japan running news

Running her track 10000 m debut of a 32:27 road 10 km in the spring, Kaori Morita (Panasonic) closed hard off a slow opening pace to win the National Corporate Federation Women's Long Distance Time Trials 10000 m Friday afternoon in Yamaguchi. A new filler meet to take up space on the calendar following the National Corporate Women's Ekiden 's move to November, the Corporate Time Trials meet featured one heat of 3000 m and three 5000 m heats before its main focus, the 10000 m. After a 3:19 first 1000 m Morita's teammate Yuka Hori , winner of the 10.9 km Third Stage at Nationals, took over, leading the field at 3:12 to 3:14 / km pace through 7000 m. Morita, who won the 7.0 km First Stage, went to the front at that point with a 3:14 to 8000 m before taking off. Clocking her fastest split up to that point with a 3:07 between 8 and 9000 m, Morita closed impressively with a 3:01 final km to dip under 32 minutes as she won in 31:59.94. Steepler Chikako Mori (Sekisui K...

by Brett Larner videos by Ekiden News Kenyan Hiram Ngatia (Team Toyota) came up with a major PB at Saturday's Kanaguri Memorial Meet, beating Moscow World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) to win the 5000 m A-heat in a world-leading 13:13.66.  Running on his birthday, Yamanashi Gakuin University star Enock Omwamba (Kenya) likewise PBd in 13:28.41, with Keita Shitara (Team Konica Minolta) edging his twin brother Yuta Shitara (Team Honda) for top Japanese honors at 6th in 13:41.04. The Shitara twins' former Toyo University teammate Takanori Ichikawa (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) came up with a PB almost identical to theirs to win the B-heat in 13:41.84 just ahead of top collegiate Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.).  After running last month's United Airline NYC Half with support from JRN, Takashi Ichida (Team Asahi Kasei) and his former Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S. teammate Koki Takada (Waseda Univ.) both PBd in the B-heat, Ichi...

by Brett Larner Just over a month out from the 2014 National High School Track and Field Championships regional qualifying action has wrapped up, with most regions holding their qualifiers the June 20-23 weekend after an earlier round in other regions the weekend before.  Nozomi Musembi Takamatsu (Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) brought one of the best performances of the weekend with a 9:10.08 to win the Kinki region girls' 3000 m, but with Nao Yamamoto (Tokuha Gakuen Kikugawa H.S.) running 9:10.39 to win the Tokai region qualifier the national meet should be close. Along with earlier standout results like the 13:56.55 win by Silas Kingori (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) and 14:13.67 runner-up finish by Hiroki Miura (Tohoku H.S.) last weekend in the Tohoku region boys' 5000 m, this weekend's best performances included: Haruko Ishizuka (Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S.) running 2:08.47 to win the Kinki girls' 800 m. Naoto Ozawa (Kusatsu Higashi H.S.) winning the Kinki boys' 1...

Yuka Tokuda gives Osaka the National Women's Ekiden win in 2:16:37. Click photo for video highlights courtesy of broadcaster NHK . by Brett Larner The Osaka women's team emerged from nowhere to take a surprise win at the 30th anniversary National Interprefectural Women's Ekiden Championships Jan. 15 in Kyoto, leading wire to wire to score its first national title in 19 years.  First Stage runner Ryoko Kizaki , winner of November's Yokohama International Women's Marathon Olympic selection race, got things off on the right by taking the 6.0 km opening leg by a margin of 2 seconds.   Chizuru Ideta  followed up on the 4.0 km Second Stage, second-fastest on time but holding on to the narrow lead, but Third Stage junior high school runner Nozomi Musembi Takamatsu , half-Japanese daughter of Kenyan 2001 Nagano Marathon winner Maxwell Musembi , deserves much of the credit for opening up a permanent lead despite only running 3.0 km.  Takamatsu was second on her stage ...

by Brett Larner The last national championship women's ekiden of the season takes place this Sunday, Jan. 15 in Kyoto.  The National Interprefectural Women's Ekiden Championships have one of the most interesting formats on the circuit, with teams of nine women ranging from junior high schoolers to pros running for teams representing Japan's 47 prefectures.  The open stages are one of the few chances to see the best high school, university and pro women battle it out, while the stages reserved for junior high and high school runners often feature breakout performances by unknowns.  The commercial-free national broadcast and outstanding online coverage begins on NHK at 12:15 p.m.  Overseas viewers should be able to watch live online via Keyhole TV using the password NHK, with English-language commentary available once again via Twitter  @JRNLive . Final start lists at the men's and women's National Interprefectural Ekidens are notoriously unpredictable comp...

by Brett Larner On day one of the first Nittai Univ. Time Trials meet of the season, marathoner Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) continued the comeback from the injury that knocked him out of the Beijing Olympics, finishing 3rd in 29:19.31. The biggest results of the day, however came in the women's 800 m and 3000 m. Running against a field of pro, university and high school competitors, unior high school student Ayaka Nakagawa (Asaka Daisan J.H.S.) started the day off with a win in the 800 m A-heat in 2:10.61, nearly 1 1/2 seconds ahead of her closest rival. 2 1/2 hours later Nakagawa returned to take 6th in the 3000 m A-heat, clocking 9:31.18. Nittai Univ. Time Trials Top Results Nittai Univ., Yokohama, 4/16/11 click here for complete results Men's 10000 m Heat 5 1. Yuki Takamiya (Team Yakult) - 29:17.67 2. Yuta Shitara (Toyo Univ.) - 29:19.00 3. Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 29:19.31 4. Sho Matsueda (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 29:23.77 5. Tomohiro Hayakawa (...

by Brett Larner After two days of snow and rain the day dawned with perfect weather conditions for the 2011 Chiba International XC Meet , Feb. 13 in Chiba. For domestic Japanese runner spots on the Japanese national team for next month's World XC Championships in Spain were at stake. The times were accordingly fast on the hilly and muddier than optimal Chiba course. One of the two big runs of the day came from 2007 Tokyo Marathon women's winner Hitomi Niiya (Team Toyota Jidoshoki). In Chiba's first edition since 2003 as an 8000 m race for senior women rather than 6000 m Niiya blew the field apart, running 25:53 to win by a margin of 40 seconds over Hanae Tanaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.), who won the first stage at last month's National Women's Interprefectural Ekiden. Nanae Kuwashiro (Team Sysmex), a teammate of marathon national record holder Mizuki Noguchi , was 3rd in 26:41. Niiya's time was the second-best ever run at Chiba, just 10 seconds off Australian Benit...

by Brett Larner Click photo for video highlights. Despite a slow start which saw it fall as low as 16th by the end of Third Stage, host Kyoto Prefecture did the expected, dismantling defending champion Okayama Prefecture to return to the top of the 2011 National Women's Interprefectural Ekiden Championships on Jan. 16. 2010's #2-ranked Japanese woman Ryoko Kizaki got Kyoto back in the game on the Fourth Stage, bringing Kyoto up to 6th. With strong runs on the next three stages including a new stage record of 12:39 by Nanako Kanno on the 4.0875 km Sixth Stage Kyoto advanced to 1st, leaving the door open for anchor and stage record holder Kayoko Fukushi to sail on unchallenged to the win. Despite being the only woman on the 10 km Ninth Stage to break 32 minutes Fukushi was so relaxed that she repeatedly laughed and waved to spectators on the course throughout the second half. Fukushi crossed the line in 2:17:06 to give Kyoto its 14th win in 29 editions of the National Women...

by Brett Larner The 2011 National Women's Interprefectural Ekiden Championships take place this Sunday, Jan. 16, in Kyoto. With each of Japan's 47 prefectures fielding a team made up of runners from the top pro, university, high school and junior high school teams the Interprefectural Ekiden is the de facto national distance running championship and offers an interesting cross-section of who is who at all domestic levels of the sport. The race is broadcast live nationwide and commercial-free on NHK beginning at 12:15 p.m. Japan time. Overseas viewers should be able to watch via Keyhole TV using the password NHK. Host Kyoto has long been the dominant force at the Interprefectural Ekiden, winning every year from 2005-2009 and taking a total of 13 wins in the ekiden's 28-year history, more than any other prefecture. Last year Okayama dethroned Kyoto, taking its first-ever win. This year Kyoto and Okayama are again the clear-cut favorites. Okayama returns with a team ma...

by Brett Larner Alongside the Ageo City Half Marathon it was a big weekend at the 212th Nittai University Time Trials, Nov. 20-21 in Yokohama. Among the highlights: While 19 year-old Kenyan Bitan Karoki (Team S&B) added another sub-28 time in the 10000 m to his name with a 27:46.19 win, Jobu University senior Yusuke Hasegawa ran the fastest mark of the year by a Japanese university student, 28:07.47, to take 2nd in the A-heat. In the B-heat, Sendai Ikuei High School junior Yuma Hattori set the fastest time of the year by a Japanese high school student, 28:58.08. Three Josai University men broke 29 minutes for the first time; Josai head coach Seiji Kushibe , Jobu head coach Katsuhiko Hanada and Ageo winner Suguru Osako 's coach at Waseda University, Yasuyuki Watanabe , were all teammates at Waseda during their student days. Former 2:08 marathoner and national champion Team Nissin Shokuhin assistant coach Kenjiro Jitsui , 41, set a masters' 10000 m national record of 29:16...