japan running news

by Brett Larner Coached by Koichi Morishita , the Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist who turned Samuel Wanjiru into a world-beater, Jeremiah Thuku Karemi (Kenya/Team Toyota Kyushu) had a solid debut over ten miles as he won the 39th Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler in 45:51, one of the fastest times in the world this year.  Karemi beat a massive chase pack containing many of Japan's best current track runners and marathoners by more than 40 seconds, setting both himself and Morishita's Toyota Kyushu corporate team up for a big day at next month's New Year Ekiden national championships. In the chase pack, rookie pro Natsuki Terada (Team JR Higashi Nihon), famous for taking a wrong turn in the last 200 m of the Hakone Ekiden anchor stage as a first-year at Koku Gakuin University , showed the strength of the kick that got him back into position at Hakone by winning an at least nine-way sprint finish for 2nd in 46:33.  Yuya Konishi led three other Toyota Kyushu runners ...

by Brett Larner Two weeks after finishing 4th and 6th in 1:02:44 and 1:02:58 at the Great North Run half marathon, London Olympian Arata Fujiwara  (Miki House) and the Koichi Morishita -coached Ryuji Watanabe  (Team Toyota Kyushu) scored wins on the roads at opposite ends of Japan. Running at Hokkaido's Hakodate Half Marathon  against a strong domestic field including perennial rival Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't) who was 8th at the Great North Run, Fujiwara bided his time in hot conditions before attacking 2008 World Half Marathon 5th-placer  Yusei Nakao  and Taiga Ito  of Suzuki Hamamatsu AC with 1.5 km to go and taking the win in 1:04:19.  "It was quite hot out there, so it ended up being a slow day," Fujiwara told JRN post-race.  After not having raced domestically since last December, though, he added, "Everyone made it a great race and I'm really happy to have gotten the win."  It was only the third road race vi...

by Brett Larner Rain and wind greeted the first in the 2013 Hokuren Distance Challenge series June 26 in Shibetsu, Hokkaido, combining with a shortage of top-tier domestic names to produce few noteworthy results.  NTN Kenyan Edward Waweru 's 7:47.02 win the men's 3000 m was the most competitive run of the day, ranking him just outside the top ten worldwide this year with the Koichi Morishita -coached Jeremiah Karemi  (Kenya/Team Toyota Kyushu) just behind in 7:48.31.  2012 national 5000 m champion Kazuya Deguchi  (Team Asahi Kasei) was 4th in 8:06.39. Little-known William Malel  (Kenya/Team Honda), brought to Japan last year by coach Stephen Mayaka  to run for tiny Sozo Gakuin University before jumping ship for the corporate leagues this year, had a win the men's 5000 m A-heat over the likes of 2011 World XC silver medalist Paul Tanui  (Kenya/Team Kyudenko). This year's 1500 m national champion Yuki Akimoto  (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) parti...

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/other/athletic/text/201301070004-spnavi.html translated by Brett Larner With all eyes on the debut of the Hakone Ekiden's "God of the Mountain" Ryuji Kashiwabara  (Team Fujitsu) in the high-level pro ekiden circuit, the fireworks at the New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championship instead came from Kashiwabara's predecessor as Hakone's king of the hill, Masato Imai  (Team Toyota Kyushu) on the 22.0 km Fourth Stage.  At first the main focus on the Fourth Stage was track runner Tsuyoshi Ugachi  (Team Konica Minolta), who took the tasuki 34 seconds back from the lead pair of runners from the Yasukawa Denki and Toyota Boshoku teams.  Splitting a searing 27:53 through the first 10 km, Ugashi caught the leaders, London Olympics marathon 6th-placer Kentaro Nakamoto  (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Tomohiro Shiiya  (Team Toyota Boshoku) at 13 km to take over the top position. Having started 1:05 back from the leaders, Im...

by Brett Larner Alongside the Fukuoka International Marathon , Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu hosted another major road race on Sunday, the Kumamoto Kosa 10 Mile Road Race.   The world's most competitive 10-miler by a wide margin , Kosa plays an important role for the coaches of Japan's corporate teams in helping them refine their lineups for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships.  Kosa has long been dominated by Martin Mathathi  (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), who has won six times since 2003 and holds the course record of 44:51 but opted for a marathon debut in Fukuoka this year.  Despite the advantages of having Africans in the race to keep things fast among the predominantly Japanese field Kosa employs a strange format with any non-Japanese entrants segregated together in an "International Division" and given a one-minute head start.  The winner of the all-Japanese division is typically reported as the winner by the ...

http://mainichi.jp/sports/news/20121124k0000m050028000c.html http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2012/11/24/kiji/K20121124004624680.html translated and edited by Brett Larner For the third year in a row Team Asahi Kasei  won the seven stage, 78.8 km Kyushu Corporate Men's Ekiden, dominating the race's 49th edition on Nov. 23.  With Olympian Ryuji Ono  taking the lead on the Third Stage with a stage best run, anchor Takuya Fukatsu  setting a new stage record and every team member finishing in the top four on time on their stage, there was little question of the team securing its 42nd win in the event's history. Team Yasukawa Denki  presented a challenge in the early going with Hiroki Kubota running the fastest time on the Second Stage, but anchor Kentaro Nakamoto , the London Olympics marathon 6th placer, faded and could not maintain position.   Team Toyota Kyushu  started slow, only getting into the game with a stage best run by ace Masato Im...

by Brett Larner Japan's road season got into swing this weekend with two large road races and two competitive ekidens. At the Fukuoka Prefecture Road Championships in Omuta, Kyushu, Yuya Konishi  (Team Toyota Kyushu) won the 10-miler in 48:00, one of the fastest winning times on record at the race.  The rest of the top ten went under 48:30 as well, making for an outstanding tight race.   Sally Chepyego  (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) won the women's 5 km for the second year in a row and took advantage of the ideal temperatures to set a course record of 15:51.  Runner-up Yuka Miyazaki  was 44 seconds behind.  Local boy Yuki Koga  (Omuta H.S.) won the high school 10 km in 31:29. At the other end of the country, the Sapporo Half Marathon, not to be confused with July's Sapporo International Half Marathon, saw 12,003 finishers led by Toshiaki Nishizawa  (Komazawa Univ.) in 1:05:07 and Mika Sawa  (Bukkyo Univ.) in 1:16:10. Across the world, J...

by Brett Larner Junior 10-mile world record holder Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) became the first man to break the 45 minute barrier three times at the Dec. 5 Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler, taking his fifth win with a time of 44:59. His nearest competitor, John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota) was a fair way back in 45:47. Among Japanese competitors, who have a separate start from foreign runners, Ryuji Watanabe (Team Toyota Kyushu) was the top finisher in 47:21, the promised field of top-ranked young elites being entirely absent. All told 37 men broke 49 minutes. 2010 Kumamoto Kosa 10-Mile Road Race click here for complete results International Men's 10-Miler 1. Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 44:59 2. John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota) - 45:47 3. Micah Njeru (Kenya/Team Toyota Boshoku) - 46:45 4. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 47:48 Japanese Men's 10-Miler 1. Ryuji Watanabe (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 47:21 2. Daisuke Matsufuji (Team Kanebo) - 47:37 3. Yuya Konishi (Tea...

by Brett Larner With the top Japanese men's 10000 m and half marathon times of the year and a 9th-place finish at the World Half Marathon Championships under his belt within the last month, Miyazaki Prefecture's Tomoya Onishi , 23, delivered another big run with a 43:55 stage record for the 15.3 km Fourth Stage on Day Three of the 2010 Kyushu One-Circuit Ekiden , Oct. 31 on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu. Onishi's time broke the existing stage record by 1:12, 5 seconds per km, and was equivalent to a solid 46:11 10-miler. Stage runner-up Ryuji Watanabe of Fukuoka Prefecture also broke the old Fourth Stage record with a 44:16 clocking. As with the first two days of the ten-day Kyushu One-Circuit Ekiden, the Miyazaki Prefecture team dominated the early stages of Day Three. A weak run from Third Stage runner Noritaka Yokoyama put Miyazaki 59 seconds behind rivals Fukuoka prefecture at the start of the Fourth Stage, and the team spent the next four stage edgin...

http://www.saga-s.co.jp/view.php?pageId=1036&mode=0&classId=0&blockId=1172497&newsMode=article translated and edited by Brett Larner Two-time World Champioinships track runner Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu) won the Karatsu 10 Mile Road Race on Feb. 8 in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture. Mitsuya ran 47:04 to take his first-ever win in Karatsu. In two weeks he will run the Kumanichi 30 km Road Race as part of his preparations for a marathon debut later in the year. Noritaka Fujiyama (Team Sumco Techxiv) was the top Saga Prefecture native, finishing 3rd overall. Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Oki) also scored her first Karatsu win, taking the women's 10 km event in 32:38. Yuya Konishi (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) won the high school boys' 10 km race in 30:12, giving Saga Prefecture its first high school division win in 3 years. Konishi's teammate Satoru Hori was 4th overall.