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 University men's distance running has been full of surprises this year. The latest came on Oct. 24 at the Takashimadaira 20 km Road Race in Tokyo's northwestern suburb of Takashimadaira as unheralded Aoyama Gakuin University sophomore Takehiro Deki tied the 58:51 course record set four years ago by former Tokai University ace Hideaki Date as a junior. Deki, aged 20, had no previous results on record to suggest a run of this caliber, equivalent to a 13:26 using the McMillan Running Calculator. His personal bests prior to this performance were 14:01.50 for 5000 m, 29:49.57 for 10000 m, 1:01:58 for 20 km and 1:06:22 for half marathon. Deki ran a completely solo race, winning by exactly 1 1/2 minutes over Masuo Nishiyama of two-time Hakone Ekiden champions Toyo University. While Deki was the only man to break the hour mark, overall results were the deepest in Takashimadaira history with 14 men under 61 minutes and 37 under 1:02:30. The only non-university runner to...