Kiplagat and Tadese Lead Busy Weekend of Road Action

It's another busy weekend on the roads across Japan. Two-time marathon world champion Edna Kiplagat (Kenya) and men's half marathon world record holder Zersenay Tadese (Eritrea) top the bill at Sunday's Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon. Kiplagat is the fastest woman in the field, her main competition coming from Sara Hall (U.S.A.) and the Japanese trio of Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal), Michi Numata (Toyota Jidoshokki) and Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku). In something of a slump since the Rio Olympics, Japanese national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) is also on the entry list.

The somewhat grizzled Tadese is the only man in the field with a recent time under 60 minutes, but just back is a thick group of nine sub-61 men led by Japan-based Kenyan Bernard Kimani (Yakult) and Japanese national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda). Along with Shitara, all five of the other still active Japanese men to have broken 61 are entered, making it the greatest Japanese half marathon field ever assembled. Expect to see the top few on the Japanese national team at next month's Valencia World Half Marathon Championships. More on the Marugame field here.

Later the same day is the first elite men's marathon of the Japanese season, the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon. 2014 winner Abraham Kiplimo (Uganda) returns to face a Japanese field hungry for places at the MGC Race 2020 Olympic trials. The top Japanese man in Beppu-Oita has to break 2:11 and the next five sub-2:10 to make the trials, something at least three Japanese men in the field, Hayato Sonoda (Kurosaki Harima), Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta) have a shot at pulling off. Local hero Ikuto Yufu (Fujitsu), a four-time National University Ekiden stage winner while at Komazawa University, is a scratch in his debut, but former Toyo University runner Ryu Takaku (Yakult) could be the Japanese wildcard in the field. A free live stream of TBS' broadcast should be available here starting at 11:50 local time Sunday, with live English commentary @JRNLive. More on the Beppu-Oita field here.

Along with Marugame, Japanese university runners will also be lining up at two other good-quality half marathons Sunday. The Kanagawa Half Marathon has grown into a sub-63 race in recent years and should be fast pending the outcome of weekend snow in the Tokyo/Yokohama area. Further north, the Moriya Half Marathon is smaller but typically gets turnout from Hakone Ekiden schools Chuo Gakuin University, Nittai University and others. At the tail end of his three-week mini ekiden season, marathoner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) will run the Saitama Ekiden Sunday for his workplace club team.

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...

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