japan running news

Japan's two big races this weekend both have a lot of excitement around them, but cold rain threatens to hold back the quality of performances people are hoping for. At the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon there are 19 men with times in the 58-60 minute range within the last 3 years, and among them sometime training partners Tomoki Ota and Kotaro Shinohara , 1:00:08 and 1:00:11 in Marugame 2 years ago, will be taking a serious shot at the 1:00:00 Japanese national record. Shinohara told JRN that he is targeting 59:45, and that Ota is his only real competition to get the NR. The rain forecast looks light with headwinds in the first half and tailwinds on the return trip, so between that and a front group including Alexander Mutiso , Cleophas Kandie , Bedan Karoki and Emmanuel Maru it's possible one of them, or someone else, will turn in Japan's first sub-60. The women's race features Dolphine Omare , Pauline Kamulu and Dominique Scott in the 66-67 minute ...

  The 73rd Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon official website has been updated to announce that Hironori Kishimoto (GMO) has withdrawn from Sunday's race. Kishimoto, 24, ran a 2:08:38 debut at last year's Beppu-Oita to finish 3rd, earning him a prominent place in this year's field. Along with Kishimoto, #3-ranked Yohanes Ghebregergis of Eritrea has also pulled out with injury. source article: https://www.rikujyokyogi.co.jp/archives/160541 translated by Brett Larner

The Osaka International Women's Marathon , a selection race for September's Tokyo World Championships, took place Jan. 26 starting and finishing at Osaka's Nagai Stadium. In the field was 65-69 age group world record holder Mariko Yugeta , 66. Amid cold winds blowing through the city she ran 3:09:29. "I don't want to say that it's because I'm getting older, but this is getting more and more demanding and it's getting harder for my body to keep up with it," she said. After finishing the first thing Yugeta said was, "That was a bit disappointing...." with a pained look on her face. Her goal had been to break the 3:01:28 world record she set in the 65-69 age group at last year's Tokyo Marathon. "It was hard out there today," she said with a laugh. "Somebody told me that I look pale." A track runner in university, Yugeta ran her first marathon at the old Tokyo International Women's Marathon when she was 24. After t...

Japan's other big marathon this weekend, the Katsuta Marathon saw a tough four-way race in the men's marathon that came down to a sprint finish in the home straight. Tokyo University graduate student Hiroaki Furukawa , who last year launched action against the Hakone Ekiden organizers for not including a select team in the field for Hakone's 100th edition, passed Sota Yamamoto in the final meters to take 1st in 2:17:28 to Yamamoto's 2:17:29. 3rd and 4th-place Tatsuya Inagaki and Yudai Hiruta weren't far behind, Inagaki finishing in 2:17:41 and Hiruta in 2:17:56. The women's race wasn't as close, but the top three were still only a little more than a minute apart. Kana Numata scored the top spot in 2:44:34, with Natsuki Tomii 2nd in 2:45:33 and Natsumi Kuroda 3rd in 2:45:56. Furukawa and Numata both scored invitations to April's Boston Marathon for their wins, the only Japanese athletes currently in the elite field. In the 10 km race, high schoole...

  In parallel with the Osaka International Women's Marathon , Sunday's Osaka Half Marathon had some big names come out on top in both the women's and men's races. Last year Yuka Ando outran Ethiopian Desta Burka by 2 seconds to set a CR of 1:08:18. Running with a personal male pacers this time Ando went out to better that, on track for 1:08:00 at 5 km and dipping into sub-68 territory over the next 5 km. But after that she started to fade, and especially from 20 km to the finish at least a half dozen other women split faster. Still, she was far enough out front to take the win in 1:08:57, with corporate leaguers Sakiho Tsutsui and Mizuki Nishimura taking 2nd and 3rd in 1:09:29 and 1:09:49. Osaka also served as the Kansai Region collegiate half marathon championships, and the winner of this season's Morinomiyako Ekiden and Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden , Kyoto's Ritsumeikan University , came out strong. The back half of its Mt. Fuji national title-winning li...

After breaking the CR with a 2:18:51 win at last year's Osaka International Women's Marathon , Ethiopian Workenesh Edesa was back as one of exactly 2 non-Japanese women in the elite field at this year's race. Set up to try to get at least Paris Olympics 6th-placer Yuka Suzuki under the 2:20 barrier, Osaka went out slower than planned but still ground the field down, only Edesa, Suzuki, the debuting Nanaka Izawa and last month's Hofu Yomiuri Marathon winner Kana Kobayashi left when they hit halfway in 1:10:12. The pacers immediately picked it up after halfway to try to get it back on target, killing off Izawa and Kobayashi. Suzuki lasted through 25 km in 1:22:53, 2:19:53 pace, but that was as far as she could go. The gap never really grew that much, but for the rest of the way in Edesa pulled away from Suzuki, taking the win in 2:21:00 without ever being under threat again. But there was some excitement behind her. After losing 35 seconds on Suzuki between halfway an...

ABC Television president Toshiaki Imamura , 62, held a press conference in Osaka on Jan. 24. There he talked about the new Expo Ekiden 2025 to be held in Osaka on Mar. 16, saying it was, "The first-ever showdown between the top corporate league and university teams." 9 teams from among the top placers at the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships including winner Asahi Kasei and last year's national champ Toyota are scheduled to race, along with the top 8 from November's National University Ekiden and one Kansai Region Collegiate Select Team. The field of 18 teams will start at Expo Memorial Park in Suita, Osaka, site of the 1970 World Expo, and cover roughly 55 km in 7 legs to the finish at Yumeshima, Osaka. At the same time, Susumu Hara , head coach of this year's Hakone Ekiden winning team Aoyama Gakuin University , voiced public criticism, saying, "This is a serious race between the two leagues, and some of the top corpora...

Two days out from the Jan. 26 Osaka International Women's Marathon a few scratches have been announced near the bottom of the very short entry list. Out with injury is 2:26:50 runner Madoka Nakano , along with two collegiate runners who were set to make their debuts, Rio Einaga and Nanako Miwa . That's not going to impact the race up front, but it does make what is already a very small race for something with World Athletics platinum label status even smaller. There's last year's winner Workenesh Edesa , 3rd-placer Mizuki Matsuda , 7th-placer Natsumi Matsushita and 12th-placer Kana Kobayashi , top Japanese Paris Olympic marathon placer Yuka Suzuki , veteran Kenyan-born Israeli Lonah Chemtai Salpeter , the debuting Nanaka Izawa , and that's about it. It's a great chance to score some rankings points, and for the home team to try to get an edge up on Tokyo World Championships selection. Workenesh outran Honami Maeda last year, both going under 2:19 and Workene...

The Tokyo Marathon elite field is out, and it's a pretty good one. On the women's side are the last 3 winners, Sutume Asefa Kebede , Rosemary Wanjiru and Brigid Kosgei , 2022 world champion Gotytom Gebreslase , last year's Dubai winner Tigist Ketema and another 6 women in the 2:17-2:19 range. Top Japanese draw Ai Hosoda hopes to get into the sub-2:20 club after a 2:20:31 PB in Berlin last fall. The men's field has 2024 CR breaker Benson Kipruto and 3rd-placer Vincent Ngetich , 2:02:38 man Derese Geleta , Joshua Cheptegei taking another stab at the distance, and another 8 at the 2:03-2:04 level. 2:05-class Japanese men Yohei Ikeda , Ichitaka Yamashita and Kenya Sonota and Paris Olympics 6th-placer Akira Akasaki will be gunning for the 2:04:56 NR, and there are interesting debuts from 10-mile world best holder Benard Koech and Hakone Ekiden star Aoi Ota from 2024-2025 champ Aoyama Gakuin University . The wheelchair race includes WR holder Catherine Debrunner , ...

Citing increased operating costs as a result of rising prices, the Tokyo Marathon Foundation announced on Jan. 22 that it will be raising entry fees for the 2026 edition of the race. Including taxes and fees, entry for residents of Japan will increase 20% from ¥16,500 to ¥19,800. International entries will increase 43.75% from $160 USD to $230 USD. The move was approved at a board meeting on the 22nd. A statement cited the effects of rising prices on the event's operating costs, the need to improve services offered to participants, and the extra work needed to cope with higher numbers of international participants. Entry fees for the accompanying 10.7 km race will remain unchanged given its relatively small scale and the fees charged at other similar events. source article: https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/4dca2eee7254fa5cbb26aa1a77bcc7928f7b24f1 translated and edited by Brett Larner

A year out from her disappointing finish at the 2024 Osaka International Women's Marathon , 29-year-old Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) returns to race it again this Sunday. "A place on the Tokyo World Championships team is on the line," she says. "I'm running to try to get name on the list." Last year Matsuda finished 3rd , her first time not winning it in 4 Osaka Women's starts and putting an end to her dream of making the Paris Olympics. Matsuda couldn't follow when Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) took off at halfway. "There goes my Olympics...." she says she thought as she watched Maeda pull away. Post-race she immediately started thinking about retiring, telling herself, "You put up a good fight." But 2 weeks later when she appeared as a special guest at the Ehime Marathon the words of encouragement she got from the mass-participation runners there spoke to her. "I'd never realized that I was an athlete that so many people cared ...

At Sunday's Kitakyushu Invitational Women's Ekiden , 27.2 km in 6 legs for the high school division and 5 legs for the corporate team division, last year's overall winner Kamimura Gakuen H.S. did it again, breaking the finish tape ahead of the top corporate team. Head coach Tetsuzo Arikawa commented, "The athletes really grew in ability over this last year." The key play came on the 3.8 km Fourth Stage, where 3rd-year Rina Kurogami ran aggressively after starting 11 seconds behind Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. "I didn't push too hard on the climbs and just built up momentum on the downhills," she said. Just past 2 km into the stage she passed Ritsumeikan Uji for the lead, going on take 8 seconds off the CR she had set on the same stage 2 years ago. 2nd-year Rin Setoguchi had responsibility for the longest stage of the race, the 5.9 km Fifth Stage. "I just told myself that I could make up the 21 seconds to the corporate division leader, and ran like ...

It's hard to beat the numbers, and with a whole team of current students at 2024 National High School Ekiden winner Saku Chosei H.S. , Saku Chosei alumni, and junior high schoolers bound to go there, 3-time National Men's Ekiden defending champ Nagano had enough of them to score a record 4th-straight win Sunday in Hiroshima. Saku Chosei's Yamato Hamaguchi got it off with a 19:33 win on the 7.0 km opening leg just 2 seconds off the CR, and even though second and third runners Taisei Masuda and Hiroto Yoshioka underperformed enough for Nagano to fall to 7th, a new 23:32 CR by Saku Chosei's Tetsu Sasaki on the 8.5 km Fifth Stage put them back out in front and far enough away that nobody could catch them. Anchor Taishi Ito brought Nagano home for the win in 2:16:55, 5 seconds under the overall CR for the 48.0 km race that Nagano set last year. Chiba spent the first half of the race back in the middle of the field of 47 teams from each of Japan's prefectures, but...

It's a big year at the Marugame Half on Feb. 2. On the women's side you've got two of the fastest Japan-based Kenyans and past Marugame winners Dolphine Omare and Pauline Kamulu vs.  Dominique Scott , Calli Hauger-Thackery and Isobel Batt-Doyle and home team Rika Kaseda , Kaede Kawamura and Haruka Kokai . On the men's side you've got sub-60 Kenyans Alexander Mutiso , Cleophas Kandie , Bedan Karoki and Emmanuel Maru with another 15 men sub-61 right behind them. The Japanese crew is led by frequent training partners Tomoki Ota , 1:00:08, and Kotaro Shinohara , 1:00:11. Although they do it in the big ekidens all the time, no Japanese man has ever broken the one hour barrier in an official half marathon. C'mon already, this is the chance. Get it done. There's a smattering of other internationals mixed in including Canada's Rory Linkletter and Australians Brett Robinson , Andy Buchanan and Tim Vincent , but the other main story on the men's side...

With just over 2 weeks to go the Feb. 2 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon has finally announced its elite field. It looks pretty good at the front end at first glance, but #1-ranked Vincent Kipchumba hasn't finished a marathon since his 2:04:28 best in London 4 years ago and has only run one race, a 29:05 10 km in 2023. #2-ranked Kiyoto Hirabayashi of Koku Gakuin University , winner in Osaka last year in a collegiate and debut record 2:06:18, is very unlikely to actually start, and #3-ranked Yohanes Ghebregergis likewise hasn't run a marathon since his 2:06:28 best in 2021 and only a single half marathon, 1:02:15 last spring, since then. So, that leaves a pretty tasty matchup between 2021 Tokyo Olympics alternate Shohei Otsuka , 2:06:57, last year's winner Derese Workneh , 2:07:58 in his Beppu-Oita victory, and Tesfahun Akalnew , 2:07:59. Another 5 people are at the 2:08 level, and then there are a truckload of 1:01 half marathoners taking a shot at the marathon distance. Ru...

The Panasonic women's corporate team announced this week on its official website that Sora Shinozakura has left its program. Shinozakura placed 5th in the 5000 m at last June's National Track and Field Championships, and last Sunday she was 3rd on the opening leg at the National Women's Ekiden while running for the Kanagawa prefecture team. Shinozakura joined Panasonic after graduating from Tachibana H.S. in Kawasaki, Kanagawa. "The Panasonic Angels were a local team based in Kanagawa where I'm from, and they were always something I admired right from my school days," she said. "I'll never forget how happy it made me to put on that blue singlet for the first time. My 5 years as part of the team gave me the chance to concentrate on the sport I love in a fantastic environment, and I got to go places and experience things I never would have imagined. I'm truly grateful. As part of the team I got to hand off the tasuki to some of its more experi...

After having led Surugadai University to its first-ever Hakone Ekiden appearances in 2022 and 2024, Kazuyoshi Tokumoto , 45, announced on Jan. 12 that he is stepping down as head coach. A star Hakone runner during his days at Hosei University , Tokumoto took over as head coach at Surugadai in 2012. In his 10th season in 2021-22 Surugadai made the qualifying bracket at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race, earning the right to make its debut at Hakone 2022. That was followed up with a second appearance in 2024. Assistant coach Nobuhiro Goto , 42, will take over from Tokumoto in the head coach's role. According to a source, Tokumoto had already informed the athletes, their parents and other involved parties of his decision to leave the program prior to making the public announcement. The announcement makes Surugadai the 4th Hakone contender school to replace its head coach for the 2025-26 season, following Asia University , Reitaku University and Meiji University . Others are...

In our post-Hakone Ekiden analysis of this year's record-breaking race we wrote that winner Aoyama Gakuin University head coach Susumu Hara excels at developing depth of quality and can usually fill gaps caused by graduation. It's a sign of how much depth he has that his B- and C-squad runners occupied podium places at two fast half marathons just a week after Hakone. The Takanezawa Genki-Up Half Marathon in Tochigi is the usual destination for AGU benchwarmers and has seen some breakthrough performances from future A-squad stars. Local independent Ryuichi Yoshioka got the win in 1:03:00, but AGU runners took the next 6 spots, all under 1:03:40, led by Riku Anjima and Daiki Sasaki in 1:03:04 and 1:03:06. And they weren't even the fastest AGU people in action. At the rebranded Tokyo New Year Half Marathon , previously the Hi-Tech Half, Kaito Nakamura and Kyosuke Hiramatsu went head-to-head with former 10000 m NR holder Kota Murayama from the GMO corporate team. ...

Host team Kyoto was back on top at Sunday's National Women's Ekiden , taking the lead on the 2nd of the 42.195 km race's 9 legs and rolling on to win its 19th national title in the event's 43-year history in 2:15:26 with 4 individual stage wins. Kyoto's lead runner Kokoro Nakachi was only 3 seconds behind First Stage winner Erika Tanoura of Chiba , and it didn't take much for its next runner Yua Sato to move into the top spot by 3 seconds. That lead grew to 50 seconds at the end of the Fifth Stage before a stage-winning run from Nagano 's Nami Kawakami on the Sixth Stage cut it back to 33 seconds. But driven by stage wins from 7th runner Momoka Onishi and anchor Kaede Kawamura , from there to the end Kyoto pulled away to its final margin of victory of 2:26. Nagano and Osaka were locked in a duel for 2nd for most of the way, but with only 3 km to go on the 10.0 km anchor stage Fukuoka and early leader Chiba caught up to make it a four-way race. Nagano...

Real estate company Makes has announced on its team website that its men's corporate team will be disbanded at the end of March. The team was launched in April, 2021 with the twin missions of "becoming #1 in the world in the marathon" and "getting society excited." Based in Yoga in suburban Tokyo, Makes currently has 7 athletes on its roster. Its coaching staff includes head coach Tsukasa Endo , a 1988 Seoul Olympics 10000 m runner, and assistant coaches Julius Gitahi , a 2000 Sydney Olympian in the 5000 m, and former Meiji University and Konica Minolta standout Masato Kikuchi . Original team members included Tokai University grad Shota Onizuka , who later transferred to M&A Best Partners . Current member Ryosuke Harada took 6th at last May's East Japan Corporate Track and Field Championships, but despite success there and in other road races, Makes didn't run November's East Japan Corporate Ekiden, the regional qualifying race for the Jan....

【開門神事「福男選び」】「一番福」は宝塚市の高校生・大岸史弥さん🎍 pic.twitter.com/VQI9uHb5eD — カンテレNEWS (@kantele_news) January 9, 2025 The traditional Lucky Man Selection race was held at Hyogo's Nishinomiya Shrine, with Takarazuka high school 2nd-year Fumiya Ogishi winning the title of this year's luckiest man. Chosen by lottery to compete, 108 worshippers at the shrine started the race at 6:00 a.m. on Jan. 10 when the beating of drums signaled the opening of the shrine's Akamon Gate. The ritual race is held at the home of Ebessan, the god of successful business, and covers roughly 230 m. The winner is named the Luckiest Man, with the next two earning Second-Luckiest and Third-Luckiest honors. Ogishi is a member of his school's track and field time and has a 100 m best in the low 12-second range. He commented, "It doesn't feel real yet, but I hope this will be a good year. I'd like to share my good fortune with all the victims of the Noto Peninsula earthquake." Luckiest man: Fu...