japan running news

http://www.pjnews.net/news/291/20111030_2 translated and edited by Brett Larner Stretching from Osaka City Hall to the south part of Osaka Bay, 27,000 runners took part in Kansai's first mass-participation marathon, the Oct. 30 Osaka Marathon.  With a surge at 30 km  Elijah Sang  (Kenya) became the race's first champion, winning in 2:12:43.  In post-race comments Sang told the media, "I think this will be a very fast course.  The cheering was incredibly loud, so I never got tired or had to back off.  Things went as planned and I made a move at 30 km.  I was able to win because I was running for the win." Veteran  Lidia Simon  (Romania) won the women's race in 2:32:48.  "The course is an easy one without any difficult sections," she said, "but I had trouble maintaining my speed after the turnaround.  I wasn't able to hit my target of a sub-2:30 time, but I did manage to achieve my other goal of winning.  My next goal will ...

by Brett Larner The Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship is the most important of Japan's elite men's marathons. At its peak Fukuoka served as the unofficial marathon world championships, the place where all the world's best came to end the year with a battle royale, hence the event's full name. Fukuoka's international stature faded in the era of the big city, big money marathon, but its importance to Japan's elite men has never diminished. As the first chance for Japanese men to qualify for an Olympic or World Championships team it remains a highly competitive domestic event with national record-level performances. In recent years Fukuoka's organizers seem to have made a concerted effort to return the event to a level of international signifcance; the invited overseas field at the 2006 Fukuoka included future world record holder Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) and two-time world champion and Olympic silver medalist-to-be Jaouad Gharib (Morocco), w...