japan running news

In an interview with a source involved in the situation, on Apr. 15 it was learned that the mass-participation 10 km race planned to take place May 5 in Sapporo, Hokkaido as part of the Sapporo Marathon Festival Olympic test event is to be canceled. The official decision is expected soon. The half marathon Olympic test event, a half marathon on the Olympic course with around 160 elite participants, is still scheduled to go ahead. 2500 amateur runners had been entered in the 10 km, which covered one lap of the 10 km northern half of the course for this summer's Olympic marathon. In response to the increasing numbers of cases of infection with variants of the coronavirus, city and prefectural officials have extended their policy of asking residents of Sapporo to refrain from going out unnecessarily and from traveling to and from other area until May 14. As the Sapporo Marathon Festival's date fell within this period, the decision was made to cancel the mass-participation race. T

Women's 60+ marathon world record holder Mariko Yugeta , 62, bettered her 2:52:13 record Saturday at Tokyo's Itabashi Trial Marathon . Part of the Trial Marathon Series, a nationwide series of professionally-operated uncertified micro-races that has popped up during the coronavirus pandemic, the Itabashi Trial Marathon covered almost 17 laps of a flat 2.5 km course along the Arakawa River on Tokyo's northern border.  Yugeta went out at just under 4:00/km, going through halfway in 1:24:04 and making it to 30 km in 2:00:08 before her pace started to slip. Ultimately she ran 2:52:01, 1st among the 21 female finishers and 14th overall . "That's it for marathons for this season," she told JRN post-race. "I didn't make it to sub-2:50, but I'll be training hard to go for it at the Tokyo Marathon this fall." text and photo © 2021 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

It was a busy weekend on the track across Japan. At Saturday's Kanaguri Memorial Meet  in Kumamoto, the biggest news came in the men's 1500 m where 17-year-old Keita Sato (Rakunan H.S.) ran 3:40.36, a new U18 national record, the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese high schooler, and 3rd-fastest-ever U20 mark. Sato took 4th after leading the first three laps, with two of the three people who finished ahead of him going under 3:40. Winner Kazuki Kawamura (Toenec) broke into the all-time Japanese top ten at 3:38.83 and Keisuke Morita (Komori Corp.) was 2nd in 3:39.37. Steeplechase specialist Kazuya Shiojiri  (Fujitsu) followed up his 10000 m win last month in Nobeoka with a 5000 m PB at Kanaguri, dropping a Kenyan trio led by Justus Kevasa  (Honda) for the win in 13:22.80. A total of thirteen people broke 13:40 across heats. Joan Kipkemoi  (Kyudenko) led Japan-based Africans to sweep the top five spots in the women's 5000 m in 15:30.45, with Ethiopian Burka Desta  (Denso) taki

It's a fast new world in Japanese men's marathoning, and one of its exciting new stars comes to it straight out of Kyushu. His name is Kyohei Hosoya  (25, Kurosaki Harima). In just his second marathon he ran 2:06:35 for 3rd at February's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon , ranking him at all-time Japanese #6. In college he was mostly sidelined with injury, but since joining the corporate leagues his abilities have come into full flower. Now, with the 2024 Paris Olympics in his sights, he's poised to make another great leap forward. When the race in Lake Biwa began Hosoya was just an unknown 25-year-old, but when he hit the finish line he'd inked his name on the list of top candidates for the Paris Olympics. What once was just a dream is now a realistic goal. "I'd had some vague hopes before about representing Japan," he said, "but now that feeling is burning bright."  Someone who has been involved with Hosoya's athletic career had often told hi

Aiming to make it back to the Hakone Ekiden for the first time in 12 years, on Apr. 6 Asia University held a press conference in Tokyo to announce the addition of Rio Olympics marathoner Satoru Sasaki , 35, to its coaching staff. "I can feel that expectations of me are very high," Sasaki said. "But it's my hope that I can use that as fuel in helping get Asia back to Hakone." Having retired after last December's Fukuoka International Marathon, Sasaki joined the staff at Asia, the 2006 Hakone champion, on Apr. 1 at the start of the academic year. After leaving the Asahi Kasei  corporate team and relocating from its base in Nobeoka, Miyazaki, Sasaki moved into the team dormitory on Apr. 2 to start living with the athletes. "There are a lot of student athletes here who are running very well, and the times they are chasing in training are high quality," he commented on his impressions of the current Asia team. "What's left is to think with the

https://jp.reuters.com/article/japan-sports-murofushi/former-tokyo-2020-sports-director-under-treatment-for-brain-lymphoma-report-idUSL1N2M007M

 https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1106310/north-korea-not-notified-ioc-tokyo-2020

Toyo University 's entrance ceremonies for the 2021-22 academic year took place Apr. 6 in Tokyo. Kosuke Ishida , the 5000 m high school boys' national record holder with a best of 13:34.74, was among the incoming first-years. He will be guided by head coach  Toshiyuki Sakai , 44, who at Toyo previously coached 10000 m national record holder Akira Aizawa , former half marathon and marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara , Tokyo Olympics marathon team member Yuma Hattori , 2:06:45 marathoner Ryu Takaku  and many other top-level talents. Through a statement issued by the university, Ishida said that he is aiming to make to the 5000 m at the 2024 Paris Olympics during his senior year. "This spring I've entered Toyo University," Ishida wrote. "The reason I chose Toyo University is that I want to become a world-class athlete, and I wanted head coach Toshiyuki Sakai to help me get there. My goals while a student at Toyo are to make the 5000 m at the 2024 Olymp

Last November, as a measure to combat the spread of the coronavirus Hokkaido University  issued a policy banning all student athletes belonging to the university's sports teams from taking part in competitions. Students at the university are now growing more vocal in their opposition to the decision, saying, "It's way too strict compared to other universities." Students are very upset that the May 5 Sapporo Marathon Festival Olympic marathon test event, which goes through the Hokkaido University campus and will include a mass-participation race, will go ahead, saying, "It makes no sense to let the Olympic test race happen on campus while at the same time banning all students from taking part in any competition." Student leaders will deliver a petition with 7,000 signatures on Apr. 7 demanding a relaxation of the ban on competing. "If you don't race against the top athletes in the country then you can't get your racing sense back," said a m

 https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1106294/north-korea-withdraws-tokyo-2020

As a result of the resurgent spread of the coronavirus in Miyagi prefecture, the organizers of the Sendai International Half Marathon announced on Apr. 5 that this year's race, which had been scheduled to take place on a reduced scale in May, has been canceled. An official announcement is due later today. It is the second year in a row that the race has been canceled. Entrants will receive commemorative goods by mail at a later date. Details on refunds of entry fees will be posted on the event website once they have been finalized. In normal years the race is a major event, drawing over 10,000 people from across the country to run through the fresh green streets of the city of trees.  This year's race had been scheduled to have only 4,000, one of the countermeasures planned against the spread of the coronavirus. But with Miyagi prefecture currently leading Japan in number of new infections per capita, most of them in Sendai, the decision was made to cancel. Miyagi was one of t

After being canceled last year in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the Ome Takamizu International Trail Run, one of the most popular trail races in the Tokyo area, returned Sunday for its 23rd edition. Beating the rain that hit the mountainous region of far western Tokyo later in the day, 40-year-old  Miki Ushida  won the men's 32 km long course race by over five minutes in 2:12:29. Women's winner  Sachi Nakano  was even more dominant, winning by more than eight minutes in 3:00:20. A total of 722 people finished the long course race which started in waves of fifty. The men's 19 km short course race was closer, with Tokyo-based British runner  Gary Wilberforce  outrunning local  Koichi Shimazaki  by 27 seconds for the win in 1:01:02. Women's winner  Rieko Koshi , 41, had what was probably the run of the day, placing 9th overall in 1:13:55 and more than eleven minutes ahead of runner-up  Reika Kijima . 681 people finished the short course race, which like the

http://bobhodge.us/fukuoka-heres-to-you/ Bob Hodge , 5th at the Fukuoka International Marathon in 1982, wrote about the announcement that the race will be discontinued after its 75th running in December this year.