japan running news

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20110731-00000028-jij-spo translated by Brett Larner Kawauchi after winning in Kushiro. Click photo to enlarge. At the 39th Kushiro Shitsugen 30 km Road Race on July 31 in Kushiro, Hokkaido, Daegu World Championships marathon team member Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref.), won in a course record 1:33:55.  Kawauchi ran the race as a tuneup for next month's World Championships marathon. Translator's note:  At last week's Shibetsu Half Marathon Kawauchi averaged 3:09/km.  In Kushiro he averaged  3:08/km for 30 km , suggesting he is on track for a recovery in time for Daegu from the heat stroke that hit him late in June's Okinoshima 50 km.

2011 Flanders Cup Gentse Feesten Meeting Gent, Belgium, 7/30/11 click here for complete results Men's 5000 m 1. Brian Olinger (U.S.A.) - 13:32.74 2. Arne Gabius (Germany) - 13:35.90 3. Philipp Bandi (Switzerland) - 13:36.89 4. Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) - 13:38.92 5. Stephen Furst (U.S.A.) - 13:40.75 6. Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 13:41.56 7. Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) - 13:45.97 8. Takuya Ishikawa (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 13:46.30 9. Kazuya Deguchi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 13:59.14 10. Mohamed Mohamed Ali (Netherlands) - 14:04.44 Women's 3000 m SC 1. Korene Hinds (Jamaica) - 9:38.07 2. Stephanie Garcia (U.S.A.) - 9:41.12 3. Lindsay Allen (U.S.A.) - 9:47.03 ----- 7. Minori Hayakari (Kyoto Koka AC) - 9:57.51 Men's 1500 m Heat 1 1. Andrew Bumbalough (U.S.A.) - 3:40.35 2. Ciaran O'Lionaird (Ireland) - 3:41.34 3. Brandon Bethke (U.S.A.) - 3:41.60 ----- 10. Yasuhiro Tago (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 3:44.16 Men's 1500 m Heat 2 1. Yusuke Takabayas...

by Brett Larner One of three Japanese athletes to run in the men's open 10000 m at the July 29 Aviva UK Trials meet in Birmingham, Meiji University senior Tetsuya Yoroizaka  delivered the biggest run of his life with a 50-second PB to finish 2nd overall in 27:44.30.  Yoroizaka just cleared the London Olympics A-standard of 27:45.00 and beat the previous Japanese citizen collegiate record of 27:45.59 held by Kensuke Takezawa  (Waseda Univ.) although he fell short of the 27:27.64 collegiate record held by Yamanashi Gakuin Univ. Kenyan Mekubo Mogusu .  Yoroizaka's outstanding performance also puts him at all-time #10 on the Japanese 10000 m list and makes him the fourth Japanese university man to run 28:03 or better so far this season. Sub-28 corporate men Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei) and Masato Kihara  (Team Kanebo) also ran in the UK Trials.  Fukatsu, who will be teammates at Asahi Kasei with Yoroizaka following Yoroizaka's graduation next spring, w...

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/other/athletic/headlines/20110726-00000035-kyodo_sp-spo.html translated by Brett Larner At a press conference in Sendai on July 26, organizers of the 22nd Sendai International Half Marathon announced that they will go ahead with plans to expand the event from 1000 elite and semi-elite runners to a mass-participation race with a field limit of 10000 at next year's race, scheduled for May 13.  According to city officials, Sendai will become the largest half marathon in Japan, with a new course that takes in the best of Sendai's downtown area. The new event will combine the elite Sendai International Half Marathon with the amateur-level Sendai City Marathon held in the fall and will include the full range of participants from those trying for a spot on the Japanese national team for the World Half Marathon Championships to recreational runners trying to break 2 hours 30 minutes.  The new race will also include a wheelchair race along with 2 km ...

2011 Joensuu Games Loppukilpailu, Finland, 7/27/11 click here for complete results Men's 5000 m 1. Lewis Korir (KEN) - 13:33.64 2. Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) - 13:38.39 3. Yusuke Takabayashi (Team Toyota) - 13:53.50 4. Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) - 13:56.03 5. Kazuya Deguchi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 14:14.30 Women's 1500 m 1. Zoe Buckman (Australia) - 4:06.06 2. Erin Donohue (U.S.A.) - 4:07.04 3. Natalia Koreyvo (Finland) - 4:08.31 4. Karin Storbacka (Finland) - 4:13.66 5. Ayako Jinnouchi (Japan) - 4:14.70 6. Ruriko Kubo (Japan) - 4:15.88 ----- 10. Minori Hayakari (Kyoto Koka AC) - 4:18.97

http://www.47news.jp/CN/201107/CN2011072401000293.html http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2011/07/25/kiji/K20110725001275810.html http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/110724/spg1107241552001-n1.htm http://gazoo.com/g-blog/tmcdistancerunning/351461/Article.aspx http://www.plus-blog.sportsnavi.com/kmanabu/article/474 translated and edited by Brett Larner The Shibetsu Half Marathon took place July 24 in Shibetsu, Hokkaido.  With starting temperatures of 25 degrees and dry, sunny conditions Norihiro Nomiya (Team Toyota) won the men's race in 1:05:09 and Yoko Miyauchi  (Team Kyocera) the women's race in 1:13:06.  Daegu World Championships marathon team members Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref.) and Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) also ran as part of their tune-up for the World Championships, Kawauchi placing 4th in the men's race in 1:06:24 and Ito 7th in the women's race in 1:16:15. The women's race included the last three champions.  Winner Miyauchi broke away...

2011 Savo Games Lapinlahti, Finland, 7/24/11 click here for complete results Men's 3000 m 1. Yusuke Takabayashi (Team Toyota) - 7:55.98 2. Craig Miller (U.S.A.) - 7:56.72 3. Yasuhiro Tago (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 7:58.04 4. Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) - 7:58.95 5. Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) - 7:59.23 ----- 10. Kazuya Deguchi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 8:05.79 Women's 3000 m 1. Erin Donohue (U.S.A.) - 8:55.07 2. Viktoriia Pohoryselska (Ukraine) - 9:19.13 3. Minori Hayakari (Kyoto Koka AC) - 9:22.48 4. Janica Makela (Finland) - 9:35.37 5. Elina Lindgren (Finland) - 9:37.38 BMC Nike Grand Prix Trafford, U.K., 7/23/11 Men's 3000 m A-Heat 1. James Wilkinson (U.K.) - 7:56.84 2. Sean Connolly (Ireland) - 7:57.21 3. Jonathan Taylor (U.K.) - 7:58.83 4. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Meiji Univ.) - 7:58.90 5. Luke Gunn (U.K.) - 8:00:19 ----- 9. Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei) - 8:07.34 16. Masato Kihara (Team Kanebo) - 8:19.24 Race Results Weekly report...

by Brett Larner Members of Japan's top two university teams, 2011 Hakone Ekiden winner Waseda University  and 2009-2010 winner Toyo University , held a midsummer face-off July 23 in Isesaki Gunma at the Trial in Isesaki meet hosted by locally-based Jobu University .  With early pacing provided by Jobu graduate Yusuke Hasegawa  (Team S&B), Waseda second-year Suguru Osako , the Asian junior area record holder in the half marathon, won the men's 3000 m A-heat with a gap of nearly six seconds over Toyo's Takanori Ichikawa  and Hiroyuki Uno , running 8:05.70.  2009 Ageo City Half Marathon winner Shota Hiraga  (Waseda Univ.) was off his game as he finished only 7th in 8:18.29. For Osako the meet was a tuneup for next month's World University Games in Shenzhen, China.  Although he set the Asian junior record at the half marathon last fall as a first-year, Osako has since backed off the distance and focused on the track.  At the World Univers...

by Brett Larner With a near-miss from typhoon #6, one of Japan's most difficult and popular midsummer races, the 64th Fuji Mountain Race , took place as scheduled July 22.   Toru Miyahara , who set the course record of 2:32:40 in the 21 km, 3000 m climb Summit Division five years ago, returned to take five minutes off his mark as he ran 2:27:41 for a new course record and his third win at the event's longest distance.  Runner-up Satoshi Kato , the winner of last year's 15 km, 1460 climb Fifth Stage Division making his debut at the full distance, was fast enough to have won most years but was nearly fourteen minutes behind Miyahara, finishing in 2:41:11.  Last year's women's Fifth Stage Division winner Mina Ogawa  also made a successful transition to the long race as she won in 3:10:45, a winning time only four women have bettered in the 27 years that the Fuji Mountain Race has had a women's division.   Kei Kikushima  and Mitsuko Hirose  won the men's...

2011 Asian Marathon Championships held at Pattaya International Marathon, Thailand, 7/17/11 Men Lawrence Kiptoo Saina (Kenya) - 2:21:06 1. Mohamed Abdou Bakheet (Qatar) - 2:23:07 2. Teruto Ozaki (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:23:09 Peter Keter (Kenya) - 2:23:34 Joseph Mwangi (Kenya) - 2:24:52 3. Kenji Takeuchi (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 2:25:33 Women Elizabeth Chemweno (Kenya) - 2:24:09 1. Noriko Higuchi (Team Wacoal) - 2:44:10 2. Jiang Xiaoli (China) - 2:52:24 3. Pham Thi Binh (Vietnam) - 2:53:09 4. Natthaya Thanaronnawat (Thailand) - 2:53:35 5. Fan Sui Ping (Hong Kong) - 3:02:57

by Brett Larner It was a relatively quiet long weekend across Japan, with a smattering of prefectural track championships across the country in the hot sun ahead of an approaching typhoon.  At the Kyoto Prefecture Championships, Bukkyo University-related runners cleaned up, taking the top five spots in the women's 5000 m led by recent graduate Kasumi Nishihara 's meet record 15:39.28.  An impressive mark considering that it was run in temperatures in the mid-30's with high humidity.    Fresh from being named to the Japanese 10000 m squad for next month's World Championships, Bukkyo's top current runner Hikari Yoshimoto  won the women's 3000 m in 9:14.75, her first win after a few relatively flat months. Bukkyo's major rival Ritsumeikan University mostly gave the Kyoto meet a miss, opting instead for the West Japan University Championships in Gifu.  There team leader Risa Takenaka  also set a meet record in the 5000 m, running 15:59.07 in even hotte...

http://happy.ap.teacup.com/applet/wako5ac/20110716/archive translated and edited by Brett Larner click here for photos of the KGU party On July 15 marathoner Yoshinori Oda  (Team Toyota) attended an official send-off party held by his alma mater, Kanto Gakuin University.  Oda attended the ekiden powerhouse Omuta High School before running at Kanto Kaguin University and going on to the Toyota corporate team after his graduation.  Although busy with his World Championships preparations, through the considerate cooperation of the Toyota company Oda was able to attend the party in his honor. Kanto Gakuin University President Ono, Dean of Student Life Oyama and other members of the school administration made up most of those in attendance at the party, giving Oda their wholehearted support.  As an academically-oriented school Kanto Gakuin is far-removed from the Hakone Ekiden powerhouses, but inspired by Oda's success the administration has pledged to strengthen th...

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/region/news/110714/smn11071401520000-n1.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner Named to the Japanese national team for next month's World Track and Field Championships in Daegu, Korea, 10000 m runner  Kayo Sugihara  (28, Team Denso) visited her former high school, Izumo Shogyo H.S. in Izumo, Shimane, on Aug. 13.  Sugihara won the 10000 m at June's National Track and Field Championships.  In 2007 she ran the 5000 m at the Osaka World Championships, meaning Daegu will be her second appearance at Worlds.  "I want to run an active race and break my best time," she told the assembled crowd with resolve. Sugihara spoke in the high school's auditorium in front of a crowd of 200 including 158 seniors, 9 members of the school's track and field team, Izumo Shogyo graduates and assorted visitors.  Her former coach Koji Yamane  talked about Sugihara's high school-era running, saying, "At first she got injured a lot and had consta...

http://www.kahoku.co.jp/spe/thksports/20110709_02.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner The #1-ranked Japanese woman in distance running, 21-year-old  Megumi Kinukawa  (Team Mizuno) is in the best shape of her life.  Known as the "Magic Girl" during her days competing at Sendai Ikuei High School Kinukawa received more than her share of attention, but after coming down with a serious, long-lasting illness of unknown origin a few months before graduating in 2008 she fell from grace and all but disappeared.  Fast-forward to June 12 this year, when she came from seemingly nowhere to win the 2011 National Track & Field Championships women's 5000 m in a World Championships A-standard time of 15:09.96, picking up a place on the Japanese national team for Worlds next month in Daegu, Korea.  She followed up with an even bigger run in her next race, running 31:10.02 for 10000 m and opening up the possibility of a World Championships double. On July 6 Kinukaw...

by Brett Larner The Japanese federation Rikuren announced the complete lineup of its team for next month's World Championships in Daegu, Korea, adding to the previously-announced marathon and race walk rosters to make a complete team of fifty.  The Japanese team includes Olympic medalists Koji Murofushi  (Mizuno, HT) and Shinji Takahira  (Fujitsu, 200 m), World Championships medalists Yukifumi Murakami  (Suzuki Hamamatsu, JT) and Yoshimi Ozaki  (Daiichi Seimei, marathon), national record holders Yuki Ebihara  (Suzuki Hamamatsu, JT),  Masumi Fuchise  (Otsuka Seiyaku, 20 km RW),  Chisato Fukushima  (Hokkaido Hi-Tec, 100 m, 200 m),  Minori Hayakari  (Kyoto Koka AC, 3000 mSC), Satomi Kubokura  (Niigata Albirex, 400 mH),  Daichi Sawano  (Chiba Pref., PV), Keisuke Ushiro  (Suzuki Hamamatsu, decathlon) and  Masato Yokota  (Fujitsu, 800 m) and an extensive list of national champions.  A complete lis...

2011 World Youth Games - Day Five Japanese Results Lille, France, 7/10/11 click here for complete results Boys' 3000 m Final 1. William Malel Sitonik (Kenya) - 7:40.10 - MR 2. Patrick Mutunga Mwikya (Kenya) - 7:40.47 - PB 3. Abrar Osman Adem (Eritrea) - 7:40.89 - PB ----- 9. Yuki Hirota (Japan) - 8:13.65 - PB 10. Yusuke Uchikoshi (Japan) - 8:14.91 - PB Boys' 200 m Final 1. Stephen Newbold (Bahamas) - 20.89 - PB 2. O'Dail Todd (Jamaica) - 21.00 - PB 3. Ronald Darby (U.S.A.) - 21.08 ----- 4. Akiyuki Hashimoto (Japan) - 21.21 Boys' Sprint Medley Relay Final 1. U.S.A. - 1.49.47 2. Japan - 1:50.69 - PB 3. France - 1:51.81 - PB Boys' Pole Vault Final 1. Robert Renner (Slovenia) - 5.25 m - PB 2. Melker Svard Jacobsson (Sweden) - 5.15 m 3. Jacob Blankenship (U.S.A.) - 5.05 m ----- 9. Ryohei Noda (Japan) - 4.80 m (c) 2011 Brett Larner all rights reserved

2011 Asian Athletics Championships - Day Three and Four Results Kobe, Hyogo, July 9-10, 2011 click here for complete results Women's 5000 m 1. T.D. Chalchissa (Ethiopia/Bahrain) - 15:22.48 - PB , MR 2. Hitomi Niiya (Japan) - 15:34.19 3. Yuriko Kobayashi (Japan) - 15:42.59 4. Alia Mohammed Saeed (U.A.E.) - 15:52.07 5. B.D. Blayneh (Ethiopia/U.A.E.) - 16:04.98 6. T. Triyaningsih (Indonesia) - 16:04.18 7. Rei Ohara (Japan) - 16:21.23 8. Kavita Raut (India) - 16:23.06 9. Suriya Loganathan (India) - 17:19.44 10. L. Ebrahimymojavery (Iran) - 17:40.01 - NR Men's 5000 m 1. D.R. Mootumaa (Ethiopia/Bahrain) - 13:39.71 - MR 2. Yuki Sato (Japan) - 13:40.78 - MR 3. Alemu Bekele Gebre (Ethiopia/Bahrain) - 13:41.93 4. Kazuya Watanabe (Japan) - 13:48.81 5. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Japan) - 13:54.35 6. Suresh Kumar (India) - 14:05.64 7. Mohammed Khazaei (Iran) - 14:08.81 8. Agus Prayogo (Indonesia) - 14:10.85 9. Serod Batochir (Mongolia) - 14:18.53 10. Qais Al Mahruqi (Oman)...

by Brett Larner Japan picked up its second medal of the 2011 IAAF World Youth Championships July 9 in Lille France, when hurdler Takahiro Matsumoto  ran a PB of 51.26 to win bronze in the boys' 400 mH.  Teammate Aya Takizawa  came close to equalling Matsumoto in the girls' 400 mH, where she ran a PB of 58.80 to finish 4th. In the sprints, Akiyuki Hashimoto  advanced to the boys' 200 m final with a 21.20 for 2nd in his semi, while the Japanese boys' sprint medley team won their heat easily to advance to the final where they should be in contention for a medal.   Masumi   Aoki ran a PB of 24.64 in the girls' 200 m but finished only 6th and did not advance. In other strong performances on the second-to-last day of competition, Shiho Takeda  ran a PB of 4:20.62 to finish 8th in the girls' 1500 m and Ryo Miyata  threw a PB of 63.29 in the boys' javelin semifinal but did not advance after finishing only 13th in his group. 2011 World Youth Champi...

2011 World Youth Championships - Day Two Japanese Results Lille, France, 7/8/11 click here for complete results Boys' 400 m Final 1. Arman Hall (U.S.A.) - 46.01 - PB 2. Alphas Leken Kishoyian (Kenya) - 46.58 3. Patryk Dobek (Poland) - 46.67 - PB 4. Machel Cedenio (Trinidad & Tobago) - 46.89 - PB 5. Takuya Fukunaga (Japan) - 47.16 - PB 6. Andre Wells (Bahamas) - 47.22 7. Brendon Restall (Canada) - 47.34 DNF - Sadam Suliman Koumi (Sudan) Boys' 110 mH Final 1. Andries van der Merwe (South Africa) - 13.41 2. Joshua Hawkins (New Zealand) - 13.44 - PB 3. Wilhem Belocian (France) - 13.51 - PB 4. Omar McLeod (Jamaica) - 13.61 - PB 5. Takumi Takahata (Japan) - 13.71 6. Tyler Mason (Jamaica) - 13.74 - PB 7. Mousa Mohammed Al Subyani (Saudi Arabia) - 13.81 - PB 8. Vyacheslav Shvydkyy (Ukraine) - 13.94 Girls' 5000 m Race Walk Final 1. Kate Veale (Ireland) - 21:45.59 - PB 2. Yanxue Mao (China) - 22:00.15 - PB 3. Nadezhda Leontyeva (Russia) - 22:00.84 - PB ...

2011 Asian Athletics Championships - Day Two Results Kobe, Hyogo, July 8, 2011 click here for complete results Men's 3000 mSC 1. Abubaker Ali Kamal (Qatar) - 8:30.23 2. Artem Kossinov (Kazakhstan) - 8:35.11 3. T.M.S. Taher (Bahrain) - 8:45.47 Men's 1500 m 1. Mohammed Alazemi (Kuwait) - 3:42.49 2. Sajad Moradi (Iran) - 3:43.30 3. C.I. Wijekoon (Sri Lanka) - 3:44.01 Women's 1500 m 1. Genzeb Shumi Regasa (Bahrain) - 4:15.91 2. Tranh Hang Truong (Vietnam) - 4:18.40 3. J. Orchatteri Puthiya (India) - 4:21.41 Men's 400 m 1. Yousef Ahmed Masrahi (Saudia Arabia) - 45.79 2. Hideyuki Hirose (Keio Univ.) - 46.03 3. Yuzo Kanemaru (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 46.38 Women's 400 m 1. Olga Tereshkova (Kazakhstan) - 52.37 2. Gulustan Ieso (Iraq) - 52.80 3. Jingwen Chen (China) - 52.89 Men's 100 m 1. Bingtian Su (China) - 10.21 2. Masashi Eriguchi (Team Osaka Gas) - 10.28 3. Sota Kawatsura (Chuo Univ.) - 10.30 Women's 100 m 1. Guzel Khubbieva (Uz...

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/0004245368.shtml translated and edited by Brett Larner The 19th Asian Athletics Championships got underway July 7 at the World University Games Memorial Stadium in Kobe, Hyogo.  The last chance for Japanese athletes to qualify for the national team for next month's World Championships in Daegu, Korea, the Japanese federation Rikuren will give a guaranteed place on the team to any athlete who wins their event and holds a World Championships A-standard qualification mark. A four-day meet, the first day of the Asian Athletics Championships features seven events including the men's and women's 10000 m and the heats and semi-finals of the men's 100 m, where no Japanese athletes have yet recorded a Worlds-qualifying time.  The field includes 3-time national champion Masashi Eriguchi  (Team Osaka Gas).  Women's sprinting star Chisato Fukushima  (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC) will run the 200 m heats on the third day of the meet.  T...

by Brett Larner On the second day of the 2011 IAAF World Youth Championships , top-seeded sprinter Kazuma Oseto  delivered Japan's first medal of the games, winning silver in the boys' 100 m.  Oseto came to the Championships with the fastest PB in the field, but after a shaky semifinal he was just clipped in the final by Jamaica's O'dail Todd , who ran a PB 10.51 to win gold over Oseto's 10.52. Michael-Meba Zeze  of France rounded out the medals with a 10.57 for bronze.  The only other Japanese athlete of the day to make a final, Ai Yamauchi , finished last in the women's javelin throw where Germany's Christin Hussong threw a meet record 59.74 m for gold. In semi-final, heat and qualification round action, both Yuki Hirota  and Yusuke Uchikoshi  ran PBs to advance to the boys' 3000 m final on time, each finishing 5th in his heat.  Hurdlers Aya Takizawa , Shota Madokoro ,  Takahiro Matsumoto  and Takumi Takahata  likewise ran PBs to m...

by Brett Larner Intense humidity after a day of rain heavy enough to postpone the men's pole vault final at the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships meant that the anticipated fast times in the 10000 m were off the table, but both the men's and women's races featured dramatic action and exciting finishes.  African-born Bahrainis turned the race for gold and silver into Kenya vs. Ethiopia intramural competitions in both races, with defending champion Kenyan Mahboob Ali Hasan Mahboob beating Ethiopian Bilisuma Shugi Gelasa  in the men's race and Ethiopian 2010 Asian Games 10000 m bronze medalist  Shitaye Eshete Habtegebrel outkicking Kenyan  Kareema Jasim Saleh to take the women's race. The Asians in the Asian Athletics Championships were left to compete for bronze.  The men's race saw a nearly constant turnover in the lead position, with Mahboob taking the field through a 2:46 first kilometer off a quick opening lap by Tokai University junior Akinobu Murasa...

by Brett Larner The Japanese team at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Lille, France by and large performed well on the first day of competition, with 15 of the 21 athletes competing in heats and qualification rounds advancing to the next stage.  Particularly strong were hurdler  Shota Madokoro , who won his heat of the boys' 400 mH in a PB of 53.46 and sprinters Anna Doi , Kazuma Oseto  and Kazuma Tsukamoto , all of whom won their 100 m heats.  Hurdlers Takahiro Matsumoto  and Ikumi Iida  also clocked new PBs to advance in their events. In the only final of the day to feature Japanese athletes, top high school runners Katsuki Suga  and Tomoka Kimura  turned in strong performances but were unable to break into the medals.  Kimura dictated the early pace, leading the race through a quick 2:58.83 first kilometer before team tactics led to a slow 3:07 second km.  In the blazing 2:51 final kilometer both Japanese runners lost touch a...

by Brett Larner Update: Start lists for the first day of competition are available here .  National champion Yuki Sato is not running the 10000 m but is still entered for the 5000 m. The 2011 Asian Athletics Championships run July 7-10 in Kobe, Hyogo, the last major competition for many of the athletes before next month's World Championships in Daegu, Korea. Much of the domestic Japanese attention will be on one of the very first events of the Asian Championships, the men's 10000 m. Two of the top three from this year's Japanese National Championships men's 10000 m,  Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) and Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) are on the entry list and hunting for a World Championships qualifying mark, Ugachi to improve his 27:41.97 B-standard mark to the A level and Murasawa to at least get under 28 for the first time. The absence of a Kenyan distance squad from Qatar means that the mostly-Ethiopian team running for Bahrain will be the Japanese me...

by Brett Larner click here to watch the IAAF World Youth Championships live online The IAAF World Youth Championships get underway tomorrow, July 6, in Lille, France. As is to be expected, Japan's best medal chances among its team of 37 come in the sprints and long distances. Kazuma Oseto (Ogura Higashi H.S.) comes to the boys' 100 m as the #1 seed, his PB of 10.39 leading the field. His teammates Kazuya Tsukamoto (Heisei H.S.) and Tatsuro Suwa (Yotsukaichi Kogyo H.S.) are also in the top eight on the entry list by PB, making the chances of at least one medal very good. All three runners are also on the list for the sprint medley relay, where the Japanese team is ranked 4th by a slim margin behind South Africa. Akiyuki Hashimoto (Sensatsu Seishukan H.S.) is ranked 3rd in the men's 200 m with a best of 20.91, Oseto and Suwa entered to double with marks not far off Hashimoto's. In the girls' 100 m Anna Doi (Saitama Sakae H.S.) is ranked 3rd by PB, 11.6...

by Brett Larner With organizers sticking by the 1:30 p.m. start time they introduced last year and temperatures in the high 20's with humidity around 80% there was little chance of fast times at this year's Sapporo International Half Marathon despite excellent fields on both the men's and women's sides. 2010 World Half Marathon champion Florence Kiplagat (Kenya) led wire-to-wire to win the women's race in 1:10:29, with defending champion Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) holding off course record holder Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Aidem) to pick up his third Sapporo title in 1:01:47. Kiplagat's win was a virtual forgone conclusion, but she had company through the first half of the race from Japan-based Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) in Chepyego's first half marathon. The pair went through the downhill first 5 km in 15:55 and 10 km in 32:54 before Kiplagat picked things up to put Chepyego away. Kiplagat indicated after the race that she plan...

2011 Gold Coast Airport Marathon - Top Results Brisbane, Australia, 7/3/11 click here for complete results Marathon - Men 1. Nicholas Manza Kamakya (Kenya) - 2:10:01 - CR 2. Albert Kiplagat Matebor (Kenya) - 2:10:13 3. Japhet Kipchichir Kipkorir (Kenya) - 2:10:50 4. Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:13:16 5. Noriaki Takahashi (Team S&B) - 2:14:13 ----- 13. Mok Ying Ren (Singapore) - 2:27:05 75. Yoshihisa Hosaka (Natural Foods) - 2:53:04 Marathon - Women 1. Goitotem Haftu Tesema (Ethiopia) - 2:30:08 2. Roxie Fraser (Australia) - 2:41:17 3. Chihiro Tanaka (AthleC AC) - 2:43:04 4. Michelle McAdam (Australia) - 2:44:44 5. Kirsten Molloy (Australia) - 2:46:32 Note: Tanaka's daughter Nozomi won the junior 4 km in 14:27. Half Marathon - Men 1. Jeff Hunt (Australia) - 1:04:04 2. Hiroki Tanaka (Japan) - 1:04:48 3. Daisuke Koyama (Japan) - 1:04:57 Half Marathon - Women 1. Lara Tamsett (Australia) - 1:12:19 2. Jessica Trengrove (Australia) - 1:12:28 3. Abigail Bayley (Australia) - 1:13:...