japan running news

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

Japanese national team captain Yuki Kawauchi (30, Saitama Pref. Gov't) left from Tokyo's Haneda Airport on July 30 for next week's London World Championships. Having declared that this will be his last time wearing the Rising Sun, the "Civil Servant Runner" Kawauchi told reporters, "It's almost time to do battle. I will give it all for Japan, and when it's all said and done I want to be able to return home with a smile on my face." Having run in Daegu in 2011 and Moscow in 2013 this will be Kawauchi's third time at the World Championships. In both of his previous appearances he was 18th. For the last four months he has trained seriously, doing over 600 km a month and going over 700 km in July. His final preparations have gone well. Kawauchi trained in Nikko up until the day before departure, running his best times ever there. "My racing, training and times are all better than for Moscow," he said. His sunburned and somewhat wea...

http://sports.yahoo.co.jp/column/detail/201701120005-spnavi translated by Brett Larner Part two in a three-part series of writings by Yuki Kawauchi on what it took to qualify for the London World Championships, his goals for August’s main event, his views on the future of Japanese marathoning and advice to the runners to come. The original was published by Sportsnavi in Japanese. Visit the link above for more photos.   Click here for the first article in the series , "The Miracle in Fukuoka." Click here for part three, " The Lessons of the Past Are Not 'Outdated .'" Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov’t) took 3rd overall as the top Japanese finisher at the Dec. 4 Fukuoka International Marathon . That result put him into position as one of the leading contenders for the privilege of running in this summer’s London World Championships. At both the 2011 Daegu World Championships and 2013 Moscow World Championships Kawauchi finished a disappointing 18th...

http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASH4464KHH44UTQP02W.html translated by Brett Larner An involved source has revealed that Sapporo-based furniture and interior supplies retailer Nitori Holdings is in the process of forming a women's running team.  2011 Daegu World Championships marathoner Remi Nakazato , who quit the Daihatsu team in February last year, will feature prominently on the team, which will be based in Kanto and, with a small number of athletes, will focus on developing marathoners.  The new team's coaching staff will include former Sakura AC assistant coach Katsuhiko Takahashi and former Route Inn Hotels head coach Tsutomu Takahashi .

http://www.sankei.com/sports/news/150201/spo1502010027-n1.html translated by Brett Larner After finishing 13th in 2:15:52 at the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon , Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota) announced his retirement.  In 2011 the late-blooming Oda ran 2:09:03 in his debut at the Tokyo Marathon , the third-fastest Japanese debut ever, to make the Daegu World Championships team.  Now 34, he said, "This was my last race and I ran it well.  I have no regrets." A native of Kumamoto, the veteran Oda said, "I always wanted to run my last race at home (in Kyushu) ."  True to his words, Oda was deeply emotional after crossing the finish line for the last time.

http://runnet.jp/mrnews/detail/1989671_1786.html translated by Brett Larner Until now marathon teams at the World Championships have consisted of a maximum of five athletes per country, but on Apr. 27 it was announced that this will be reduced to three per country beginning with the August, 2015 Beijing World Championships.  The decision came at a mid-April meeting of the IAAF executive committee in Dakar, Senegal. Other events in the World Championships already have a limit of three three athletes per country.  Through the 2011 Daegu World Championships the World Championships marathon also served as the Marathon World Cup team competition, requiring five athletes.  Following the World Cup's discontinuation, countries were still able to enter five athletes for last year's Moscow World Championships marathon.

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2014/02/18/kiji/K20140218007615820.html translated and edited by Brett Larner The Daihatsu women's corporate team, based in Ikeda, Osaka, announced on Feb. 18 that 2011 Daegu World Championships marathoner Remi Nakazato  (25) will quit the team at the end of the month to become an amateur runner.  According to Daihatsu, the decision to leave the team was Nakazato's.  She plans to be based in her native Gunma Prefecture. A graduate of Ota Shogyo High School in Gunma, Nakazato finished 12th in her debut marathon at the 2010 Nagoya International Women's Marathon.  At the 2011 Yokohama International Women's Marathon she was 2nd, going on to finish 10th at the Daegu World Championships and running her PB of 2:24:28 the following spring back in Nagoya.  She finished only 10th at last year's Yokohama.

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2014/01/25/kiji/K20140125007456230.html translated and edited by Brett Larner photo by Mika Tokairin On Jan. 25 a representative of Moscow World Championships women's 10000 m 5th-placer Hitomi Niiya  (25, Team Universal Entertainment) announced Niiya's retirement.  A press conference to explain the decision is scheduled for Jan. 31. Born in Okayama, as a student at Kojokan H.S. she won her stage at the National High School Ekiden Championships three years in a row.  In 2006 she joined the Toyota Jidoshoki corporate team, and the following year at age 18 won the first Tokyo Marathon.  In 2011 she  left Toyota Jidoshokki to remain with coach Yoshio Koide  when the team moved from Chiba to Aichi, qualifying as an independent for the Daegu World Championships where she made the final in the 5000 m .  After joining the Universal Entertainment team she won the 2012 National Championships 5000 m , and at th...

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20130811-00000019-nksports-spo http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20130811-00000026-dal-spo translated and edited by Brett Larner Promising a race of "action," Japan's strongest amateur, civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi  (26, Saitama Pref. Gov't) left Tokyo's Narita Airport with other members of the men's marathon and javelin squads on Aug. 11 for Moscow where he will run his second-straight World Championships marathon.  The day before, women's marathoner Kayoko Fukushi  (Team Wacoal) won a bronze medal, raising spirits and creating great excitement in the Japanese athletics world. Kawauchi, who finished 18th in 2:16:11 two years ago in the Daegu World Championships, was upbeat but serious, saying with determination, "Last time I blew it.  This time is going to be full of action.  I'm in good shape, and I am going to bring everything I've done and learned up to now into play.  I'm ready to achieve...

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20130217-00000003-mai-spo translated by Brett Larner 2009 World Championships women's marathon silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki  (31, Team Daiichi Seimei) announced Feb. 16 that she will retire from competitive running following the Feb. 24 Tokyo Marathon.  Ozaki realized her dream of making the Olympics, finishing 19th at last summer's London Olympics.  After that, she said, "I didn't have any goals left in the marathon."  She plans to leave the Daiichi Seimei team to take some time off. Ozaki joined Daiichi Seimei in 2000 after graduating from Soyo H.S. in Kanagawa.  She began running marathons in 2008, and in her second shot at the distance she won the 2008 Tokyo International Women's Marathon in what remained her PB, 2:23:30.  Of her nine marathons she won twice and finished 2nd four times, earning a reputation for consistency.  In addition to the Olympics she ran in the 2009 and 2011 World Championships.  ...

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/130130/oth13013022310003-n1.htm translated by Brett Larner The management of the Yamada Denki corporate women's team announced on Jan. 30 that 2011 World Championships 10000 m runner Hikari Yoshimoto , 23, quit the team on Jan. 29.  According to an involved party, Yoshimoto will return home to Kumamoto to take an indefinite leave of absence from competitive running. Yoshimoto was the star of the Bukkyo University women's ekiden team, leading them to two-straight National University Women's Ekiden Championships titles in 2009 and 2010. In April, 2010 she broke the 15 year old 10000 m national collegiate record with a new mark of 31:30.92, and in the fall the same year she finished 5th in the Asian Games.  After graduating from Bukkyo last spring she followed her longtime coach Kenichi Morikawa to Yamada Denki but was unable to make the Olympic team for London.

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/p-sp-tp0-20121017-1033638.html translated and edited by Brett Larner The Marathon World Cup international team medal competition held as part of the World Championships marathon has been eliminated from the 2013 Moscow World Championships, revealed Japanese federation officials at a press conference related to the Nov. 18 Yokohama International Women's Marathon.  Based on the combined times of the top three finishers from each country, Japan has a long record of winning World Cup medals, most recently a silver at the 2011 Daegu World Championships.  According to JAAF officials, the IAAF made the decision to terminate the World Cup in September.  For civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi  (25), whose stated goal was to contribute to a second-straight team medal in Moscow, the announcement is surely a great disappointment.

http://www.daily.co.jp/newsflash/2012/01/26/0004770377.shtml translated by Brett Larner After the announcement of her name as an invited elite at the Feb. 26 Tokyo Marathon, a race outside the set of selection races for the women's Olympic marathon team, Yukiko Akaba  (Team Hokuren) issued a statement of clarification on Jan. 26 through her representative.  "As part of my goal of making the podium at the London Olympics I intend to set a big PB this spring," she said.  After seeing the outcome of the Jan. 29 Osaka International Women's Marathon Olympic team selection race she will make the final decision as to whether she will run Tokyo or the Mar. 11 Nagoya Women's Marathon selection race.  Akaba placed 5th as the top Japanese finisher at last year's World Championships, opening up the possibility that she may be able to skip the selection races.

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/touban/0004668166.shtml translated and edited by Brett Larner Organizers of the 23rd Kakogawa Marathon, scheduled for Dec. 23 in Hyogo prefecture, have announced that Daegu World Championshiops marathon 10th-place finisher Remi Nakazato  (Team Daihatsu) will run this year's race.  Nakazato finished 2nd in February's Yokohama International Women's Marathon to qualify for the World Championships team.  In Daegu she was the second Japanese finisher.  Nakazato will race in Kakogawa's 10 km division.  The event features full marathon, 10 km, 5 km and 2 km distances, with 5000 people total entered.

http://www.asahi.com/sports/spo/HOK201109210003.html translated by Brett Larner Daegu World Championships women's marathon 5th-place finisher Yukiko Akaba  (Team Hokuren), the top Japanese finisher in the Championships race, gave a press conference Sept. 20 at Hokuren's headquarters in Sapporo, Hokkaido to talk about her renewed motivation after her Daegu performance and her plans for making the London Olympics team. Appearing together with her coach and husband Shuhei , Akaba talked about her race, saying, "At this summer's World Championships I didn't run the way I hoped, but I think it was a good performance.  Still, I'm really disappointed not to have won a medal."  Akaba also missed out on securing a place on the London Olympics team, but explained, "Looking toward my ultimate goal of an Olympic medal, Daegu helped me find a few weak points in my race and now I know what I need to work on tightening up."* Shuhei confirmed that Akaba ...

http://bit.ly/oLKCLB The article above lists the gold and silver medalists at the All-Africa Games 10000 m as Ebrahim Gashu  of Ethiopia and Bernard Muchiri  of Kenya.   According to the ARRS' competition rankings , these athletes are in fact Japan-based World Champion Ibrahim Jeilan Gashu  (Team Honda) and Bitan Karoki Muchiri  (Team S&B).  Both runners train in Saitama prefecture.  Ibrahim is cited as having won in 28:18.22, with Karoki just behind in 28:19.32.  Awaiting confirmation of official results. Update: Ibrahim's coach Kiyoshi Akimoto  just confirmed to JRN that Ibrahim did in fact win. Update: Unofficial results .  These results list Karoki as 7th and Kenyan  Kenneth Kipkemboi  having taken silver, but that seems likely to be an accidental name reversal.

http://mainichi.jp/area/miyazaki/news/20110908ddlk45050568000c.html translated and edited by Brett Larner On Sept. 7 Hiroyuki Horibata  (24, Team Asahi Kasei), the top Japanese finisher in the 2011 Daegu World Championships men's marathon at 7th in in 2:11:52, made an appearance at his hometown Nobeoka City Hall in Miyazaki prefecture to talk about his race and his plans for making the 2012 London Olympic team. Horibata smiled at the warmly welcoming applause from the staff and guests at city hall.  Nobeoka mayor Masaharu Sudo  told him, "You met the hopes of all the citizens of Noboeka.  It was an outstanding performance."  Horibata told the crowd, "I ran with my own rhythm, with a margin of strength that came from inside.  I did better than my goal of 8th place.  My training went completely according to plan, and that's why I was able to achieve this result.  In my next race I want to seal up my place on the Olympic team."  Horib...

http://www.asahi.com/sports/spo/TKY201109060696.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Colleagues admire Kawauchi's World Championships team silver medal. Click photo to enlarge. After finishing 18th at the Sept. 4 World Championships marathon in Daegu, Korea and helping the Japanese national team win a silver medal, Yuki Kawauchi  returned to work at Kasukabe High School Sept. 6.  Showing up for the first time since the race as usual wearing a backpack over his white dress shirt, Kawauchi was greeted in the office by a round of enthusiastic applause and congratulations from his colleagues.  Normally working in the afternoon and evening, Kawauchi arrived at work half an hour earlier than usual.  He said that due to intense soreness in his calves and thighs he had only been able to run 30 minutes that morning. Showing his silver medal to principal Toshio Matsuda , Kawauchi recounted his race.  "'You're the pride of Wasimiya Junior High Scho...

translated by Brett Larner Kitaoka, Oda, Kawauchi, Nakamoto and Horibata with their team silver medals, Japan's eighth-straight World Championships finishing on the men's team podium. Click photo to enlarge. Hiroyuki Horibata  (Team Asahi Kasei) - 7th, 2:11:52 "I came down with a fever before the race.  It didn't hold me back and I ran with my full strength, but now I can't breathe through my nose.  It was cloudy on race day and felt very cool so I thought it was going to go out fast, but it started a little slow.  After 5 km the pace started going back and forth, something I've never experienced before.  It was my first time running Worlds, and up until 15 km I had some margin to enjoy it, but after 20 km things picked way up and I could feel the margin disappearing from my legs.  I figured the pace would slow down again so I thought I would try to stick with them, but things never slowed down and I drifted back from the top pack.  This time my...

by Brett Larner Hiroyuki Horibata  (Team Asahi Kasei) finished 7th at the World Championships men's marathon to lead the Japanese squad to team silver, the county's only hardware in a running event at this World Championships, continuing Japan's streak of men's marathon team medals in every World Championships since 1997.  In a race full of high-profile DNF's Horibata ran with tenacity to finish in the prize money in 2:11:52, the third-best time of his career and the fastest mark in the race by a non-African. While Asian Games silver medalist Yukihiro Kitaoka  (Team NTN) and 2011 Tokyo Marathon 4th-placer Yoshinori Oda  (Team Toyota) lost touch after less than 10 km, Horibata, Kentaro Nakamoto  (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref.) hung in the lead pack through halfway until the big Kenyan break that led to defending gold medalist Abel Kirui 's second-straight win.  Kawauchi, who led early in the race, fell back in the secon...