japan running news

by Brett Larner Japan-based Kenyans Rosemary Wanjiru (Team Starts) and Paul Kamais (Team Chugoku Denryoku) scored tight wins to take the Grand Prix 5000 m titles at the 50th Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet at Hiroshima's Edion Stadium on Saturday.  Wanjiru, a graduate of Aomori Yamada H.S. , led start to finish in the women's race, taking it out at 15:20 pace and closing in 2:58 to beat teammate Grace Kimanzi by just over a second.  Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), already the fastest Japanese woman so far this year for 10000 m, delivered the fastest 5000 m, 15:37.21, to take the top Japanese spot in 5th. Kamais, a brand-new graduate of Hiroshima's local National High School Boys Ekiden course record-setter Sera H.S. , alternated the lead with two-time World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko) throughout the men's race before closing in 2:33 for the win.  Shuho Dairokuno (Team Asahi Kasei) was the top Japanese finisher in 13:31.5...

by Brett Larner The 4th-place finish by Volha Mazuronak of Belarus at last weekend's London Marathon turned heads around the world.  Her time of 2:23:54 may become a national record pending the annulment of times run by Belarussian Alexsandra Duliba following January's announcement of Duliba's suspension on biological passport violations.  New York Road Runners professional athlete consultant David Monti was quick to point out Mazuronak's splits , a 1:13:19 first half, 1:10:35 second half and 7:08 for the final 2.195 km split from 40 km to the finish, the fastest closing split in the London women's field and on a par with or better than the 6th through 10th-place men there.  Mara Yamauchi , the second-fastest British woman ever in the marathon, wrote an analysis noting the similarity between Mazuronak's splits and those in a 2012 JRN analysis of performances by Eastern European women represented by Russian Andrey Baranov and his Spartanik agency. B...

Hakodate, Hokkaido, 6/26/16 click here for complete field listing times listed are 2013-16 bests except where noted Women Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) - 1:10:04 (Berlin 2014) Asami Kato (Panasonic) - 1:10:21 (Philadelphia 2013) Hiroko Miyauchi (Hokuren) - 1:10:27 (Sanyo 2015) Yuko Mizuguchi (Denso) - 1:11:03 (Marugame 2015) Yukiko Okuno (Shiseido) - 1:11:28 (Matsue 2015) Kaori Yoshida (Runners Pulse) - 1:13:04 (Nerima 2016) Men Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta) - 1:02:17 (Marugame 2013) Yuya Ito (Toyota) - 1:02:21 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2014) Michael Githae (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:02:27 (Gifu 2015) Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:02:55 (Ageo 2014) Masaki Takamoto (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:03:10 (Marugame 2015) Yu Chiba (Honda) - 1:03:12 (Ageo 2013) Yuya Kato (Teikyo Uiv.) - 1:03:54 (Marugame 2016) Shota Saito (JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:03:58 (Marugame 2014) © 2016 Brett Larner all rights reserved

Gifu, 5/15/16 click here for complete field listing times listed are 2013-2016 bests except where noted Women Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) - 1:08:06 (Marugame 2016) Rebecca Kangogo Chesir (Kenya) - 1:08:21 (Milan 2015) Betelhem Moges (Ethiopia) - 1:09:23 (Olomouc 2014) Visiline Jepkesho (Kenya) - 1:09:43 (Adana 2016) Yuka Ando (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:09:51 (Sanyo 2015) Sayo Nomura (Japan/Daiichi Seimei) - 1:10:03 (Sanyo 2013) Kayoko Fukushi (Japan/Wacoal) - 1:10:04 (Berlin 2014) Lauren Kleppin (U.S.A.) - 1:10:16 (Copenhagen 2014) Eri Makikawa (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:10:27 (Marugame 2014) Mao Kiyota (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:10:31 (Valencia 2015) Bornes Jepkirui (Kenya) - 1:10:32 (Azpeitia 2014) Men Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA) - 59:14 (Copenhagen 2015) Paul Kuira (Kenya/Konica Minolta) - 59:47 (Marugame 2015) Kenneth Keter (Kenya) - 59:48 (Venlo 2016) Martin Mathathi (Kenya) - 1:00:11 (Marugame 2014) James Rungaru (Kenya/Chuo Hatsujo) - 1:00:12 (Nice ...

https://medium.com/@joshuatopolsky/your-media-business-will-not-be-saved-1b0716b5010c#.jds9z59vq Not running or Japan-related, but a good read that expresses some of the same philosophy by which JRN has always operated.

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20160426-OHT1T50059.html translated by Brett Larner Civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), age 29, returned to Tokyo's Narita Airport on April 26 after winning Sunday's Zurich Marathon in 2:12:04 in snowy conditions .  At the same time that Kawauchi was racing in Zurich, corporate league star Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) also age 29, ran the London Marathon, finishing 11th in 2:12:14.  Pre-race Kawauchi had said, "There's no way I'm going to lose to him," and having lived up to his words he was very pleased with the outcome of the 'Yuki Showdown.'  "I beat [Sato] on time, and with worse [weather] conditions in Zurich I win on racing too." Having missed the Rio Olympic team, Kawauchi's major goal now is the 2017 London World Championships, what he considers now will be his last time going for a place on a national team.  Kawauchi is focusing on December's Fukuok...

by Brett Larner James Mwangi 's 27:23.24 10000 m world leading time on day one of the Hyogo Relay Carnival lasted less than 24 hours as two-time World Championships bronze medalist Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko) held off an Ethiopian challenge from Mamiyo Nuguse (Team Yasukawa Denki) to win Hyogo's day two Grand Prix 10000 m in a new world leader of 27:22.28.  Tanui led the entire way from a 2:42 opening 1000 m to the finish, Nuguse waiting to kick in true Ethiopian style but coming up short in 27:24.85 for 2nd.  2016 National cross-country champion Takashi Ichida (Team Asahi Kasei) outran a heavyweight domestic field to take the top Japanese spot, running 28:22.57 for 5th. Felista Wanjugu (Team Univ. Ent.) took the women's Grand Prix 10000 m in 32:11.68, running behind Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu) through 9000 m before kicking away for the win.  Ando was 2nd in 32:16.34, well ahead of a Japanese trio including marathoner Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya). Japan-based Afr...

by Brett Larner Despite wintry conditions, Yuki Kawauchi shaved 9 seconds off his last year's time to win today's @zurichmarathon ! pic.twitter.com/35Zj5spg0O — Chris Godfrey (@runningbydoing) April 24, 2016 Overcoming tough conditions that saw 19 of the 35 elite athletes in the combined men's and women's elite fields drop out, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) led almost start to finish to score his first-ever European win at Sunday's Zurich Marathon .  With snow starting just before the race began and peaking out with 1 cm accumulation 40 minutes in Kawauchi, 2nd last year in 2:12:13 and running again with support from JRN, pushed it from the gun in hopes of a sub-2:10 win.  Pacer Edwin Kiprop Korir (Kenya), tasked with taking the race out on track for 2:09:24, slipped on a corner at 3 km and twisted his ankle, holding on through 5 km before falling behind and leaving Kawauchi to do the heavy lifting. Followed closely by Ethiopians Abere Belay a...

by Brett Larner Two big two-day meets got started Saturday, turning out two world-leading times.  At the Hyogo Relay Carnival the Asics Challenge events serve as the B-heats ahead of Sunday's Olympic selection Grand Prix races, but there was nothing second-tier in the men's 10000 m as James Mwangi (Team NTN) ran a world-leading 27:23.04 to lead six men, all Kenya, under 28 minutes.  Mwangi's time took more than 9 seconds off the meet record set in way back in 2005 by the late great Samuel Wanjiru .  Fabiano Sulle (Tanzania) was the top non-Kenyan at 7th in 28:01.76. Second-year Dominic Nyairo (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) led the collegiate results in 3rd in 27:56.47.  Tokai University dominated Heat Two of the 10000 m with three runners, two of them first-years, going sub-29 led by first-year Hayato Seki with the win in 28:48.63.  Toyo University first-year Sota Watanabe also cleared 29, just, running 28:59.77 for 10th.  Many more university men broke...

by Brett Larner Most of the running world will be focused on the London Marathon, where among others Japanese track and ekiden great Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) will be trying again to get the marathon right, but there's at least one other good race this weekend.  Last year Yoshiko Sakamoto (YWC), an unknown amateur runner and mother of three , seemed to come out of nowhere to win Switzerland's Zurich Marathon , with the popular Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) taking 2nd in what ended up being his fastest race of an injury-prone 2015.  This year both Sakamoto and Kawauchi return to Zurich for Sunday's race with support from JRN. Sakamoto faces at least two strong rivals this year.  It has been a while since Kenyan-born Swede Isabellah Andersson 's 2:23:41 PB in Dubai 2011 or even since she broke 2:30, but with a 2:30:02 in Tokyo in February she is still the best in the field.  A stroke against her: Andersson only joined the Zurich field after a DN...

http://www.asahi.com/articles/DA3S12316787.html translated by Brett Larner The JAAF has decided to take measures against the widespread use of iron injections by long distance athletes to combat anemia, saying that they undermine the athletes' bodies.  Beginning this spring it is sending documents to high school, university and corporate teams under the governance of the various local prefectural athletics associations to warn of the risks posed by iron injections, following up with a survey to help understand the scale of the actual situation.  The JAAF considers this problem central to the stagnation of distance running and marathoning, particularly with regard to women's performances. Iron injections were already conventionally known to have deleterious effects upon athletes, but because there are situations in which the injections are a legitimate medical practice they have continued to be allowed.  However, amid a sense of crisis the JAAF has opted to take a st...

by Brett Larner Although many events in Kyushu were cancelled as a series of major earthquakes and aftershocks hit the Kumamoto and Oita areas, track season went ahead as usual in the rest of Japan despite high winds and rain that kept times relatively slow.  Some highlights at home and abroad: Former Sera H.S. ace Charles Ndirangu (Team JFE Steel) delivered the fastest 5000 m of the weekend, running 13:40.34 to win the Chugoku Corporate Time Trials meet's fastest heat.  High schooler Joel Mwaura (Kurashiki H.S.) was the only other runner under 14 minutes, running 13:48.20 for 2nd. The lone entrant in the women's 5000 m at the Chugoku meet, Sera's Yuka Mukai ran a solo 15:58.62. Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) was the only Japanese man to break 14 over the weekend, winning Friday's Oregon Relays 5000 m in 13:45.39. Masaru Aoki (Team Kanebo) narrowly missed joining him, running 14:00.47 to win the Challenge Meet in Kumagaya 5000 m A-heat. 17-year-old Hyug...

by Brett Larner Strong winds and off-and-on rain throughout the area made for two of the slowest winning times in the Nagano Marathon 's 18-year history as Kenya's Jairus Chanchima and Ethiopia's Shasho Insermu won Sunday's race in 2:15:31 and 2:34:19. A slow start in the men's race kept a large lead group together for the first 25 km before Chanchima went to work.  Returning to Nagano after dropping out mid-race last year, Chanchima put on a solo surge from 25 to 30 km that put him 38 seconds ahead of the rest of the lead group.  From there Chanchima tucked in and cruised on unthreatened, Japan-based Mongolian national record holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Team NTN) closing the gap slightly but never coming in range of the win.  Chanchima's winning time of 2:15:31 was the slowest in Nagano Marathon history , over a minute behind Yuki Kawauchi 's 2013 winning time of 2:14:27 in heavy snow.  Bat-Ochir was 25 seconds back in 2:15:56 for 2nd, with Taiga Ito (...

by Brett Larner Today's retirement press conference marks the end of the road for one of the sport's all-time greats, Mizuki Noguchi .  Noguchi is best remembered, rightfully, for her achievements in the marathon.  Five wins and seven top three finishes in ten marathon starts.  An Olympic gold medal.  A World Championships silver medal.  A Japanese national record of 2:19:12.  That time still a Berlin Marathon course record no one has been able to touch more than ten years later, the only World Marathon Majors course record held by a Japanese runner. Her gold medal win at the 2004 Athens Olympics brilliantly executed, her loss to Catherine Ndereba at the 2003 Paris World Championships showing her exactly what she had to do to beat Ndereba a year later on the bigger stage and then doing it perfectly, almost down to the second, breaking Paula Radcliffe in the process.  Her DNS at the the 2008 Beijing Olympics a national heartbreak.  Her co...

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20160414-00000528-san-spo translated by Brett Larner On April 14 it was learned that Athens Olympics women's marathon gold medalist and national record holder Mizuki Noguchi (37, Team Sysmex) is retiring from competition.  A press conference to formally announce her retirement will take place April 15 in Kobe.  In March Noguchi ran the Nagoya Women's Marathon, saying, "This will be my last shot at the Olympics."  She finished 23rd in 2:33:54. Noguchi graduated from Uji Yamada H.S. in Mie.  She ran her first marathon in 2002, winning the silver medal at the Paris World Championships a year later.  In 2004 she won the gold medal at the Athens Olympics and in 2005 set the Japanese national record of 2:19:12 at the Berlin Marathon, a record that still has not been broken.  She remains the Berlin course record holder.

by Brett Larner The Golden Games in Nobeoka are the main spring Japanese meet for distance runners, held in Japan's Eugune, the Asahi Kasei team's home of Nobeoka .  Fans line the track, banging on the metal sponsor boards with sticks to produce a wall of sound that pushes runners to some of the best Japanese times of the year, every year. This year a lot of the big names will be chasing Olympic qualifying times in the United States, but the 5000 m and 10000 m still have deep lists of upper-tier Japanese and Japan-based African talent.  Last year two-time World Championships medalist Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko) paced Kenta Murayama (Team Asahi Kasei) and Yuta Shitara (Team Honda) to two of the fastest Japanese 10000 m times ever.  This year both Tanui and Shitara are back in the 10000 m along with Shitara's twin brother Keita Shitara (Team Konica Minolta), 61-minute half marathoner university teammates Keisuke Nakatani and Naoki Kudo (Komazawa Univ.) and former ...

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/04/13/national/japans-open-olympic-logo-selection-process-wins-disapproval-designers/#.Vw7fDPmLSUk An excellent earlier story on the problems with Tokyo's logo crowdsourcing: https://medium.com/@ianlynam/why-we-should-really-be-concerned-about-the-visual-identity-for-the-tokyo-olympics-969830d0e819#.tbewuyw6r

http://www.meitanhonpo.jp/information/1775/ http://www.meitanhonpo.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/lcg_wada.pdf translated by Brett Larner Cycling and running supplement maker Meitan Honpo Ltd. released the following on its website earlier this week. IMPORTANT NOTICE The presence of a substance prohibited by WADA has been identified in Koshiki Bainiku Extract [Traditional Plum Extract] .  More details will be forthcoming.  Please consult the following for information on the current situation. April 11, 2016 Meitan Honpo Ltd. IMPORTANT NOTICE: WADA-prohibited substances detected in Koshiki Bainiku Extract Thank you for your loyal patronage of Meitan Honpo Super Athlete products.  We wish to inform you of important information.  The UK's LGC has tested the following products for the presence of substances prohibited under WADA anti-doping regulations. Koshiki Bainiku Extract Top Condition (TC) Meitan Super Extra Gold Meitan Extra Gold Mei...

http://www.rio2016.com/en/news/rio-2016-olympic-marathon-course-95-per-cent-defined-after-successful-test-event An earlier NHK story on the test run, to which runners from other countries were not invited, is here .

http://www.kahoku.co.jp/tohokunews/201604/20160412_14046.html translated by Brett Larner On April 11 the organizers of the 26th Sendai International Half Marathon announced the five domestic athletes set to lead the elite field for this year's race on May 8.  Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), a member of the 2011 and 2013 World Championships marathon teams and the bronze medalist in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games marathon, returns to the Sendai Half for the fifth year in a row.  A former Hakone Ekiden star on the uphill Fifth Stage during his days at Juntendo University, Masato Imai (Team Toyota Kyushu) is the fastest current Japanese marathoner with a 2:07:39 best. Others in the field include last year's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon placer Takuya Noguchi (Team Konica Minolta), 2012 London Olympian and 2015 World Championships team member Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya), and this year's Osaka International Women's Marathon runner-up Misato Horie (Team Nori...

by Brett Larner 焼津みなとマラソン 大学生ばかり載せてましたが、一般の川内選手は大会新記録でした( •̀ᄇ• ́)ﻭ✧ pic.twitter.com/e4Y4N6NDon — テツジマン (@tetsujiman) April 10, 2016 Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) won Sunday's Yaizu Minato Half Marathon by almost a minute in 1:03:47, outrunning dozens of university men to turn in his fastest half marathon since November.  His third time at Yaizu Minato, it was Kawauchi's fastest run on the flat seaside course and the fastest-ever by a general division entrant.  For his win Kawauchi was awarded the fishing town of Yaizu's local specialty, a large bonito. 焼津みなとマラソンで優勝した明治大学藪下くんのインタビュー pic.twitter.com/RKJbo2s3RX — ひろ (@sh2167_kmmn) April 10, 2016 Ryota Yabushita (Meiji Univ.) was 2nd across the line, beating Takumi Komatsu (Nittai Univ.) by 5 seconds to lead the university division in 1:04:39.  University teams in Yaizu Minato are scored by the combined times of their fastest two finishers, the Pair Marathon winners earning more bonito for their tea...

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20160411/k10010474511000.html translated by Brett Larner In preparation for August's Rio de Janeiro Olympics, a marathon course test run took place on April 10.  To reduce costs the organizing committee held the race in conjunction with an event put on by a sports manufacturer.  Because it was only announced shortly before it took place just 16 local Brazilian athletes took part. The runners started from the Rio Carnival parade area, running through the city and along the coast before finishing back at the same place as the start.  Although it is almost totally flat the course features three loops of the coastline section where the sunshine is strong and wind can become an issue.  While runners will feel the effects of Rio de Janeiro's famously strong sunlight they can draw strength from the inspiration of the world-class views along the coast. The winner of the test run in 2:31:22, local runner Silva described his impressions ...

by Brett Larner 神野大地(コニカミノルタ)@赤坂5丁目ミニマラソン pic.twitter.com/sM95E0dMdN — EKIDEN_MANIA (@ekiden_mania) April 9, 2016 Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage star Daichi Kamino made his pro debut for the Konica Minolta team in surprising style, running Saturday night as part of the 50th edition of the All-Star Kanshasai variety show's twice-annual Akasaka 5-Chome Mini Marathon.  Broadcast live during the show, the race covers four laps of a twisting 900 m course with a steep downhill start, two 180-degree turns, a 200 m-long uphill with a nearly 10% grade, and a section through the TBS studios in front of the hundred or so comedians and TV personalities assembled for the variety show.  Each edition features a well-known pro runner racing several dozen other comedians and celebrities, each carefully handicapped for the staggered start to make the outcome as close as possible.  Past editions have featured Olympic and World Championships medalists including Joan Benoit Samuelson , M...

by Brett Larner With its long history of hosting Russians now interrupted by the IAAF's doping scandal suspension of all Russian athletes, Japan's Nagano Marathon proudly welcomes two other athletes with recent drug suspensions to lead the women's field at next weekend's 18th edition.  Gladys Tejeda (Peru) tops the list with the loss of her gold medal in last summer's Pan-Am Games marathon after testing positive for the masking agent furosemide .  Close behind is Kaori Yoshida (Runners Pulse), who holds the honor of being the only Japanese athlete to have been publicly suspended for EPO after testing positive at the 2012 Honolulu Marathon . With both having run 2:28 bests last year they are almost 4 minutes ahead of the fastest athlete in the field never to have served a drug suspension, Kenya's Hellen Mugo .  Neither is currently under suspension, an indication that Nagano and its elite coordinator share the familiar focus here on details at the expense...

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2016/04/07/2016040701678.html

http://japanese.donga.com/List/3/all/27/531014/1 http://english.donga.com/List/3/06/26/528066/1 translated and edited by Brett Larner The symbol of yin and yang upon his chest, a black man may become the first of his kind to represent South Korea in the marathon.  On April 6 the Korean Sports Council (KSC) will hold a session to deliberate on a special recommendation of naturalization for Kenyan-born marathoner Wilson Loyanae Erupe (28, Cheongyang).  Erupe also has the Korean name Joo Han Oh , meaning "I will run for Korea."  The KSC previously held a session on Erupe's naturalization on January 7 but, citing a lack of adequate documentation concerning Erupe's prior suspension for performance-enhancing drug use, postponed making a recommendation.  Erupe claimed that, "The positive result was due to medicine I took for malaria, but Athletics Kenya did not accept this and suspended me for two years." Following the postponement of the recommendation, th...

Paris Marathon: http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/paris-marathon-2016 The great Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz), 40, was 6th in the women's race in Paris in 2:32:44, an apparent new masters' national record.  Click here for complete results . Daegu Marathon: http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/daegu-marathon Tomomi Higuchi (Team Daihatsu) took 7th in the women's race in Daegu in 2:38:31. Prague Half Marathon: http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/prague-half-marathon-athletics-2016-prague Misato Horie and Mei Matsuyama of the Noritz corporate team finished 14th and 15th in the Prague women's race in 1:14:12 and 1:15:38.  Click here for complete results .

by Brett Larner video by toyosina2008 Outdoor track season got moving early with two big meets on April 2nd. At the Setagaya Time Trials meet in Tokyo's Kinuta Park, 17-year-old Hyuga Endo (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) kicked hard over the last lap to outrun three members of 2016 Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University , all of whom ran PBs, and all other competition and go under 13:50 for 5000 m for the first time.  A day after the start of his senior year of high school Endo won the fastest 5000 m heat in 13:48.13, moving up from #9 to #7 on the all-time Japanese high school lists .  AGU's Kazuki Tamura and Yuki Nakamura took 2nd and 3rd in PBs of 13:50.43 and 13:52.29, with Hakone Sixth Stage winner Yuji Onoda joining them under 14 for the first time in 13:56.87.  One other high schooler, Ryunosuke Omori (Sano Nittai Prep H.S.) scored his first sub-14, running 13:54.25 for 5th just behind Kenyan Silas Kingori (Team SGH Group).  Kenyan Rosemary Monica W...