japan running news

http://www.sanyo.oni.co.jp/feature/sports/other/2013/11/30/20131130225458.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The invited athlete list for Japan's last major road race of the year, the 32nd Sanyo Women's Road Race on Dec. 23 in Okayama, was released by race organisers on Nov. 30. Coinciding with main sponsor Sanyo Newspapers' 135th anniversary, the Yuko Arimori Cup half marathon division at the Sanyo Women's Road Race will for the first time be a selection race for the World Half Marathon Championships national team, with next year's World Half due to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark next March.

Targeting the first three-peat in Sanyo history, 2013 National Corporate Half Marathon champion Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) heads the invited field along with 2013 Hokkaido Marathon winner Yuko Watanabe (Team Edion) and, from overseas, London Olympian Desiree Davila (U.S.A.).  Others in the half  marathon include past World Championships marathoners Mai Ito (Team Otsu…

by Brett Larner
photos by Kazuyuki Sugimatsu
videos by Ekiden News



The 232nd edition of 2013 Hakone Ekiden champion Nittai University's regular time trial meet series was the biggest on record.  After a Saturday dedicated to distances ranging from 800 m to 10000 m, Sunday dawned early for 45 heats of 5000 m, 42 for men and 3 for women, the first starting at 7:30 a.m. and the last at 9:20 p.m.  Mass-producing quality, the 5000 m heats averaged 42 runners each with the two largest having 48 finishers.  Late in the day the heats were beginning every 15 minutes like clockwork.  Performances were equally deep, with the women's 5000 m A-heat seeing the most women ever under 16:30, 38, and the men's 5000 m A-heat with 30 under 14:05 falling just short of the record of 33.

The performance of the weekend went to 20-year-old Meiji University junior Genki Yagisawa, a former high school star who has so far struggled to live up to expectations on the university ekiden circuit.  Running i…

by Brett Larner

Following the 10000 m victories of Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko) and Doricah Obare (Team Hitachi) a day earlier, two-time world junior steeplechase champion Jonathan Ndiku (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) and Grace Kimanzi (Team Starts) added to the Kenyan haul with 5000 m wins on the second day of the 2013 National Corporate Track and Field Championships.  In the men's race, 2010 World Cross-Country silver medalist Clement Langat (Team Subaru) took things out at a desultory pace, splitting 2:48 and 2:51 for the first two km, trailed by Ndiku, fellow Kenyans Charles Ndirangu (Team JFE Steel), Daniel Gitau (Team Fujitsu) and Patrick Muwaka (Team Aisan Kogyo) and just one Japanese man, Meiji University graduate Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei).

Former Sera H.S. standout Ndirangu quickly lost patience with the state of things and took over with a 2:39 split for the third km, dropping all but Ndiku.  Ndirangu kept up the pressure with a 2:37 fourth km, but over the last lap h…

by Brett Larner

Yoshikawa anchors Kanagawa in for the record and the win.  Click photo for video highlights courtesy of broadcaster NHK.

2012 national 10000 m champion and London Olympian Mika Yoshikawa anchored the Kanagawa team home to a 2:14:55 course record at the Jan. 13 National Women's Ekiden in Kyoto, Kanagawa's first win in the last 26 years of the event's 31-year history in a solid team performance that saw six of its women make the top three on their stage.  A 9-stage, 42.195 km event with 47 prefectural teams made up of runners ranging from junior high school students to corporate league pros, perfect conditions meant the fastest overall National Women's Ekiden to date.  Alongside Kanagawa's course record, runner-up Hyogo ran the all-time third-best time in event history, 3rd-place defending champion Osaka set the all-time fifth-best mark with one new stage record to its credit, pre-race favorite Chiba made all-time #7, and the top eight teams all ran th…

by Brett Larner

In addition to the big Golden Games in Nobeoka and the Kanto and Kansai Regional University Track & Field Championships, several regional corporate championship meets also saw noteworthy results over the weekend.

At the Chugoku Jitsugyodan Championships in Hiroshima, former Sera H.S. ace Charles Ndirangu (Team JFE Steel) continued his unbeaten streak in his second pro race, scoring his tenth-straight win by winning the 5000 m in 13:42.00 by a margin of over 18 seconds.  Team Tenmaya runners made up the majority of the field in the women's 5000 m, with young Akari Ota winning in 16:05.99.  Tenmaya's former great Yurika Nakamura continued her apparent downward spiral, 15th in 17:47.93.

Almost on a par with Ndirangu's performance was that of year-leading half-marathoner Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota), who beat a pack of Kenyans including 2011 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Samuel Ndungu (Team Aichi Seiko) to set a meet record 13:43.97 in the men'…