japan running news

The Fukuoka International Marathon and Osaka Marathon were the two big headline-makers on the Japanese scene this weekend, but they were far from the only action to be had. Just 13 days after running a four-minute CR of 2:27:39 to win the Kobe Marathon , Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) ran the first nighttime edition of the Singapore Marathon . Starting conservatively, Yamaguchi moved up through the field mid-race to be in four-way contention for 3rd place. In the last dash to the finish she ended up 5th in 2:37:29, the fastest time ever by a Japanese woman on Singaporean soil by almost 10 minutes. Among those she beat was Ethiopian Aberash Feysa , who outkicked Yamaguchi for the win at June's Stockholm Marathon . In Okinawa, local Tatsunori Hamasaki (Nanji AC) won the 35th edition of the Naha Marathon in 2:22:48. Corporate leaguer Hanae Tanaka (Shiseido) won the women's race in 2:42:40. In Kumamoto, the Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler held its 44th running. Locally-based Keny...

Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich dominated the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon 's 9th edition, running the fastest-ever women's half marathon on Japanese soil to win in 1:06:06. Taking advantage of cooler than usual conditions Chepngetich was out at world record pace from the gun, accompanied early on by fellow Kenyans Joan Chelimo Melly and Evaline Chirchir but alone by 10 km and leading by 6 seconds over Melly in 30:45. The second half hit her hard, but Chepngetich had no trouble holding on well enough to take 1:38 off the 1:07:44 course record set two years ago by world record holder Joyciline Jepkosgei . Melly, Chirchir and 4th-placer Mimi Belete (Bahrain) all went under 1:08:20, with Miyuki Uehara (Daiichi Seimei) taking the top Japanese spot at 6th in 1:11:03. The men's race was more conservative, with a lead pack of ten including last year's winner Nicholas Kosimbei (Kenya/Toyota), 2014 winner Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA) and national record holder Yuta Shitara (Hond...

9th Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon Elite Field Highlights Gifu, 4/28/19 times listed are best in last three years except where noted complete men's field complete women's field Women Joan Chelimo Melly (Kenya) - 1:05:04 (Prague 2018) Ruth Chepngetich (Kenya) - 1:06:19 (Istanbul 2017) Eunice Jepkirui Kirwa (Bahrain) - 1:06:46 (Istanbul 2017) Rose Chelimo (Bahrain) - 1:08:37 (Ras Al Khaimah 2017) Miyuki Uehara (Japan/Daiichi Seimei) - 1:09:13 (Sanyo Ladies 2017) Mimi Belete (Bahrain) - 1:09:15 (Verona 2017) Gotytom Gebreslase (Ethiopia) - 1:09:39 (Boston 2018) Ana Dulce Felix (Portugal) - 1:11:50 (Lisbon 2018) Evaline Chirchir (Kenya) - debut  - 30:43 (Valencia 10 km 2019) Men Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA) - 58:42 (Ras Al Khaimah 2018) Jorum Okumbo (Kenya) - 58:48 (Copenhagen 2017) Abraham Kipyatich (Kenya/Asahi Kasei) - 1:00:08 (Prague 2018) Abdellah Mande (Uganda) - 1:00:14 (Venlo 2018) Yuta Shitara (Japan/Honda) - 1:00:17 (Usti nad Labem 2017) Nicholas Kosimb...

Saturday night saw another round of mid-season track time trial meets across the country. Leading the way, Saku Chosei High School 's Yuhi Nakaya ran the 5th-fastest time ever by a Japanese high schooler, 13:47.22, to take 4th as the top Japanese man behind Ethiopian duo Abiyot Abinet and Yeneblo Biyazen of the Yachiyo Kogyo corporate team and unattached Kenyan James Bunuka Ndiwa in the Heisei Kokusai University Time Trials men's 5000 m A-heat. Former World Youth and World Junior Championships medalist William Malel (Honda) won the Heisei Kokusai 10000 m A-heat in 28:24.46, with Komazawa University grad Shun Inoura (Yachiyo Kogyo) 2nd in 28:28.49. Two Japanese men in the A-heat, Toshinori Watanabe (GMO) and Kazuki Muramoto (Sumitomo Denki) doubled after running in earlier heats of 10000 m. Far to the south, the national champion Asahi Kasei corporate team ran almost its entire team in the 10000 m at the Miyazaki Time Trials meet. 2016 national XC champ Takashi ...

As ekiden season gets into full swing, track time trials continue to be a staple of Japanese and Japan-based athletes from junior high school to the corporate leagues. This weekend's main results from across the country: 15'35”31で世界ジュニアぶりの自己ベスト更新出来ました! 素直に、本当に嬉しい😂 2週間後の全日本駅伝まで更に調子を上げて頑張ります👊✨応援ありがとうございました☺︎ pic.twitter.com/SO9M1MPdeS — 加世田 梨花 (@rikaks3) October 15, 2017 Just six days after running 8:54.27 to win the National Sports Festival junior women's 3000 m, Nozomi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) won again, this time running a PB 15:32.34 to take the 5000 m A-heat at the Shizuoka Time Trials meet. Having led the national champion  Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuen H.S. girls to the win at last weekend's Kurayoshi Women's Ekiden , Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu won the 3000 m A-heat in 9:10.53. At Saturday's Chubu Jitsugyodan Autumn Championships , Rodgers Chumo Kemoi (Aisan Kogyo) ran 27:48.30 to win the men's 10000 m, leading James Rungaru (Chuo Ha...

Saturday night's Birell Prague Grand Prix 10 km looks set to be the biggest race of the weekend. Returning to Prague after both going under Paula Radcliffe 's 10 km world record of 30:21 en route to more world records at April's Prague Half Marathon, Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya) and Violah Jepchumba (Bahrain) will face off again in a race that organizers hope will produce the first-ever women's sub-30 clocking on the roads. In April Jepkosgei clocked 30:04 and Jepchumba 30:05 at the Prague Half, and with decent temperatures around 20˚C and moderate winds forecast for the evening race the chances look good. Fancy Chemutai (Kenya), Netsanet Gudeta (Ethiopia) and Kayoko Fukushi (Japan/Wacoal) have all cleared 31 minutes on the track or roads and could factor into the second pack with solid performances, but whether any is up for being paced by three men to go under 30 minutes is a question mark. Fukushi in particular has taken it relatively easy since the Rio Oly...

Six Japanese athletes will line up at Saturday's Birell Prague Grand Prix 10 km road race in the Czech Republic. Rio Olympian, 2013 World Championships marathon bronze medalist and 5000 m and half marathon national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) is the lone Japanese woman in the race. Now 35, Fukushi has mostly taken it easy since Rio, her season bests just 33:09.26 for 10000 m on the track and 33:48 for 10 km on the road. Standoffish with Japanese media about her future plans, it remains to be seen how hard Fukushi will run in Prague. Teammates at the 2017 national champion Asahi Kasei corporate team, Kenta Murayama and Tetsuya Yoroizaka lead the five Japanese men on the list. Murayama, the U18 national record holder for 10000 m on the track and twin brother of adult national record holder Kota Murayama , ran well in the spring with a 1:00:57 for 5th at March's United Airlines NYC Half but underperformed at May's Ottawa 10 km. Yoroizaka, who has the unluc...

a RunCzech press release Abraham Kipyatich , one of the strongest performers on the RunCzech Racing team, is to spend the remainder of the year in Japan, competing for the Asahi Kasei Athletics Team. After a number of fine and stable performances last year, and a victory in the Birell Prague Grand Prix 2016, as a culmination of the fine season Abraham had. The Asahi Kasei Athletics Team was founded in 1946 and is based in Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture. The team is known for its great history, especially for producing Olympians (marathon), national record holders and other legends of our sport. In 2017, Asahi Kasei became first team in an 18-year period to win the New Year Ekiden National Corporate Men's Road Relay Championships with an all-Japanese lineup. Kipyatich is the first non-Japanese runner in the team and only one out of two non-Japanese runners team has in its line-up for 2017 season. Kipyatich already had successful experience in Japan this year - he managed solid ...

https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20170515-00000124-sph-spo translated by Brett Larner 今日から新しいチームメイトが旭化成に加わりました！！ 共に世界を目指して頑張ります。 応援よろしくお願いします。 #ケニア #🇰🇪 #左 #アブラハム #右 #ケネス https://t.co/OSMR3UynMN pic.twitter.com/UiuIcQTFUK — 市田 孝 (@TAKA_supra) May 15, 2017 On May 15 ekiden and marathon powerhouse Asahi Kasei welcomed its first-ever foreign-born team members, Kenyans Kenneth Kiprop Kipkemoi , 32, and Abraham Kapsis Kipyatich , 24, to the team's base in Nobeoka, Miyazaki. The highly accomplished Kipkemoi holds a 10000 m best of 26:52.65 far superior to the 27:29.69 Japanese national record held by Asahi Kasei's Kota Murayama , 24, and his 5000 m and half marathon bests of 13:03.07 and 59:01 are likewise better than the Japanese national records. By comparison, Kipyatich is still young with room to grow further in the future. Regarding the reinforcement of the team's strength, an Asahi Kasei spokesperson commented, "The mission of our athletics program ...

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20170408-OHT1T50191.html translated and edited by Brett Larner A long distance and marathon powerhouse, the 2017 New Year Ekiden national champion Asahi Kasei team has recruited Kenyan athletes for the first time. Surpassing even the 10000 m national record of 27:29.69 set by Asahi Kasei's Kota Murayama , 24, the pair of Kenyans includes a 32-year-old veteran who has run sub-27 and a young 23-year-old.  With experience coaching Kenyans at the Aisan Kogyo corporate team through the end of March, Isamu Sennai has also joined the Asahi Kasei staff in preparation for the Kenyans' arrival. At this year's New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships, 30 of the 37 teams in the field featured foreign athletes.  In the midst of such a field, Asahi Kasei scored the first win by a Japanese-only team in 18 years.  Founded in 1946, Asahi Kasei produced greats including twins Shigeru and Takeshi Soh , 1991 World Championships mar...

by Brett Larner click here for women's field listing As strong as its women's field looks, the men's field for the Feb. 5 Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon is something else.  The half marathon is the sweet spot of Japanese training, the distance that the top university men focus on for the Hakone Ekiden and the best corporate men at the New Year Ekiden national championships.  The official half marathon Japanese national record is 1:00:25 by Atsushi Sato at the 2007 World Half Marathon, but it's pretty common to see the top men running that kind of time on the longest half marathonish-length stages at both Hakone and New Year.  If they all got together, focused, and put the same intensity and drive into a serious half marathon the national record would surely fall, and maybe even the hour mark.  This year's Marugame looks like the best chance to date for that to happen. Up front: 59:01 man Kenneth Kipkemoi and once-upon-a-time sub-59 man Atsedu...