japan running news

There was a lot of action at the 36th running of the Izumo Ekiden Monday in Shimane, but it really came down to an anchor stage showdown between three of the biggest names on the university men's collegiate circuit. For the first five legs it was mostly between two-time defending champ Komazawa University and the top four-ranked Ivy League Select Team , Aoyama Gakuin University , Koku Gakuin University and Soka University . All of them except the Ivy League alternate stages up front with the Ivies in the mix in 2nd thanks to excellent runs from its two lead-off runners Kieran Tuntivate and Will Battershill . AGU's Masaya Tsurukawa took the 8.0 km First Stage, Soka's Hibiki Yoshida put them into 1st on the 5.8 km Second Stage, AGU's Asahi Kuroda retook the lead on the 8.5 km Third Stage, Izumo native Aoi Ito put Komazawa out front on the 6.2 km Fourth Stage, and KGU's Ryuto Uehara went to the front on the 6.4 km Fifth Stage. That set up an incredible matchup

The first major national-level high school ekiden of the season, the 39th Kurayoshi Joshi Ekiden and 44th Nihonkai Ekiden took place Sunday in Kurayoshi, Tottori. Serving as the girls' race with 5 legs totaling 21.0975 km, Kurayoshi saw Osaka's Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. return to the top spot for the first time in 5 years with a 1:08:58 win, its 3rd time ever winning. A total of 51 teams competed in the girls' race, included most of the best programs from across the country. The Kunei Joshi Gakuin girls were 3rd after the first leg, with lead-off runner Yuika Tsuzurahara (2nd-yr) trailing leader Yua Sato (3rd-yr, Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) by only 3 seconds. Second runner Yua Tsukamoto  (3rd-yr) ran the fastest time on her leg, moving up to 2nd behind last year's winner Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. Third runner Rio Kawamura  (2nd-yr) also won her leg and gave Kunei Joshi Gakuin a lead that fourth runner Aika Murai (1st-yr) and anchor Miyu Funaki (2nd-yr) held until the end. To

This year's Chicago Marathon will be remembered for one thing, cf. the photo above. No Japanese women were in the race to get thrashed by Ruth Chepngetich en route to her era-defining 2:09:56 world record, but five Japanese men were, and most of them did get thrashed. With a 2:06:35 PB Kyohei Hosoya (Kurosaki Harima) went out on low-2:04 NR pace, running comfortably through halfway before a surge from the pacers dropped him. Alone the rest of the way, Hosoya managed to run down some Ethiopian competition to take 6th overall in 2:07:20. Toshiki Sadakata (Mitsubishi Juko) spent most of the way working with American Zach Panning and then CJ Albertson to hit the 2:06:30 Tokyo World Championships standard, ultimately finishing 5 seconds behind Albertson in 8th in 2:08:22. After getting dropped by the JPN/USA men's group, Tomoki Yoshioka (Kyudenko) ended up running as an unofficial pacer for Chepngetich, but over the second half he couldn't match her strength and faded to

The East Japan Corporate Federation published featured athlete entry lists for next month's Hachioji Long Distance meet on its website on Oct. 10. The meet takes place Nov. 23 at Hachioji's Kamiyugi Field and will include 5000 m races this year along with its usual program of 10000 m races. In addition, a special heat of 10000 m is being set up to target the Japanese national record of 27:09.80 and the Tokyo World Championships qualifying standard, 27:00.00. Announced for that heat are NR holder Kazuya Shiojiri (27:09.80, Fujitsu), 2024 national champion and Paris Olympian Jun Kasai (27:17.46, Asahi Kasei), and 2022 and 2023 World Championships team member Ren Tazawa (27:22.31, Toyota). Tazawa commented, "There aren't that many races either in Japan or overseas that are set up for 26 minutes, so this is a really important chance to become the first Japanese athlete to run under 27 minutes." Others on featured athlete list include Mebuki Suzuki (27:26.67, Toyo

The university men's ekiden season dominates the calendar in Japan, three main races spanning an arc from October's Izumo Ekiden , 6 stages totaling 45.1 km, November's National University Ekiden, 8 stages totaling 106.8 km, and the biggest of them all, January's Hakone Ekiden, 10 stages over 2 days totaling 217.1 km. This year's season kicks off Monday at Izumo, where 2022-2023 winner Komazawa University tries to make it 3 in a row. Despite losing 2 of last year's top members, Taiyo Yasuhara and Mebuki Suzuki , to graduation and the absence of star 3rd-year Keita Sato who is still rehabbing an injury, Komazawa's team is almost exactly as strong as it was last year, when it won by 2 minutes despite being ranked only 4th in the field. But out of the 9 Kanto Region teams in the Izumo field, Komazawa is the only one that isn't stronger on weighted average of its 6 fastest men over 5000 m and 10000 m. That means it comes in ranked 6th, still a solid conte

Ekiden season saw two of its first important races happen this weekend. Modeled after January's Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden, Sunday's Okukuma Ekiden in Kumamoto put corporate, collegiate and high school teams together on a marathon-length course with teams of 4 all running double-digit distances and high schoolers with teams of 7 and all but the 10.0 km First Stage split into two parts. Tosu Kogyo H.S. starting runner Taiyo Iwasa led corporate leaguer Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) by 2 seconds on the First Stage, with Omuta H.S. third runner Yuma Matsuda passing both teams to take the lead. It took until the anchor stage for Hiramatsu Byoin's Yeneblo Biyazen to catch Omuta, crossing the line in 2:06:39 with Omuta anchor Nobuyuki Anai 7 seconds back for 1st in the high school division. Soka University was the only other team to go under 2:07, 3rd overall and 2nd in the college/corporate division in 2:06:57. Rakunan H.S. was next in 2:07:07, with e

With the calendar ticking over into October, companies across the country are holding employment offer ceremonies for college students who will join their ranks after graduating next March. 4th-year runners from top universities are also deciding their roads ahead. Having run the fastest-ever time on the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage and playing a key role in Aoyama Gakuin University 's overall win at the 100th Hakone this past January, Aoi Ota , 22, is set to join the GMO corporate team. His teammates Akimu Nomura , 21, and Kosei Shiraishi , 22, plan to join Sumitomo Denko . Former 5000 m high school record holder Kosuke Ishida , 22, who missed all three big college ekidens last year but has made a stellar recovery this season, will join Subaru after graduating from Toyo University . With the fates of their teams in their hands, they and other 4th-years will give it all in their final seasons before moving on to the next stage of their lives. At the 100th Hakone Ekiden Ota del