japan running news

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2014/07/08/kiji/K20140708008521980.html http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20140707-OHT1T50300.html translated and edited by Brett Larner The civil servant runner has roared.  After finishing 3rd at the July 6 Gold Coast Airport Marathon in Australia, 2014 Incheon Asian Games marathon team member Yuki Kawauchi (27, Saitama Pref. Gov't) returned to Narita Airport early on the morning of July 7.  Kawauchi fell badly early in the race but still finished 3rd as the top Japanese man in 2:11:27.  Speaking animatedly and at length as he was interviewed in the arrival lobby at 6:30 a.m., more than his own result Kawauchi struggled to understand how Hirokatsu Kurosaki , 28, a member of the two-time defending New Year Ekiden national champion Konica Minolta corporate team and named to the Japanese marathon National Team in April alongside Kawauchi after running 2:09:07 at February's Tokyo Marathon, could have sunk as low as his 10th-pla...

by Brett Larner Japan’s biggest summer track series, the Hokuren Distance Challenge on the northern island of Hokkaido, wrapped up this week with its final two meets in the towns of Kitami and Abashiri. The Kitami meet was relatively low-key as everyone focused on the series closer in Abashiri. Building toward his marathon debut with two half marathon wins and a sub-27 best for 10000 m to his name this season Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA RC) delivered the biggest result in Kitami, winning the 5000 m A-heat in 13:15.25. Hokkaido-based high schooler Charles Ndungu (Kenya/Sapporo Yamanote H.S.) was 3rd in a quality best of 13:35.55 just ahead of top Japanese man Minato Oishi (Team Toyota), 4th in 13:36.40. Kenyan Susan Wairimu (Team Denso) won the women’s 3000 m A-heat over two-time 5000 m national champion Misaki Onishi (Team Sekisui Kagaku), 9:01.29 to 9:05.45, while the year’s #1-ranked Japanese woman Ayumi Hagiwara (Team Uniqlo) took the 5000 m A-heat in 15:33.71. In Aba...

29-year-old Jeffrey Eggleston has been quietly rising up through the ranks of U.S. marathoning for the last few years since debuting in 2:14:32 at the 2010 Rock'n'Roll Arizona Marathon. A 2:12:03 at the 2012 Chicago Marathon got him onto the Moscow World Championships team, where he was the top-placing American at 13th overall. In April he was the third American at the Boston Marathon, running his fastest time to that point at 2:11:57. On July 6 he lined up at Australia’s Gold Coast Airport Marathon. Running a race both smart and tough, he took his time working back into contact after the early move by Kenyan pacer Isaac Macharia Wanjohi and eventual winner Silah Limo that brought panic to the rest of the lead pack. At 30 km Eggleston was in 2nd on mid-2:08 pace, and with a gritty last 12 km he held on to that position as he ground out a 2:10:52 PB that made him the fastest American of the year and second-fastest since the London Olympics on an unaided course. Aft...

by Brett Larner The Gold Coast Airport Marathon saw the expected surpassing of Rob de Castella 's 1982 Australian all-comers' record of 2:09:18 to commemorate its graduation to the rank of an IAAF gold label race, but despite having the course, the weather, the goal and the field it was close, and little else about the race went as expected. None of the pre-race favorites factored up front, 2:06 men Nicholas Manza (Kenya) and Gebretsadik Adihana (Ethiopia) dropping out and the hoped-for duel between defending champion Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) and London Olympian Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) never materializing after Fujiwara lost contact early in the second half with cramping. Instead, virtual unknown Silah Kipkemboi Limo (Kenya), debuting off a 1:01:26 half marathon best last year in Singapore, went to the front near 20 km with pacer Isaac Macharia (Kenya) and went it alone at 25 to shake off his Kenyan competition and front-running Japanese man Ch...

by Brett Larner photos by Mari Tanigawa With a shiny new IAAF gold label to its name, Sunday's Gold Coast Airport Marathon has put together fields worthy of its distinction as the only Australian race to have achieved the honor.  The 2:27:17 women's course record is a definite possibility, the men's 2:10:01 record all but a certainty with most of the top end of the field talking about times that would put them under Rob de Castella 's prehistoric 2:09:18 Australian all-comers' record dating back to 1982.  The race will be streamed live worldwide starting at 5:45 a.m. local time with the gun going off at 7:20, giving fans worldwide the chance to catch a potential piece of history.  For the first time, JRN will be part of the broadcast alongside hosts Ian Eckersley and Steve Moneghetti to help cover the stellar Japanese component of the elite field. The withdrawal of #1-seeded Mulu Seboka (Ethiopia) means Naoko Takahashi 's 2:23:14 Australian all-comers...

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2014/07/02/kiji/K20140702008487440.html translated by Brett Larner The civil servant runner's youngest brother is set to become the part-time job runner.  On July 1 it was announced that marathoner Yuki Kawauchi 's youngest brother Koki Kawauchi (21, Takasaki Keizai Univ. 4th-yr.) will continue his career as an athlete following his graduation next spring by joining the Arata Project led by London Olympian Arata Fujiwara (32, Miki House). Koki is already training with the other members of the Arata Project group and went to Switzerland last summer to train with Fujiwara at his altitude training camp in St. Moritz.  "Yeah, it's probably better if he trains with Fujiwara than with me," commented Yuki. Depending on his race results, as a member of the Arata Project Koki will begin to receive financial support from the project beginning next year.  However, he will rely mainly on income from a part-time job at another c...

http://bit.ly/1mP9Kti translated by Brett Larner On June 30 the Memolead Group wedding and funeral ceremony management and production company based in Seihi Nagayomachi held a press conference to announce its sponsorship of a new women's athletics team.  It is the first new women's corporate team to be based in Nagasaki since the launch of the Juhachi Ginko team two years ago. Appearing at the press conference in Nagasaki were corporate representatives and new head coach Yuki Mori .  Mori joined Memolead the year before last and, remaining active as a runner, captained the Nagasaki prefecture team at last year's final Grand Tour Kyushu ekiden.  Based on his performance and leadership there, corporate management took an interest and agreed to fund a new women's team.  The team will focus on women interested in the marathon and other long distances. With a planned team start date at the beginning of the new fiscal year next April, Mori intends to retire from h...

by Brett Larner Just shy of six months since a stress fracture knocked Enock Omwamba and Yamanashi Gakuin University out of the 2014 Hakone Ekiden , Omwamba sent a clear signal that he is back to full strength.  Omwamba made a tentative return at l ast month's Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships with a double 1500 m and 5000 m win but sat out defending his title in the 10000 m.  In the first meet of this summer's Hokuren Distance Challenge series in Fukagawa, Hokkaido, Omwamba outran a half-dozen corporate-league Africans and top Japanese talent including sub-28 men Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota), Keita Shitara (Team Konica Minolta) and Yuta Shitara (Team Honda) to cut more than 15 seconds off his best as he won the 10000 m A-heat in 28:00.33.  With Omwamba fully recovered, senior Hiroto Inoue having cleared 62 minutes for the half marathon this season, the entire core of Yamanashi Gakuin Prep High School 's 2013 National H.S Ekiden champion t...