japan running news

With less than 4 weeks to go the organizers of the Dec. 3 Fukuoka International Marathon have announced this year's elite field. And here it is. The field is set up to try to help top Japanese man Kyohei Hosoya (Kurosaki Harima), who fell and dropped out during last month's Olympic marathon trials, to 2:05:50, where he'll take the third spot on the Paris Olympic team away from trials 3rd-placer Suguru Osako (GMO). Hosoya ran 2:06:35 in the Miracle at Lake Biwa in 2021, but although he's been pretty stable since then he hasn't been able to get under 2:08 again. Abebe Negewo Degefa (Ethiopia) is the only athlete in the field to have gone under 2:05:50 in the last 3 years, with Kenyans Bethwel Yegon and Abel Kirui , 5th last year at age 40, both at the 2:06 level. Beyond that it looks like a solid 2:07 race with 6 men including last year's 2nd through 4th-placers Vincent Raimoi (Suzuki), Michael Githae (Suzuki) and Australian NR breaker Brett Robinson . An in...

Things are in kind of a strange situation this December when it comes to Japanese marathons. When the Fukuoka International Marathon announced it was shutting down after last year's 75th race the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon two weeks later was quick to move to Fukuoka's traditional first-Sunday-of-December date for 2022. When the announcement came of Fukuoka's return it was like a game of musical chairs, with both races trying to cram into the same day. As a result you've got a pretty serious split when it comes to domestic entries. Fukuoka has its traditional small international field to justify its name, veteran Abel Kirui (Kenya) facing off against a trio of 2:06 men, past winners Yemane Tsegaye (Ethiopia) and Michael Githae (Kenya/Suzuki), Marugame Half winner Brett Robinson (Australia), the debuting sub-60 half marathoner Vincent Raimoi (Kenya/Suzuki) and more. The domestic field has three men at 2:08 and six at 2:09, Daiji Kawai (Toenec) leading the way with a ...

interview by Mika Tokairin and Tsuguki Matsuda translated by Mika Tokairin and Brett Larner Arata Fujiwara  was a relative unknown when he ran the 2008 Tokyo Marathon , but his 2nd place finish in 2:08:40 made his name both domestically and worldwide. He fell five seconds short of being named to the Beijing Olympics team but made the Berlin World Championships thanks to a 2:09:47 at the Fukuoka International Marathon later that year. In this interview for the first time Fujiwara talked to JRN in detail about his now-famous 2008 Tokyo Marathon run, his thoughts and feelings before, during and after the race. What can you say about your first marathon? You really slowed down a lot. It was at Biwako [Lake Biwa] in March, 2007. That time I had stomach problems and blisters. Without them I would have won. (laughs) But I got a lot of confidence out of that race. Problems like blisters are easy to understand, you know? It’s not like if you don’t have enough stamina or a large...

Hayato Sonoda age: 30 sponsor: Kurosaki Harima graduated from: Kumamoto Kokufu H.S., Jobu University best time inside MGC window: 2:09:34, 2nd, 2018 Beppu-Oita Marathon PB: 2:09:34, 2nd, 2018 Beppu-Oita Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 14:05.64 (2016) 10000 m: 28:52.49 (2018) half marathon: 1:03:00 (2016) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) 18th, 2019 Boston Marathon, 2:15:58 8th, 2019 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:10:39 5th, 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:10:31 4th, 2018 Jakarta Asian Games Marathon, 2:19:04 2nd, 2018 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:09:34 – PB 11th, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:12:04 other major results: 33rd, 2019 Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, 1:05:42 21st, 2019 Niigata Half Marathon, 1:06:01 27th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Fourth Stage (22.4 km), 1:07:34 5th, 2018 Kyushu Corporate Ekiden Seventh Stage (16.3 km), 47:22 70th, 2018 Valencia World Half Marathon Championships, 1:04:12 7th, 2017 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:11:32 4th, 2...

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/World-Record-Holders-Defending-Champs-Among-International-Elites-for-40th-Anniversary-Bank-of-America-Chicago-Marathon-440714673.html

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...

by Brett Larner With his 2:09:54 at Sunday's Ehime Marathon Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) became the fifteenth runner in history to run sub-2:10 eleven times or more in his career.  The achievement puts him in distinguished company, including two marathon world record setters, seven Olympic marathon medalists, seven World Championships marathon medalists, three World Marathon Majors champions and eight winners of the six races now making up the World Marathon Majors. Kawauchi is one of only three non-African athletes to make the list, one of four on the list without either an Olympic or World Championships medal or a win at one of the Big Six, one of four to have not broken 2:07, and, with a PB of 2:08:14, the only one who has not run sub-2:08.  A sub-2:08 PB and a World Championships medal remain the major goals of his career. Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) - 16 times sub-2:10 PB: 2:04:38 2013 World Marathon Majors champion 1st, 2013 London Marathon 1st, 2012 C...

by Brett Larner Sunday's Chicago Marathon saw the men go out unusually slowly.  Three Japanese men, Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei), Koji Gokaya (Team JR Higashi Nihon) and Ryoichi Matsuo (Team Asahi Kasei) were in the top ten until late in the race, Fukatsu and Gokaya leading at halfway and Fukatsu, a graduate of Komazawa University, still in the top spot at 30 km.  When the move came they were left behind as two-time world champion Abel Kirui (Kenya) took the win in 2:11:23, Fukatsu ultimately finishing 7th in 2:13:53 and Gokaya 9th in 2:14:34.  Fukatsu's placing was the best so far by a Japanese man in the Abbott World Marathon Majors Series X, although his time was nearly 3 minutes slower than that of Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) two weeks ago in Berlin. The women's race was more what you would expect, the pace hot on high 2:20 / low 2:21 track throughout the race.   Florence Kiplagat (Kenya) held steady at that rate to win by almost 2 minutes ...

by Brett Larner With just a month until the race date, the Tokyo Marathon organizers have released the men's and women's entry lists for Tokyo's second edition since working its way into the World Marathon Majors. Compared to the London and Boston fields it is the very model of a minor Major marathon with Kenyans, Ethiopians and even an Eritrean, but though the best have gone elsewhere the depth and quality are there to bring some overseas interest and make this field one of the best Japan has ever seen. Tadesse Tola  (Ethiopia) leads the way among the men with a sub-2:05 best from Dubai last year, tailed closely by two-time world champion Abel Kirui  (Kenya) who returns to Tokyo after a DNF in 2008, Sammy Kitwara (Kenya) and three other men who have broken 2:06 in the last two years.  2011 World Jr. XC champion Geoffrey Kipsang  (Kenya), past Tokyo winners Michael Kipyego (Kenya) and Viktor Rothlin  (Switzerland) and five other internationals make up the ...

by Brett Larner A big weekend of racing is ahead in Japan with three major races and a handful of other events on the calendar for Sunday.  First and foremost is the 67th Kagawa Marugama International Half Marathon , where London Olympic marathon medalists Tiki Gelana (Ethiopia) and Abel Kirui  (Kenya) bring the most prestige.  Women's gold medalist Gelana is challenged by #1-ranked Kim Smith  (New Zealand) and 2010 Marugame winner Nicole Chapple  (Australia) from south of the equator, with 2012 Sanyo Ladies Half Marathon winner Yukiko Akaba  (Team Hokuren) making up the domestic challenge.  All three challengers hold faster PBs than Gelana, setting up for an exciting race.  Other top-level entrants include Marisa Barros  (Portugal) and Hiroko Miyauchi  (Team Kyocera). Men's silver medalist Abel Kirui  (Kenya) is the fastest man in Marugame, where last year's men's field set new world records for depth .  His strongest com...

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/other/athletic/headlines/20130115-00000028-kyodo_sp-spo.html translated by Brett Larner The domestic and international elite fields for the Feb. 3 Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon were released on Jan. 15.  Headlining the men's field is London Olympics marathon silver medalist Abel Kirui  (Kenya), who will be joined by Japanese Olympic marathoners Arata Fujiwara  (Miki House) and Ryo Yamamoto  (Team Sagawa Express).  London Olympics women's marathon gold medalist and defending Marugame champion Tiki Gelana  (Ethiopia) returns to face off against 2011 Daegu World Championships marathon 5th-placer Yukiko Akaba  (Team Hokuren) and last year's National Championships 10000 m 5th-place finisher Yuko Shimizu  (Team Sekisui Kagaku). 2013 Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon Entry List Highlights Marugame, Kagawa, 2/3/13 click here for complete field listing Women Kim Smith (New Zealand) - 1:07:11...

by Brett Larner 2012 Tokyo Marathon 3rd-placer Stephen Kiprotich  (Uganda) staged a surprise upset in the London Olympics men's marathon, dropping two-time world champion Abel Kirui (Kenya) and 2011 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon winner Wilson Kipsang  (Kenya) with 5 km to go to give Uganda its first-ever marathon gold and prevent a Kenyan repeat of the late great Samuel Wanjiru 's victory in Beijing four years ago.  Despite the unexpected loss, Kirui and Kipsang became the first-ever Kenyan runners without Japanese coaching to win Olympic marathon medals. Japanese favorite Arata Fujiwara  ran tough in the first two-thirds of the race, teaming up with 2012 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon runner-up Henryk Szost  (Poland) to reel in stragglers from the lead pack, but making contact with the chase pack he settled into a slower than hoped for pace that allowed his former Takushoku University roommate Kentaro Nakamoto  to catch up.  Where Fujiwara locked on t...

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...

by Brett Larner photo courtesy of Remo System Arata Fujiwara will be the best Japanese man to have ever run the ING New York City Marathon. That’s a safe statement to make considering that the best Japanese marathoners are never able to run New York due to the demands of the regional corporate ekiden qualifiers held in early November. But Fujiwara had dreamed of running New York since his high school days in Nagasaki, and he found his own solution for the dilemma of not being able to run: despite being one of Japan’s best current marathoners, with a 2:08:40 PB, two runner-up spots at Tokyo and a 3rd at Fukuoka that put him into the Berlin World Championships, he quit his corporate team cold this spring in order to be free to race where and when he wanted. And that meant New York. First off the bat in his new solo career was a dry run, May’s Ottawa Marathon, a race with the same time difference from Japan as New York and a similar course, hilly with a combination of sharp curves and lo...

by Brett Larner With a new 1:30 p.m. start time due no doubt to the exigencies of live television broadcast, sunny, humid and windy conditions with temperatures of 29 degrees greeted runners at the start of the 53rd Sapporo International Half Marathon on July 4. 2006 men's champion Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) and 2008 women's winner Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC) came out on top again, winning over the likes of 2009 World Championships marathon gold medalist Abel Kirui (Kenya), 2:05 marathoner Vincent Kipruto (Kenya) and course record holder Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Aidem) in Njui's case and defending champion Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) in Kano's. Njui ran a race both controlled and aggressive, at the head of the pack from start to finish but gradually building his win. A conservative 14:28 split over the downhill first 5 km gave way to a 14:22 on the flat from 5 to 10 km. Njui remained at the head of the pack as the group whittled down to four Kenyans...