japan running news

Fresh off a near-miss on the world-leading men's 10000 m time with a 27:06.88 Japanese collegiate record at Nittai University on Apr. 22 , Tokyo Kokusai University 1st-year Richard Etir had the run of the day at Thursday's Golden Games in Nobeoka with the fastest outdoor 5000 m in the world so far this year, outkicking 10 mile world best holder Benard Koech (Kyudenko) and other top-level Japan-based Kenyans to win the B-heat in a new collegiate record of 13:00.17. With attendance reported by the JAAF at 22,000, fans lined the track beating on metal sponsor boards with batons to push Etir and the rest of the five-strong lead pack on to meet record times. All of them were well under the 13:10.69 MR set by Hyuga Endo last year, Koech just catching Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko) for 2nd in 13:00.38, Kiplagat 3rd in 13:00.90, Michael Temoi (GMO) 4th in 13:01.48 and Benson Kiplangat (Subaru) 5th in 13:02.74. Etir's predecessor at TKU, Vincent Yegon (Honda) was 6th i...

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20170201-OHT1T50148.html translated by Brett Larner Tadashi Isshiki , star fourth-year at 2015-2017 Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University , completed a 42.195 km training run Feb. 1 in Futtsu, Chiba.  Isshiki ran the first 40 km in 2:21:52, roughly 3:33/km, before picking up the pace to 2:52/km to complete the final 2.195 km in 6:18 for a total time of 2:28:10.  Aoyama Gakuin head coach Susumu Hara , 49, has placed a heavy emphasis on major acceleration after 40 km, but Isshiki looked fresh as he finished the run, laughing, "That was just jogging." Isshiki took part in Aoyama Gakuin's Jan. 13-15 marathon training camp in Futtsu but came down with a sore throat after the first day and dropped out. He soon recovered.  Planning to run the March 5 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon in a bid to make the London World Championships marathon team he faces rising expectations as Japan's #1 university runner. Also doing the 42.195...

by Brett Larner With just over two weeks to go the organizers of the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon have announced their elite field for their 66th running on Feb. 5. Kenyan Felix Keny  fronts the field, a former 2:07 man with a best recent time of 2:09:04 in Hamburg three years ago.  Likewise, #2-ranked international Dereje Debele of Ethiopia has run 2:07 in years past, but in the last three years hasn't broken 2:10 with his 2:10:31 at the 2015 Mumbai Marathon his best recent credential.  American Jeffrey Eggleston completes the front of the overseas contingent with a 2:10:52 runner-up finish at the 2014 Gold Coast Airport Marathon. Beppu-Oita Mainichi factors into the complicated selection process for the 2017 London World Championships men's marathon team with a slot potentially available to a Japanese winner.  The best chance of seeing that happen comes from the talented Fumihiro Maruyama of the 2017 New Year Ekiden national champion Asahi Kasei team, Ma...

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/feature/hakone/20170117-OHT1T50256.html translated by Brett Larner Four runners from Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University including under-20 national record holder Yuta Shimoda , a third-year at Aoyama Gakuin, completed a three-day marathon training camp in Futtsu, Chiba from Jan. 13th to 15th.  Alongside them was Aritaka Kajiwara , 28, an unsponsored independent who ran the Hakone Ekiden for straight years as part of the Kanto Region Select Team while at Shoin University and who has trained with the Aoyama Gakuin ekiden team since last year. Kajiwara quit the Press Kogyo corporate team in 2015.  At December's Fukuoka International Marathon he ran a PB of 2:14:27.  He now plans to run both the Feb. 5 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon and the Mar. 5 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon.  "I'll be going for 2:12 at Beppu-Oita and 2:10 at Lake Biwa," he said.  Aoyama Gakuin head coach Susumu Hara commented, "We're currently ...

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20170115-OHT1T50072.html http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/1765865.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Having won the January 2-3 Hakone Ekiden with an unprecedented “double triple,” victories at all three Big Three University Ekidens in a single season and three-straight Hakone titles, Aoyama Gakuin University ’s marathon training camp featuring under-20 marathon national record holder Yuta Shimoda (2:11:34, age 19) wrapped up Jan. 15 with a full marathon-length run in Futtsu, Chiba. The 42.195 km run was the last workout on the schedule of the three day, two night training camp. Two days earlier on the 13th the camp’s participants ran 32.195 km , a tough schedule coming just two weeks after Hakone. Shimoda ran the first 40 km of the final workout in 2:21:18, roughly 3:32 per km, before accelerating to 2:52 per km for the final 2.195 km. His total time for the run was 2:27:35. Aoyama Gakuin head coach Susumu Har...

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20170113-00000096-sph-spo translated by Brett Larner The first school in the Hakone Ekiden 's 93-year history to win both three Hakone titles in a row and all three of the Big Three University Ekidens in a single season, on Jan. 13 Aoyama Gakuin University members including star senior Tadashi Isshiki and 2:11:34 under-20 marathon national record holder Yuta Shimoda trained together with 2016 Aoyama Gakuin graduate "God of the Mountain III" Daichi Kamino (Konica Minolta) in Futtsu, Chiba for upcoming marathons.  Ten days after their historic feat the strongest team in university distance running is aiming for a mountain loftier than Hakone's peak. The 13th was the first day of Aoyama Gakuin's marathon training camp in Futtsu, with participants starting off with a 32.195 km run.  Two days later on the final day of the camp they will run 42.195 km.  At three days and two nights it's a short but dense program.  Four A...

by Brett Larner Following the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden and Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden , the year's first full weekend of road racing included at least four major half marathons across the country. きょう、げんきあっぷはーふまらそんはしりました! たいむべすとでました! pic.twitter.com/2fcLzcZCB1 — Stanley (@stanleysiteki) January 8, 2017 At Tochigi's Takanezawa Genki Up Half Marathon , Kenyan Stanley Siteki , a Tokyo Kokusai University teammate of Hakone anchor stage "phantom winner" Akito Terui , outran Hakone champion Aoyama Gakuin University 's alternates and B-team memeber to win in 1:03:20.   Last year's Takanezawa winner Aritaka Kajiwara was 4th in 1:03:45, exactly a minute slower than his 2016 course record. In Tokyo, the High-Tech Half Marathon , a rebranded version of the popular Mari Tanigawa Half Marathon, saw former JR Higashi Nihon runner Shusei Ohashi win the men's race in 1:05:29.   Eri Suzuki , at 5th the top Japanese woman in last month's Honolulu Marathon , ...

by Brett Larner additional results coming shortly The 2016 road race reason got started early in Japan with at least four quality half marathons and one of the world's biggest marathons all happening Sunday.  Aritaka Kajiwara , a former teammate of Yuki Kawauchi 's on the Hakone Ekiden's Kanto Region Select Team who quit the Press Kogyo corporate team mid-fall to go independent, ran a 1:02:45 course record to win Tochigi's Takanezawa Half Marathon by a second over Kinari Ikeda , an alternate for last week's Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University who broke 1:03 for the first time.  Aoyama Gakuin first-year Homare Morita made a quality half marathon debut in 1:03:01 for 3rd, Ikeda and Morita reassuring Aoyama Gakuin that it has the depth to maintain a solid lineup after four of this year's winning members graduate in March. Further south in Oita, former course record holder Fumihiro Maruyama (Asahi Kasei) ran solo to repeat his 2010 Oita City Ha...

by Brett Larner Coached by Koichi Morishita , the Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist who turned Samuel Wanjiru into a world-beater, Jeremiah Thuku Karemi (Kenya/Team Toyota Kyushu) had a solid debut over ten miles as he won the 39th Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler in 45:51, one of the fastest times in the world this year.  Karemi beat a massive chase pack containing many of Japan's best current track runners and marathoners by more than 40 seconds, setting both himself and Morishita's Toyota Kyushu corporate team up for a big day at next month's New Year Ekiden national championships. In the chase pack, rookie pro Natsuki Terada (Team JR Higashi Nihon), famous for taking a wrong turn in the last 200 m of the Hakone Ekiden anchor stage as a first-year at Koku Gakuin University , showed the strength of the kick that got him back into position at Hakone by winning an at least nine-way sprint finish for 2nd in 46:33.  Yuya Konishi led three other Toyota Kyushu runners ...

http://ameblo.jp/senbatuyk/entry-11786606506.html http://ameblo.jp/senbatuyk/entry-11786640592.html http://ameblo.jp/senbatuyk/entry-11786683500.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Note: These blog posts were written by an athlete who ran on the Hakone Ekiden's Kanto Region University Select Team twice before going on to become one of Japan's most prominent distance runners and all-time great marathoners.  He semi-anonymously runs a blog called "The Former Hakone Ekiden Kanto Region University Select Team Member Blog" dedicated to preserving the Select Team from elimination by the powers that be. These posts are in response to the KGRR 's decision to reintroduce the Select Team to Hakone in 2015 under a different name without counting its results . According to the news on the net, the "Kanto Regional University Select Team" is going to be resurrected next year with its name changed to "Kanto Region University Student United Team....

text and photos by Brett Larner videos courtesy of Ekiden News On a busy weekend featuring at least seven major events across the country, Japan's biggest race of the weekend took place northwest of Tokyo in Saitama.  With perfect conditions for its 26th running, the Ageo City Half Marathon , consistently one of the world's deepest halves as a consequence of being the unofficial tryout race for Japan's biggest sporting event, the Jan. 2-3 university men's Hakone Ekiden, saw a dramatic race with five men battling to the line to make history.   In a relationship set up by JRN, two invitations to run March's New York City Half Marathon were up for grabs for the first two Japanese collegiate finishers, and, having seen the effect on last year's Ageo winner Kenta Murayama  (Komazawa Univ.) who returned from finishing 10th in New York in 2013 to set course records at both the Izumo Ekiden and National University Ekiden Championships, the field responded en mass...

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20131003-00000926-yom-spo translated and edited by Brett Larner On Oct. 3 the Inter-University Athletic Union of Kanto   [KGRR]  announced the entry list for the Oct. 19 Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifier road race in Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park.  Forty-four universities led by 2013 Hakone Ekiden 11th-placer Yamanashi Gakuin University will compete for places at the Hakone Ekiden's 90th running on Jan. 2-3, 2014.  In honor of Hakone's 90th anniversary its field size has been increased from the traditional twenty to twenty-three teams, meaning that the top thirteen schools at the Yosenkai will have the honor of competing in Japan's most prestigious sporting event alongside the ten schools that earned seeded places by finishing in the top ten at Hakone this year. Each athlete at the Yosenkai runs 20 km, with his team's score determined by the cumulative time of its top ten finishers.  Up to this year the scores for the ...

by Brett Larner photo by Kazuyuki Sugimatsu video by Ekiden News Hakone Ekiden course record holder Toyo University 's identical twin stars Keita Shitara and Yuta Shitara delivered a piece of history Saturday in the men's 10000 m at Japan's best spring meet, the Golden Games in Nobeoka.  Running steadily, patiently and under control behind 2007 World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Martin Mathathi  (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and grinding down all other competition, Keita, who earlier this season set the Japanese collegiate 30 km record of 1:29:55 in Kumamoto, kicked away from Mathathi with 200 m to go to win in a meet record 27:51.54, breaking the legendary Toshihiko Seko 's age 21 best of 27:51.61. Mathathi also cleared the old record in 27:52.65.  Right with them until the last surge, Yuta, who last year set a stage record at the Hakone Ekiden, outkicked World Half Marathon bronze medalist Dathan Ritzenhein (U.S.A.) at the New York City Half Marathon for...

by Brett Larner Along with marathoner Yuki Kawauchi 's anchor stage win at the Okumusashi Ekiden , three other ekidens around the country on Sunday saw significant action. At the biggest of them, the 75th Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden, Team Mazda  had a surprise upset over local stronghold Team Chugoku Denryoku  thanks to a spectacular anchor run from ace Akihiko Tsumurai .  Starting the 11.1 km Seventh Stage 43 seconds behind Chugoku Denryoku anchor Takumi Kiyotani , Tsumurai ran him down and won by three seconds, with Mazda finishing in 4:11:49 for the seven-stage, 84.4 km course to Chugoku Denryoku's 4:11:52.  Tsumurai clocked a new stage record of 31:21, a flat conversion to 28:07 for a road 10 km, just two seconds off   the national record held by Chugoku Denryoku's Atsushi Sato .  2011 national champion Sera H.S.  was a surprise 3rd in 4:14:13, one second ahead of the pro Team Sagawa Express  thanks to a sizeable lead from opening Kenyan John...

by Brett Larner The record-breaking 2009 Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the deepest 20 km road race in history . The Kanto Regional University Athletics Federation has released the entry lists for the Oct. 15 Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai , a 20 km university men's road race qualifier for the Jan. 1-2 Hakone Ekiden.  Outside the Olympics the two-day, twenty-team, ten-stage Hakone relay is road racing's biggest spectacle, an event with viewership in the tens of millions and the kind of popular enthusiasm the World Marathon Majors dream of.  Of all the things obscured behind the cultural insularity of the Japanese running system Hakone is the biggest loss to the sport as a whole, a gripping, high-level race that never lets up over the course of twelve hours and which, with superb production values, could give clues on how to popularize road racing among non-runners worldwide if it were accessible overseas. The top ten universities at each year's Hakone are seeded for the following y...

by Brett Larner Newcomer James Rungaru  (Kenya/Team Toyota) rocked Saturday's Nittai Univ. Time Trials men's 10000 m A-heat with a solo 27:22.53 PB, going out at sub-27 pace without accompaniment and lapping the entire field.  Toyota's B-Kenyan, Rungaru ran 15 seconds faster than Paul Tanui 's winning time at Friday's National Corporate T&F Championships 10000 m and 16 seconds faster than Toyota's A-Kenyan John Thuo  ran at the national meet.  His nearest competition, Ethiopian Fekele Assefa  (Team Kanebo), finished in only 28:36.63 after running most of the race with Masaki Ito  (Kokushikan Univ.). Ito's PB of 28:38.13 led three university men under 29 minutes, the most surprising being Aritaka Kajiwara  of the minor Shoin University .  With a performance like this behind him Kajiwara is a lock on a spot for the 2012 Hakone Ekiden's Select Team.  Also in the field in his first race since the Daegu World Championships marathon earlier...