japan running news

Its skyline punctuated by skyscrapers demonstrating Indonesia's economic ascension. A lush plaza holding a famed tower, the symbol of the metropolis. When Jakarta hosts the Asian Games next week its marathon course will loop around the city's main streets, starting and finishing from the Games' main venue, Gelola Bungarno Stadium. In light of the heat and humidity of the races' summertime dates, Aug. 25 for men and 26 for women, the marathons will get off to early starts at 6:00 a.m. local time, 8:00 a.m. Japan time. Leaving the stadium for the main streets, the Jakarta course turns to the north before turning back. Each of the two loops is about 20 km, both mostly flat and straight with the only hills coming in the gentle climbs onto and off the waterway bridges that dot the route. At a rotary about 5 km from the start, runners are greeted by a statue of a man and woman built in 1962 the last time Jakarta hosted the Asian Games. Running on amid the highrises, arou...

As part of its measures to deal with the hot conditions expected at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, on Aug. 13 the Tokyo Metropolitan Government conducted an experiment to measure the effects on pavement surface temperature of spraying the road surface with water. Data from the experiments were released to the media. The experiment was conducted from 4:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. along a 120 m section of sidewalk along Uchibori Street in the Imperial Palace's outer gardens in Chiyoda Ward.  In the experiment, open-ended tubes used in agricultural work eres placed at the edge of the sidewalk  to supply water. Surface temperature readings were taken every 30 minutes for three different experimental scenarios: spraying water beginning at 4:00 a.m. spraying water beginning at 7:00 a.m. not spraying any water The experiment found that where water had been sprayed, the road surface temperature remained in the 27 to 29˚C range even when the air temperature exceeded ...

72,000 paris of eyes followed a lone 19-year-old Waseda University student as he circled the track at the Olympic Stadium with effortless grace. The date was October 10, 1964, the opening day of the Tokyo Olympics. The runner was Yoshinori Sakai , the final Olympic torchbearer. Step by step he climbed the 182 stairs and, extending his right arm, ignited the flame that burst forth from the Olympic cauldron. Below him spread a sea of multicolored uniforms, and beyond the assembled teams stretched the horizons of a Tokyo in a time before modern high rise buildings. "It was the best seat in the house," Sakai recalled. Sakai was born in Miyoshi, Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 just an hour and a half after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The perfect symbol of recovery from defeat, the foreign media dubbed him "Atomic Boy," but Sakai told foreign journalists, "The war has nothing to do with me. Please look at who I am now, today, not at the past." Sa...

2017 24-hour world champion Yoshihiko Ishikawa (Nichia Kagaku) won the 100 Meilen Berlin Saturday, just short of the course record but beating his nearest competition by over an hour as he finished in 13:17.41. Part of a sizable lead group in the early going, Ishikawa broke free of the competition after two hours and was on his own the rest of the way. Projecting a finish time under 13 hours well into the race, in the later stages he slowed enough to miss the 13:06:52 course record set in 2014 but was still in a different class from the rest of the field, runner-up Stephane Ruel of France coming in in 14:25:24. Women's winner Monika Biegasiewicz of Poland won with the same kind of margin, running 15:29:48 to 2nd-placer Annette Mueller 's 16:37:36. 100 Meilen Berlin Top Results Berlin, Germany, 8/11/18 complete results Men 1. Yoshihiko Ishikawa (Japan) - 13:17.41 2. Stephane Ruel (France) - 14:25:24 3. Uwe Laenger (Germany) - 14:30:53 4. Stefan Wilsdorf (Germa...

On Aug. 10 the Yamanashi Track and Field Association announced that at last month's Yamanashi Prefecture Junior High School Track and Field Championships a male official had misrepresented the results of two athletes so that they cleared the qualifying standards necessary for them to compete in the National Junior High School Championships. According to the YTFA, in the girls' 100 m hurdles and boys' 110 m hurdles at July's prefectural meet, while determining finishing time in finish line photographs the official measured the two athletes from the neck rather than from the torso, improving each athlete's time by 0.01 seconds. The official told investigators, "I knew it was wrong, but I had the qualifying marks for Nationals in mind." The finish line photo data were sent to the JAAF, who discovered the manipulation of the results and brought it to the YTFA's attention on Aug. 2. The YFTA apologized to the two athletes and allowed them to particip...

On Aug. 9 at a Tokyo-area press conference the JAAF announced that the MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials scheduled for Sept. 15, 2019 will be split between two broadcasters, the men's race going to TBS and the women's race to NHK. At the press conference JAAF executive director Mitsugi Ogata explained that after communicating their terms and conditions for the event to the major broadcast companies the JAAF evaluated their proposals for the broadcast and its promotion. The selection committee then made its determination on which broadcasters would win the contract. Ogata commented, "The precise details have yet to be determined but we are considering a start time around 9:00 a.m. We would like to establish the difference in start time between the men's and women's races in consultation with the various parties involved." source article: https://www.daily.co.jp/general/2018/08/09/0011527373.shtml translated by Brett Larner

A Bank of America Chicago Marathon press release. The Bank of America Chicago Marathon announced today that several international running stars are joining the 41st annual Bank of America Chicago Marathon elite athlete competition. Past champions Abel Kirui (KEN) and Dickson Chumba (KEN) lead the charge on the men’s side, and 2017 runner-up Brigid Kosge i (KEN) and two-time podium finisher Birhane Dibaba (ETH) stand out among the women. They will join previously announced global sensations Mo Farah (GBR), Yuki Kawauchi (JPN) and Suguru Osako (JPN). Note: The previously-announced Chihiro Miyawaki (Japan) is no longer listed in the men's field. 41st Bank of America Chicago Marathon Elite Field Highlights Chicago, U.S.A., 10/7/18 times listed are best in last three years except where noted complete elite fields Women Roza Dereje Bekele (Ethiopia) - 2:19:17 (Dubai 2018) Birhane Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 2:19:51 (Tokyo 2018) Brigid Kosgei (Kenya) - 2:20:13 (London 2018)...

Following last week's run over most of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics marathon course exactly two years before the women's marathon, this morning I went out to do it again at the same time the men's marathon will be held. Last week we focused mostly on the first 20 km and finish. This week I looked more at the second part of the course after 20 km, starting at 7 a.m. and making it back to the stadium at 9:45, about the same time the last few runners in the men's race are likely to finish in two years. Effort-wise I ran about 4:15/km, slightly faster than last week's run to get a better sense of what a decent effort would feel like in the Tokyo conditions. The Report Last week's heat, humidity and sun pretty well represented Tokyo's weather this summer, but no summer would be complete without a few typhoons. One passed just east of Tokyo yesterday and during the night, bringing cooler temperatures and shifting winds and humidity as it passed to the northeas...