Angela Jemesunde Tanui (Kenya) lost even more time as the water continued to rise, dropping off a steady sub-2:27 pace to finish in 2:31:30. Boston Marathon winner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), expected to challenge Gebre for the win, fell off the pace after only 5 km and, looking heavy and tight...

Wind and rain hit the 20th anniversary Nagano Marathon hard enough to slow things down, Japan's Asami Furus e (Kyocera) and Ethiopian Abdela Godana taking the top spots in the women's and men's races. Coached by former men's half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato , Furuse and teammate Saki Tokoro were part of a lead group of five women that set out on low 2:33 pace. Kenyan Beatrice Jepkemboi dropped off he group near 20 km and Yukiko Okuno (Shiseido) did the same a few minutes later, leaving the Kyocera duo to face remaining Kenyan Pauline Wangui over the second half. Tokoro cracked just before 30 km and Wangui around 32 km, leaving Furuse to push on alone to an evenly-paced 2:34:09. Wangui faded to 4th, run down first by Tokoro and then by Okuno. Tokoro made it a 1-2 finish for Kyocera, another success for Sato is his short coaching career to date. 4th last year, former Tenmaya runner Aki Otagiri moved up from the second pack to take the 5th spot...

by Brett Larner Takushoku University's fortunes under its new coach Okada continue to improve. A month after Takushoku won both the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai 20 km qualifier team and individual titles Takushoku first-years Duncan Mozay and John Maina worked together to crack 28 minutes at the Kanto Regional University Time Trials in Tokyo's National Stadium on Nov. 27. Both runners clocked 27:53, meaning they are now the fastest university runners in the Kanto region ahead of Jobu University senior Yusuke Hasegawa and Nihon University junior Benjamin Gando . Only one of the pair will be allowed to run January's Hakone Ekiden, but with two aces to choose from Takushoku is in an excellent position to make the Hakone seeded bracket. 2010 Kanto Regional 5000 m champion Taku Fujimoto (Kokushikan Univ.), fresh from a 3rd-place finish on the competitive 1st Stage of Tuesday's International Chiba Ekiden, won another of the meet's ten heats of 10000 m, pushed to a 28:41...

by Brett Larner Waseda University first-year Shota Hiraga, a star member of 2008 high school national champion Saku Chosei H.S.'s winning team, continued his excellent season with a 1:03:44 win at the Ageo City Half Marathon on Nov. 15. As the unofficial selection race in which Hakone Ekiden-qualified university teams' rank-and-file runners prove to their coaches that they are worthy of joining their squads' stars in the prestigious January Hakone race, Ageo consistently features the deepest, toughest field of any half marathon in the world. For proof, take a look at JRN's 2008 and 2007 Ageo reports. This year a passing front brought cloudless skies and freak temperatures well over 20 degrees without any of the wind which both cooled and battered the women later in the day at the Yokohama International Women's Marathon. The unseasonal heat affected times across the board. Hiraga's strong 1:03:44 performance was the slowest winning time in Ageo history and onl...