japan running news

by Brett Larner



With Japan's premier summer marathon bringing back its elite field this year, corporate league runners Koji Gokaya (Team JR Higashi Nihon) and Yuko Watanabe (Team Edion) scored their first marathon wins, taking the men's and women's Hokkaido Marathon titles in 2:14:26 and 2:29:13 on Aug. 25 in Sapporo.

Following an early break by Shingo Igarashi (Team Subaru) and by 2010 Nobeoka Marathon winner Masaki Shimoju (Team Konica Minolta), Gokaya, who finished 7th at the 2011 Chicago Marathon in 2:12:15, ran in a dense lead pack through 35 km before turning it on, grinding down Shigeki Tsuji (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) to open a margin of 19 seconds before crossing the finish line.  Tsuji, the only runner to try to stay with Gokaya, was a comfortable 2nd in 2:14:45, 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack led by Shimoju, who held off past Gold Coast Marathon winner Dickson Marwa (Tanzania) in the last sprint for 3rd in 2:15:15.  Early leader Igarashi faded over the seco…

by Brett Larner

note: International travel resulted in a delay to posting these results.  Apologies.

Three big road races produced noteworthy results across Japan over the past weekend.  At last year's Takashimadaira Road Race 20 km, the completely unknown Takehiro Deki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) exploded onto the Kanto region university men's distance scene by tying the course record of 58:51 while winning by a margin of 1:30.  This year as a more established name Deki successfully repeated, winning Takashimadaira again in warm conditions in 59:44 by a margin of 1:13.  Veteran Yoshimi Hoshino (eAthletes AC) took her fifth win in the women's division, running 1:15:12, while five-time women's 10 km division winner Maki Inami (Kita AC) made it six as she won in 34:50.  Komazawa University graduate Akinori Iida (Team Honda) won the men's 10 km in 29:59.

Further north in Sendai, Ritsumeikan University scored a major upset as it beat rival and defending champion Bukkyo Univer…