japan running news

1976 Boston Marathon winner Jack Fultz just forwarded me this link to Natsuki Terada 's wrong turn at this year's Hakone Ekiden showing up on ABC News . It's nice to see Hakone get mentioned on ABC, but they misreported what was happening and missed the point of the clip. While dramatic and funny it's important to point out that Terada did not lose the race . The pack of four guys he was in was racing for 8th-10th place, the last three seeded spots for the 2012 Hakone Ekiden. Having a seeded spot is a prestige which means the school is free to compete in October's Izumo Ekiden. The last of the four runners would finish in 11th and his team would have to requalify next fall. Terada's school, Koku Gakuin University, had never made the seeded bracket. He had kicked into 8th at the time of his wrong turn less than 200 m from the finish and looked as though he would have held that position if he had stayed on-course, but Terada nevertheless miraculously returned fro...

by Brett Larner On Jan. 12 the organizers of the Jan. 23 National Interprefectural Men's Ekiden Championships , also known as the Hiroshima Ekiden , released the provisional entry lists for this year's 16th running. An interesting event featuring teams from each of Japan's 47 prefectures made up of runners from the top pro teams, universities, high schools and junior high schools, the Interprefectural Ekiden is in essence the overall national championship. Among the noteworthy names on the entry lists: The first stage features Takashi Ichida (Kagoshima), one of 2010 National H.S. Ekiden Champions Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.' star twins, against H.S. Nationals First Stage winner Kazuto Nishiike (Hyogo) and Kota Murayama (Miyagi), twin brother of 28:23 high school Kenta Murayama. Led by Shogo Nakamura (Mie), six men on the H.S.-only stage hold 5000 m PBs under 14 minutes, making it the most competitive of the H.S. stages. The J.H.S. Second Stage is led by 2000 m J.H.S. na...

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2011011000281 translated by Brett Larner In the 62nd and final edition of the seven-stage, 99.9 km Asahi Ekiden from Fukuoka to Kita-Kyushu, Team Kyudenko took its third win and first in five years, clocking 4:50:58. New Year Ekiden 4th placers Team Yasukawa Denki were 2nd, while Team Asahi Kasei finished 3rd. Defending champion Team Honda was only 4th. Kyudenko's Paul Tanui put the team ahead on the First Stage, and all the way to anchor Mao Fukuyama Kyudenko's runners finished in the top three on stage time, keeping the team in 1st by a margin of 50 seconds over Yasukawa Denki. Translator's note: The majority of Team Yasukawa Denki actually outperformed Team Kyudenko, with more Yasukawa Denki runners taking 1st or 2nd on their stage than Kyudenko runners. Yasukawa Denki was within four seconds of Kyudenko at the end of the Third Stage, but, reinforcing that you are only as strong as your weakest link, a poor performance on the F...

http://www.asahi.com/sports/spo/SEB201101080004.html translated by Brett Larner The ekiden that decides who is #1 in Japan. Once known by that phrase, the curtain is set to fall on the 60+ year history of the Asahi Ekiden . Many famous athletes' careers were born on the winding, hilly roads joining Fukuoka and Kita-Kyushu, but the sound of their footsteps on the seven-stage, 99.9 km course will be heard for the last time on Jan. 10. Team Yawata Iron & Steel won the first running of the Asahi Ekiden in 1950. At the fourth running, Hakone Ekiden champion Chuo University took the win in its first appearance. It was the only time a university team ever won, but following Chuo's victory Hakone-winning teams were invited to do battle against professional teams to decide who was the best in Japan. A Japanese creation, the 'ekiden' began in 1917 with the Tokaido Ekiden as a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Tokyo becoming the national capital. The name of the race, c...

by Dr. Takahisa Hiraishi, Tokyo Midtown Clinic translated by Mika Tokairin and edited by Brett Larner this article appeared in the Jan. 8 edition of the Nikkei newspaper Every year my new year starts with the Hakone Ekiden. Recently the performances at Hakone have improved at a surprising rate, in particular the uphill Fifth Stage, which despite going up the side of a mountain has seen new records virtually every year lately. Five years ago at Juntendo University I tested the blood of Masato Imai , known as "The God of the Mountain." In cooperation with the university medical department Juntendo checks its runners' blood almost every day beginning a week before Hakone. I myself took blood every month throughout the year and reported the runners' conditions to the team. Based on that data the coach made plans for training and team strategy. This experience gained as a sports doctor also applies in my work with general patients. Among the data derived from a blood chec...

The Association of Road Racing Statisticians has released its updated worldwide all-time road race rankings through 2010. The rankings score races by both depth and quality of fields throughout each race's history. Click here to see the complete rankings . Below are a summary of the #1-ranked race at each distance and listings of the top races for each individual distance. Click any image to enlarge. The listings below do not include international championship events held on varying courses in different locations. *Although both the Tokyo International Marathon and Tokyo International Women's Marathon were held on the same course, the ARRS considers the Tokyo Marathon to be the continuation of the men's race and the Yokohama International Women's Marathon to be the continuation of the women's race.

by Brett Larner Records set at this year's outstanding Hakone Ekiden along with associated stats and commentary: Average 5000 m, 10000 m and half marathon PBs of the ten starters from each of the 1st through 5th place teams overall: While the average 5000 m and 10000 m PBs have little relationship to the final finishing order, there is, unsurprisingly, a direct correlation with average half marathon PB. The average stage length in Hakone is 21.8 km. Overall Course Record - 217.9 km, 10 Stages (average stage length 21.8 km) Waseda Univ. - 10:59:50 - 3:27 under old CR av. pace: 3:01.7 / km; equiv. 10-man half marathon av.: 1:03:53 Toyo Univ. - 11:00:12 - also under previous CR av. pace: 3:01.8 / km; equiv. 10-man half marathon av.: 1:03:55 First time all ten men on one team have averaged under 1:04 for equivalent half marathon performance. Previous record of 11:03:17 set by Komazawa Univ. in 2000. Waseda became the first school to win and set course records at all three major univ...

Trying to bring Koku Gakuin University home to its first-ever top ten seeded bracket Hakone Ekiden finish in a four-way sprint for the last three seeded spots, with less than 200 m to go on a 23.1 km stage at the end of a 217.9 km race in front of a live TV audience in the tens of millions freshman anchor Natsuki Terada kicks to the front and.....follows the camera truck off the course. Terada's coach Yasuhiro Maeda told reporters afterward , "I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head." Amazingly, Terada comes back to take the final seeded spot in 10th. The clip below is from the "Mo Hitotsu no Hakone Ekiden" documentary which aired last weekend. The clip shows coach Maeda following Terada in a car during the last km. I'll try to get time to do a translation of the audio, but it's pretty easy to follow his range of emotions and he is essentially saying what it looks like he is saying all the way through.