japan running news

The 78th Towada Hachimantai Ekiden took place Aug. 2 in Akita and Aomori. Covering a 5-stage, 71.4 km course from Lake Towada to Hachimantai, this year's race saw the Tokyo Police Department B team out strong with a lead over the opening stages. The Comodi Iida team was back in 5th. A stage win by its second runner Brian Kiptoo moved Comodi Iida up to 2nd, but after that it fell back to 3rd, then 4th. Starting 1:32 behind anchor stage leader Chuo Hatsujo , Comodi Iida anchor Akihiro Kaneko ran brilliantly on the uphill final stage, clocking its fastest time this year to move into 1st for the win. Since it first ran the Towada Hachimantai Ekiden in 2015 it was Comodi Iida's first victory. Having changed its team from Fujisan no Meisui this season, Fujisan GX was 2nd, followed by Chuo Hatsujo and Komori Corporation . 78th Towada Hachimantai Ekiden Akita and Aomori, 2 August 2025 17 teams, 5 stages, 71.4 km complete results Top Team Results 1. Comodi Iida - 3:50:44 2. Fujisan...

Two classic midsummer ekidens happened during the Paris Olympics, the 77th Towada Hachimantai Ekiden in Akita and the 49th Mount Fuji Ekiden in Shizuoka. We didn't have time to cover them then, but better late than never. The Towada Hachimantai Ekiden was held Aug. 7 on a 5-leg, 71.4 km course from Lake Towada on the Akita/Aomori border to Hachimantai in Kazuno, Akita. For the third time in the race's history, the East Japan Corporate Select Team took the top spot in the men's race, winning in 3:49:05. East Japan was 4th after the 1st leg, with 2nd runner Shota Sugimoto moving them up to 2nd. They fell to 5th on the next leg, but after that a stage win by Neo Namiki and a new stage CR by Yuito Yamamoto on the final two stages put them out front. Yamamoto graduated from Josai University in March. At Josai he won the uphill Fifth Stage at both last year's and this year's Hakone Ekidens, with his new CR there this year earning him the MVP award at Hakone's 1...

  The National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Gifu were the main track action this weekend, but there were also two big time trial meets in the greater Tokyo area. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama Saturday, Charles Kamau Wanjiku (Musashino Gakuin Univ.) was right up there with the best in the corporate leagues, soloing a 27:29.56 to win the B-heat by over 40 seconds. Antipas Kibet (Komori Corp.) won what was technically the A-heat in 27:57.48, with the next three runners including Taisei Nakamura (Yakult) squeezing under 28 minutes, in Nakamura's case in 27:59.96. Erika Tanoura (Sekisui Kagaku) won the women's 5000 m A-heat in 15:47.07, but there wasn't much difference from the B-heat where Momoa Yamada (Tamagawa Univ.) won in 15:50.92. The women's 3000 m was low-key, with Harumi Okamoto (Yamada Holdings) taking the A-heat in 9:10.92 and the next four runners all getting under 9:12. The men's 1500 m saw one noteworthy perform...

After making a post-corona return last year it time for its 75th anniversary year, the Towada Hachimantai Ekiden returned this year for its 76th. Without enough teams entered the women's race was canceled, but 15 teams of 5 men each raced the 5-stage, 71.4 km race in Akita on Aug. 7. Daichi Kimoto got the Hokuriku Corporate Select Team off to a good start with a 36-second lead on the 13.0 km First Stage, but the Komori Corporation B team's Benard Langat cut that down easily with a 36:33 CR for the the 13.0 km Second Stage, putting KCB 2:07 ahead. That didn't last, though, as the Komori Corporation A team's Antipas Kibet dropped a 46:20 CR for the 15.7 km Third Stage to put his team into the lead by 2:03. KCA's fourth runner Takuma Shibata turned that into an unbreakable 3:37 lead with a stage win, leaving anchor Yusuke Baba to bring them home for the win in 3:51:14. The winner on the uphill Fifth Stage last year, Comodi Iida 's Akihiro Kaneko did it ag...

The third meet in this year's Hokuren Distance Challenge series happened Saturday in Abashiri, Hokkaido. 5000 m NR holder Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) had her best run of the year with a 15:29.12 to win the 5000 m A-heat, a step back in the right direction after a series of flat performances since last ekiden season. And it couldn't have come at a better time, with Hironaka being the only Japanese woman qualified for the 10000 m at next month's Budapest World Championships. The rest of the field was over 20 seconds back, led by Yuna Wada (Japan Post) in 15:52.33. Eva Cherono (Toto) took the women's 10000 m in a season best 31:25.57. Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) continued to grow through her first collegiate season was a 30 sec+ PB of 31:46.17, just beating marathoner Yuka Ando (Wacoal) who clocked 31:46.85 for 3rd. Janet Nyiva (Panasonic) led the women's 3000 m in 8:49.32, Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) 2nd in 8:55.52 and Esther Wangui (Starts...

Saturday's Spring Nobeoka Time Trials meet was a tuneup for Kyushu-area men's teams for next month's Golden Games in Nobeoka, notable mostly for 2:06~2:08 marathoners Toshiki Sadakata (Mitsubishi Juko), Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei), Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) and Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) returning to action after marathons in February and March. Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko) took the top spot in the men's 5000 m in 13:30.54, with Daiki Ando (Asahi Kasei) the fastest Japanese man at 6th in 13:41.76. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet, Saturday's main action was the women's 3000 m, where Esther Muthoni (Nitori) beat Cynthia Mbaire (Hitachi) 8:59.74 to 9:01.66. Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) ran a PB 9:14.99 for 3rd, heading straight from there to Gifu for a sub-70 half marathon PB the next morning. 24 men ran sub-29 for 10000 m, led by Ayumu Kobayashi in 28:18.87. On Sunday, 22 heats of men's 5000 m, a total of 44 men wen...

We've been busy the last couple of weeks with finishing the Inside the Outside - When the World Came to Fukuoka documentary and some time off to recharge and run a trail ultra in Shizuoka. Before the main part of championship ekiden season gets rolling, let's catch up on the non-Fukuoka action from the last two weekends. Following the news that the  Yachiyo Kogyo  men's corporate would be disbanded after it failed to qualify for the 2022 New Year Ekiden national championships,  Raffine Group , another men's team in the East Japan region that didn't make the New Year Ekiden, announced that after just 7 seasons it will be disbanded at the end of January . Raffine's Akira Tomiyasu  ran last month's New York City Marathon, with its other top marathon Ryo Osaki having just run Fukuoka. On the roads, the Okutama Keikoku Ekiden in the mountains west of Tokyo held its 83rd running last weekend. One of the few mass-participation ekidens to go ahead in 2020, thi...