japan running news

Following the cancelation of the Kanto Region University Women's Ekiden, on Aug. 18 the Inter-University Athletic Union of Kanto announced that the teams it will send to the Oct. 25 National University Women's Ekiden will instead be chosen based on the results at a series of 5000 m track races to be held Sept. 26 at Juntendo University in Inzai, Chiba. Each team vying for Nationals will field six runners, with the four schools with the lowest combined times for their six women earning places. Due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the meet will be held without spectators. The top eight teams at last year's Nationals have already qualified for the return trip this year, among them the Kanto region programs Daito Bunka University , Nittai University and Josai University . Translator's note: This news follows the Hokkaido region holding its usual qualifying ekiden this past Saturday, the first elite-level road race in Japan since March 8. The qualifying method ...

Daito Bunka University  and  Ritsumeikan University  try to take down two-time defending national champ Meijo University at the 2019 Morinomiyako Ekiden.

Daito Bunka University , Ritsumeikan University and Tokyo Nogyo University try to take down defending national champ Meijo University at the 2018 Morinomiyako Ekiden.

The National University Women's Ekiden Championships took place Oct. 27 in Sendai, covering a six-stage, 38.1 km course from Koshin Gomu Athlete Park field to Sendai City Hall. Meijo University ran 2:04:34 to better the field by almost three minutes for its third-straight national title. Daito Bunka University was 2nd behind Meijo for the third year in a row, with ten-time national champ Ritsumeikan University taking 3rd. 4th-place Matsuyama University through 8th-place Kansai University joined the top three in earning guaranteed places at the 2020 National Championships. Meijo started slow, sitting 9th after the opening stage, but its second runner Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu passed eight people to move the defending national champs into 1st. From there to the finish Meijo held on to the lead despite a serious mid-race challenge from Daito Bunka. A stage win from Daito Bunka's third runner Yuka Suzuki brought them within 3 seconds of Meijo, but while fourth runner Yuk...

Three-time National High School Ekiden champion Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. released an announcement on Mar. 19 revealing that alumna Emi Ikeda , 35, will take over as the team's head coach effective Apr. 1. Previous head coach Yoshinobu Ogino will remain on in an advisory position. Speaking enthusiastically at the announcement press conference, Ikeda told the media, "I want to learn from Ogino's wealth of knowhow concerning leadership and aim to be #1 in Japan." Last year marked 30 straight years of Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. making the National High School Ekiden. Ogino commented, "As I approached age 70 I started to think that I would regret it if I didn't help to develop the team's next leader. The color that has been wrought over a long history will run even deeper, and the Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. name will live on forever." Ikeda is a native of Kyotanabe, Kyoto. Her runner-up placing on the First Stage of the 2000 National High School Ekiden was key t...

After an unexpected breakthrough last year to win its first national title in 12 years, Meijo University took full advantage of its new recruits to win the Morinomiyako Ekiden , the Japanese University Women's Ekiden Championships, for the second year in a row Sunday in Sendai. First-year Yuna Wada , who set up Nozomi Tanaka for the gold medal in this year's U20 World Championships 3000 m, took it out hard for Meijo, winning the 6.4 km First Stage by two seconds over Naruha Sato of last year's 3rd-placer Ritsumeikan University . After a rocky start 2017 runner-up Daito Bunka University 's Yuka Suzuki made up a 42-second deficit on the 5.6 km Second Stage, turning it into a 15-second lead over Ritsumeikan with Meijo dropping to 3rd. Star Meijo first-year Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu got it back under control, just missing the CR on the 6.8 km Third Stage as she put Meijo back into the lad for good. DBU, Ritsumeikan and darkhorse Tokyo Nogyo University battled to...

Three main races make up the lion's share of this road racing action, two abroad and one on home ground. Bouncing back from a bad run three weeks ago at the Chicago Marathon, 2018 Boston Marathon winner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) will make his Italian debut at the Huawei Venice Marathon with support from JRN. Since Chicago Kawauchi has raced twice, a 1:05:18 the weekend after Chicago at the Namerikawa Half Marathon and a 1:00:48 for 2nd at last weekend's Takashimadaira 20 km.The Takashimadaira time equates to a 1:04:08 half marathon, and given that rate rate of improvement over Namerikawa and his 14:47 closing split he is optimistic about Venice. "If the pack gets into a good rhythm early on then I think I can run in 2:10 to 2:12 range," he said. Most years that would put him in contention for the win in Venice, and with his 2018 best standing at 2:11:46 and the fastest time ever by a Japanese man on Italian soil at 2:12:51 he's got good seco...

3rd last year, Meijo University returned to the top with its first national title since 2005 at today's National University Women's Ekiden Championships in Sendai. Missing its star pair Anju Takamizawa and Riho Takamizawa (no relation), defending champion Matsuyama University was never in the race, 25th of 26 teams on the 6.4 km First Stage and eventually working its way up to 13th. 6 seconds out of 1st, Meijo took over the lead on the 5.6 km Second Stage and held it almost the entire rest of the way. With a record of ten wins and four 2nd-place finishes in the last 14 years, last year's runner-up Ritsumeikan University went into 1st on the 4.8 km Fourth Stage thanks to a stage best run by Ayano Tanaka , setting up a duel between course record holder Kotona Ota (Ritsumeikan Univ.) and #1-ranked first-year Rika Kaseda (Meijo Univ.) on the day's longest stage, the 9.2 km Fifth Stage. Kaseda caught Ota within the first 3 km, but while it looked like the young...

The university men's ekiden season is already well underway, but for women the first of the season's national-level university ekidens takes place this Sunday with Sendai's Morinomiyako Ekiden , the National University Women's Ekiden Championships . Starting in 2003 Kyoto's Ritsumeikan University became an almost unstoppable force, winning ten national titles and three 2nd-place finishes in thirteen years including five-straight from 2011 to 2015. Last year they were knocked back to 2nd by first-time national champion Matsuyama University but came back with a season-ending win over Matsuyama and 3rd-placer Meijo University at the Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden. All three schools are back and feature as the three favorites, Matsuyama led by fourth-year Anju Takamizawa , a 2016 Rio Olympian in the 3000 m steeplechase, and 2005 national champion Meijo led by first-year Rika Kaseda , runner-up in the 5000 m at September's National University Track and Field Ch...

On Oct. 11 the Inter-University Athletics Union of Japan ( IUAU ) released the entry lists for the Morinomiyako Ekiden , the National University Women's Ekiden Championships to be held Oct. 29 in Sendai. A Rio de Janeiro Olympian in the 3000 m steeplechase, Anju Takamizawa will return to lead Matsuyama University in its shot at a second-straight national title. Other noteworthy names on the entry lists include National University Track and Field Championships 5000 m winner Maho Shimizu (Osaka Gakuin Univ.), National University Individual Track and Field Championships 5000 m winner Rika Kaseda (Meijo Univ.) and World University Games half marathon gold medalist Yuki Munehisa (Tokyo Nogyo University). source article:  http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20171011/ath17101119210001-n1.html translated by Brett Larner

In just its fifth season, the Kansai Gaikokugo University (Kansai Gaidai) women's ekiden team has qualified for the National University Women's Ekiden Championships for the fourth year in a row. Held in Sendai on Oct. 29, the race will be broadcast live on Nippon TV starting at 12:10 p.m. on the 29th. 26 teams from across the country, including 8 teams seeded from last year, 17 regional qualifiers and a Tohoku Region University Select Team will compete over the 6 stage, 38 km course from Koshin Gomu Athlete Park Sendai to Sendai City Hall Civic Plaza. The Kansai Gaidai women qualified for this year's Nationals by finishing 6th in 1:43:17 at the Sept. 23 Kansai Region University Women's Ekiden. With 3 of the 6 places available to Kansai Region schools taken by top-placing teams from last year who were seeded for this year's Nationals, Kansai Gaidai finished 3rd among the programs that secured the 3 remaining qualifying spots. The Kansai Gaidai women's ekid...

by Brett Larner Rio de Janeiro Olympics 3000 m steeplechase runner  Anju Takamizawa , the first Japanese university woman to ever make an Olympic team in a distance event, led Matsuyama University to take down five-time defending national champion Ritsumeikan University and become the first school from the Chugoku-Shikoku Region to ever win the National University Women's Ekiden Championships title Sunday in Sendai. 【杜の都駅伝】 松山大学初優勝です！ pic.twitter.com/ftXf43wke1 — 日本学生陸上競技連合 (@iuauj) October 30, 2016 3rd last year, Matsuyama lined up against Ritsumeikan, Kanto Region champ and 2015 runner-up Daito Bunka University  and 23 other teams at the Morinomiyako Ekiden , as Nationals are popularly called.  Ritsumeikan got off to a rocky start, its lead runner Nanako Kanno  eight seconds behind 1500 m national university champion Natsu Hashimoto (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) in 6th, but for Matsuyama and Daito Bunka the First Stage was a disaster. Matsuyama senior Ayumi U...

by Brett Larner Ekiden season rolls on this Sunday with the Morinomiyako Ekiden , the 34th edition of the National University Women's Ekiden .  25 university teams and one regional select team will race over 38.0 km in six stages.  Kyoto's Ritsumeikan University has won the national title ten times in the last thirteen years and is in the middle of the longest streak in the championships' history, with five straight wins behind them and looking to add a sixth.  The last team to beat them, Kyoto rivals Bukkyo University , have completely disappeared since the departure of head coach Kenichi Morikawa to take over at the Yamada Denki women's corporate team, while the only other team to beat Ritsumeikan since 2003, 2005 champ Meijo University of Aichi, was 5th last year almost four minutes behind Ritsumeikan. Ritsumeikan won September's Kansai Region University Women's Ekiden , but its margin over runner-up Kyoto Sangyo University was only 24 seconds over ...

http://www.sankeibiz.jp/business/news/161025/prl1610250913005-n1.htm translated by Brett Larner The Osaka-based Kansai Gaikokugo University women's ekiden team is set to make its third-straight appearance at the National University Women's Ekiden this Sunday, Oct. 30 in Sendai.  The race will be broadcast live on NTV beginning at noon.  26 teams including eight seeded schools, seventeen top teams from regional qualifiers, and one select team from the Sendai area will compete. Kansai Gaikokugo University's women's ekiden team finished 5th at September's Kansai Region University Women's Ekiden in 1:41:50 to qualify for the national championship event.  The Kansai Region's share of the national field is six teams this year, down one from last year.  Three seeded teams finished ahead of Kansai Gaikokugo University in the regional race, meaning the school was the second to secure one of the three remaining places. The Kansai Gaikokugo University women...

by Brett Larner Four-time defending National University Women's Ekiden champion Ritsumeikan University delivered one for the record books, winning a fifth-straight title Sunday in Sendai as it broke the 38.0 km course record in 2:02:52.  With all six of its runners winning their individual stages including a 29:24 record for the 9.2 km Fifth Stage from Kotona Ota , the sheer quality of Ritsumeikan's win had fans talking on social media about the need for ekiden terminology like baseball's no-hitters and perfect games.  Regardless, this was about as dominant a performance as you could hope to see in an ekiden, every team member hitting it 100% running entirely alone with an unbreakable lead. Last year's runner up Daito Bunka University was 2nd again after a great battle throughout the race with Kanto Region rival Nittai University and Aichi's Meijo University , one of only two schools to crack Ritsumeikan in the last 12 years.  But despite good performances f...

by Brett Larner With the men's Big Three University Ekiden season well underway, Japan's university women kick off their own Big Three this Sunday at Sendai's Morinomiyako Ekiden , the National University Women's Ekiden Championships. With six stages totalling 38.0 km, a longest stage of 9.2 km, 26 teams from across the country and a live nationwide broadcast on NTV Morinomiyako is similar in scale to the men's season-opening Izumo Ekiden . Defending champion Ritsumeikan University of Kyoto comes in ranked #1 again with four-straight national titles and nine wins in the last twelve years.  With the #1 and #3 ranked runners in the field, third-year Natsuki Omori and second-year Kotona Ota , and the fastest top-six 5000 m average, 15:45.73, there is almost no chance Ritsumeikan will lose.  The last team to beat them, 2009-2010 national champion and crosstown Kyoto rival Bukkyo University , has long since faded from glory with the departure of head coach Kenic...

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/local/fukuoka/news/20150621-OYTNT50203.html translated by Brett Larner The Kyushu Region Qualifier for the 33rd National University Women's Ekiden took place June 21 at Heiwadai Field in Chuo-ku, Fukuoka.  Appearing for the first time in its short 21-year existence, Okinawa's Meio University scored a place at the Oct. 25 Nationals in Sendai, its six athletes' combined 5000 m times in the qualifying meet totalling 2:01:56. First among them was senior Ayumi Shirakawa , 22, who commented, "This is the first time I've ever made it to the National level.  Even if I can move us up one position I'll be happy." Among other Kyushu Region schools, Fukuoka University and Kagoshima's Kanoya Taiiku University both hold seeded places from their performances at the 2014 National University Women's Ekiden .

http://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/sports/article/20150616000166 translated by Brett Larner On June 16 Kyoto's Bukkyo University announced new leadership for its two-time National University Women's Ekiden champion women's middle and long distance program.  A member of both the Bukkyo faculty and the Kyoto Track and Field Association, Yoshihiko Nakagawa , 68, has been named to the executive head coach position, a position in which he has already begun serving.  Additionally, the new position of "advisor" has been created to provide backup to the leadership team.  Both the Kyoto Track and Field Association's Hiroshi Taniguchi , 66, and Bukkyo alum Junko Ochi , 32, have been tapped in this capacity.  Ochi was an outstanding member of the Bukkyo team, winning the anchor stage at both the 2001 and 2003 National University Women's Ekiden Championships.  Both she and Taniguchi will provide support to Nakagawa and coaches Yusuke Tanaka and Yuka Maeda .

http://www.fuji-news.net/data/report/sports/201410/0000003415.html translated by Brett Larner On Oct. 27 twelve of the twenty university teams to compete in the Dec. 23 Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden national invitational were announced.  The top twelve placing teams at last weekend's National University Women's Ekiden in Sendai received invitations to race the Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden: Ritsumeikan University Daito Bunka University Osaka Gakuin University Matsuyama University Kanoya Taiiku University Kyoto Sangyo University Meijo University Fukuoka University Tokyo Nogyo University Saitama University Hakuoh University Bukkyo University Six of the remaining spots will go to other schools with the fastest average official 5000 m times and will be determined by Dec. 1.  On Dec. 5 two select teams will also be announced, one from East Japan featuring members of other universities from the Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto and Hoku-Shinetsu regions and one from West J...

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/region/news/130528/szk13052802030003-n1.htm translated by Brett Larner National University Athletics Federation director Kosuke Hori , 78, appeared at a press conference on May 27 together with Shizuoka prefecture governor Heita Kawakatsu , to announce that the towns of Fuji and Fujinomiya at the base of Mt. Fuji will be the new hosts of the National University Women's Invitational Ekiden this Dec. 23.  The ekiden was held in Tsukuba, Ibaraki for three years beginning in 2007, but has been suspended indefinitely since 2010.  Its return on a new course around Mt. Fuji will be its first running since then. Governor Kawakatsu smiled broadly as he told reporters, "Dec. 23 is the Emperor's birthday, so it is going to be a very wonderful day.  His Majesty was gracious enough to send a message saying, "I am looking forward to seeing our collegiate women run in the foothills of Mount Fuji." According to race organizers, the ekiden will be...