japan running news

by Brett Larner Six Japanese runners competed in the elite field of the 2008 Virginia Beach Rock and Roll Half Marathon on Aug. 31. Each year the 5th and 6th place male and female Japanese finishers in March's All-Japan Jitsugyodan Half Marathon Championships are invited to run the Rock and Roll Half Marathon, the higher-tier Japanese finishers being selected for other races including the World Half Marathon Championships. This year the invited men were Team Konica Minolta's Kazuyuki Maeda, 7th overall at the 2008 Jitsugyodan Half in 1:02:50, and Team Asahi Kasei's Takaaki Koda, 8th at the Jitsugyodan Half in 1:02:52. The invited women were Team Tenmaya's Kei Terada, 7th overall at the Jitsugyodan Half with a 1:12:11, and Team Sysmex's Megumi Seike, 9th at the Jitsugyodan Half in 1:12:25. Two other Japanese women, Team Shimamura's Aya Manome and Team Wacoal's Miho Notagashira, also ran the Rock and Roll Half Marathon. Maeda ran 1:05:18 to take 4th in the men...

http://www.daily.co.jp/general/2008/06/02/0001097953.shtml http://news.goo.ne.jp/article/kyodo/sports/CO2008060101000507.html translated and edited by Brett Larner After failing to qualify for the Beijing Olympics in her marathon debut at January`s Osaka International Women`s Marathon, Kayoko Fukushi (26, Team Wacoal) opted to return to the track for another chance at making the Olympic Team. At the Niigata Time Trials track and field meet, held June 1 at Niigata`s Tohoku Denryoku Big Swan Stadium, Fukushi`s plans hit a snag when she failed to meet the Olympic A-standard of 31:45.00 in the 10000 m, finishing 6th in 32:22.18. Japan`s reigning queen of the 10000 m began to fade after 5000 m, ultimately missing even the Olympic B-standard of 32:20.00. While at a training camp in Miyazaki during March, Fukushi injured her left shin and was unable to train seriously for a month. She only returned to speed training one week before the Niigata Time Trials. "I guess I couldn`t qualify in ...

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http://www.rikuren.or.jp/cgi-bin/column/view.cgi?act=stdview&id=250 translated by Brett Larner Rikuren has announced the squad of 26 Japanese runners to be sent to the 36th World Cross Country Championships scheduled for Mar. 30 in Edinburgh, Scotland. In the Senior Men's 12 km event, the team of 8 is led by Makoto Tobimatsu (Team Yasukawa Denki), the top Japanese finisher in both the Chiba International and Fukuoka International Cross Country meets, along with Satoru Kitamura (Nittai University), the 2nd Japanese in Chiba and 3rd Japanese in Fukuoka. Appearing for the 4th time and 3rd consecutive year is Yoshitaka Iwamizu (Team Toyota Jidosha). The team of 6 for the Senior Women's 8 km race is jointly led by Chiba International Cross Country top Japanese finisher Kazuka Wakatsuki (Team Toto) and Fukuoka International Cross Country top Japanese finisher Aya Manome (Team Shimamura). Joining the team for the 3rd straight year is Aimi Horikoshi (Team Yamada Denki). The Junio...

http://www.iaaf.org/WXC08/news/kind=100/newsid=43652.html From an observer's standpoint, one of the interesting things about this meet was that the two senior races were broadcast live nationally on network television. Somewhat unusual even by Japanese standards, but then the meet was also advertised on Tokyo subways.