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Kawabata and Hayashida Win Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon

Today's Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon was in one of the few places in the country not hit by heavy snow, but even though it was windier than ideal with a strong tailwind 1st half and headwind 2nd half people ran well. After a 1:04:31 fast half the men dropped as slow as 16:03 into the wind between 25 and 30 km, but when the pacers dropped a group of 6 broke free from the pack and got the race back on track with a 15:25 split through 35 km. Even though he only had a 2:15:11 PB Kazuto Kawabata was the only one who could sustain that over the next 5 km, and he kept rolling on to win in a new PB of 2:10:27. Amateur Shusei Ohashi dropped a 2:11:01 PB for 2nd, just holding off the debuting Shoki Yamaguchi from Soka University who was 3rd in 2:11:02. 6 of the top 10 ran PBs, the other 4 all running the marathon for the first time and everyone under 2:12:30. Back in 13th, the talented Kenta Murayama from the local Asahi Kasei corporate tea...

Benard Koech Banned 4 Years

https://www.athleticsintegrity.org/downloads/pdfs/disciplinary-process/en/260129-World-Athletics-v-Kibet-Koech-Decision-Redacted6.pdf A longtime member of the Kyudenko corporate team, rebranded as Kraftia after his departure, 10 mile world best holder Benard Kibet Koech has been banned 4 years for biological passport irregularities. All his results dating back to 26 June, 2024 have been disqualified, a period including his runs at the 3 Nov., 2024 Kyushu Corporate Ekiden and the 1 Jan., 2025 New Year Ekiden . As a result, Kyudenko's results in those races will almost certainly be disqualified in the same way that the Aisan Kogyo team lost 4 years of New Year Ekiden results after Rodgers Kwemoi was suspended. Soka University also lost its best-ever 2nd-place finish at the 2023 Izumo Ekiden after team member Leakey Kamina tested positive for nandrolone in-competition at the 2023 National University Track and Field Championships , and the Universal Entertainment women's...

'Running: State of the Sport'

Amby Burfoot and George Hirsch had me on their podcast Running: State of the Sport to talk Japanese running.

Osaka Marathon Elite Field

With 3 weeks to go the elite fields for the Feb. 22 Osaka Marathon are out. Given Osaka's history as the elite men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon the women's field is small, with only one entrant, Sinhala Kureshi , having broken 2:21 with her 2:19:53 in Hamburg last spring. Afera Godfay , Mare Dibaba and Rose Chelimo have all run 2:21 to 2:22 in recent races, and Esther Chemtai is an interesting debut off a 1:08:09 at last fall's Cardiff Half. Kaede Kawamura is the highest-level Japanese woman in the field with a 2:25:44 in Osaka 2 years ago. Last year's men's champ and CR breaker Yihunilign Adane is back, his main competition being fellow Ethiopians Bute Gemechu , Mulugeta Asefa Uma and South Africa's Elroy Gelant . 4th last year in 2:05:58, Kyohei Hosoya leads the front of the super deep Japanese field along with Ichitaka Yamashita , Kenta Sonota , Kiyoto Hirabayashi , Yuhei Urano , Yusuke Nishiyama and Daisuke Doi . But where Osaka excels is in deb...

Matsuo Breaks High School Half Marathon Record in 1:02:47

At the 48th Kanagawa Half Marathon at Yokohama's Nissin Olio Group's Isogo Plant, Jinya Ozaki (Teikyo Univ.) outran tough competition from National University Ekiden champion Komazawa University and Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University to take 1st in the men's race in 1:02:04. AGU's Sho Fukutomi was 2nd in 1:02:07, with Komazawa's Rinta Muta 3rd in 1:02:08. High schooler Nichika Maeda (Miura Gakuen H.S.) took the women's race in 1:16:30. But it was another high schooler who made headlines. 3rd-year Koki Matsuo (Shiritsu Funabashi H.S.) ran 1:02:47, taking 28 seconds off the fastest half marathon time ever run by a Japanese-born high school student. Last summer Matsuo ran the 5000 m at the National High School Track and Field Championships, and in November he went under 14 minutes for 5000 m, his time of 13:55.07 putting him into the top class of high school running. At last fall's Chiba Prefectural High School Ekiden Matsuo set a new CR of 2...

Masresha Over Yoshida and Kuroda at Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon

The Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon was a strictly amateur race on the women's side, Chika Yokota running a 2:43:45 PB for the win. But with 6 spots at the L.A. Olympics marathon trials on the line all the Japanese men were obsessed over getting their places reserved early. 2 first-half falls knocked Ethiopian Abe Gashahun and 2024 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon winner Yota Ifuku out of the race, but the rest of the field rolled on steadily just under 3:00/km. The pace crew took them to 30 km in 1:29:45, 2:06:15 pace, and at that point there were still 20 in it including the home soil favorites Yuya Yoshida and Asahi Kuroda . Inside the last 10 km Ethiopian Getachew Masresha went to the front, followed initially by the debuting Takato Suzuki but let go by the rest of the pack. Once Masresha was about 10 seconds ahead Kuroda, the collegiate record holder and CR breaker on the Hakone Ekiden's legendary uphill Fifth Stage a month ago, picked it up in pursuit. After Kuroda ran ...

Etir Breaks Marugame CR, Catrofe Sets Uruguay NR, Omare 3rd-Straight Win

On the one hand it was too windy for really fast times at the Marugame Half , but on the other it wasn't, apparently. It was pretty much a strong tailwind over the first 10 km and just a strong a headwind over the last 10, so it wasn't a surprise that the lead group of men went through 5 km in 13:59 and 10 km in 27:51. Up front in it were 59:30 collegiate record co-holders Richard Etir and Kotaro Shinohara , and sub-59:30 guy Emmanuel Maru . But with the National University Half Marathon having moved to Marugame last year there were a million fast Hakone kids up in it to, Hiromichi Nonaka from Koku Gakuin University leading the way but lots more right behind. Etir and Maru opened up on the field after the turnaround, and by 15 km Etir was alone, 9 seconds ahead of Maru and on sub-59 pace running into the wind. Like everyone else he struggled to keep pace in the wind, sub-59 slipping away but easily taking the win in 59:07, a CR and new collegiate record by 23 seconds. Maru e...