japan running news

Paris Olympics alternate Ai Hosoda became the first Japanese athlete to score a place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th at the Sydney Marathon , but starting immediately after Sydney finished the hot and humid Hokkaido Marathon saw another 2 women and 3 men pick up their own trials spots. The women's race saw Japan-based Kenyan Selly Chepyego Kaptich go out solo around 3:30/km pace, hitting halfway in 1:13:35 before starting to fade. Running her debut, Aiwa Sakaguchi was a bit more conservative, running 1:15:06 through halfway with the trio of Ayano Ikeuchi , Kaena Takeyama and Yukari Nagatomo 20 second behind. Sakaguchi passed Chepyego just past 30 km to take the lead and ran on unchallenged for the win in 2:31:50. Ikeuchi dropped the other two and started to close on Sakaguchi after 30 km but couldn't quite get there, taking 2nd in 2:31:57 with Nagatomo 3rd in 2:33:57. By clearing 2:32:00 both Sakaguchi and Ikeuchi joined Hosoda on...

The Aug. 31 Hokkaido Marathon elite fields are out. On the women's side, Japan-based Selly Chepyego Kaptich has a big advantage over the rest of the field in terms of PB, 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023 vs. nearest competitor Yuri Mitsune , 5th in Hokkaido last year and 2:29:04 in Nagoya this past spring. Last year's 3rd-placer Ayano Ikeuchi is back too, and with Kaena Takeyama and Yukari Nagatomo both right around 2:30-flat it should be a pretty good race for 2nd. On the men's side the top 2 by time, Yugo Kashiwa and Simon Kariuki , are only a second apart with Kashiwa 2:06:28 in Osaka this year and Kariuki 2:06:29 in Tokyo last year. 6 other men on the list have recent times between 2:07 and 2:09, with 2021 Tokyo Olympian Yuma Hattori a notable name among them. Hokkaido doesn't release its complete entry list in advance, so expect to see a lot more people in the lead packs in both races. And if there is the usual hot weather, expect both races to be about more than j...

Yuya Yoshida winning Fukuoka in CR time was a great story, and here's another one. Kana Kobayashi didn't run track or ekidens in junior high, high school, or at Waseda University and just ran for fun, but after a 2:36:54 debut at last year's Osaka International Women's Marathon and a 2:29:44 PB there this year she got an offer from the Otsuka Seiyaku corporate team. After a good championship ekiden season she ran today's Hofu Yomiuri Marathon , and with a 5-minute PB she won in a CR 2:24:59. It was an impressively even effort, 1:12:13 through halfway and breaking competition that included 2:22:29 runner Mao Uesugi and 2:23:05 runner Natsumi Matsushita . Her final margin of victory over Matsushita was almost 3 1/2 minutes, with Uesugi another 4 1/2 minutes further back. It's not quite the top level of the sport in Japan, but it for sure puts Kobayashi near the top of the list of rising talent. The men's race went through halfway on CR pace, with last ye...

2018 World Half Marathon Championships bronze medalist Pauline Kamulu Kaveke and Tokyo Olympics marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura survived tough conditions, 22˚C at the start with 82% humidity, sunny skies and almost no wind, to take the 2024 Hokkaido Marathon Sunday in Sapporo. Both running their debuts, Kamulu and Shiho Tachizako ran steadily around 2:28-flat pace surrounded by a group of amateur men, staying together until just before 30 km when Tachizako started to fade. Kamulu struggled with the hot conditions late in the race and could only watch the clock as sub-2:30 slipped away, looking very tired as she crossed the finish line in 2:31:04. Tachizako faded to 2:33:47 for 2nd, but even that was good enough to easily beat the rest of the field, with last year's 2nd-placer Ayano Ikeuchi 3rd in 2:35:26 in her third marathon so far this year. Nakamura had said pre-race that he didn't care about time and was only focused on getting in the win, and that was exactly ho...

Next weekend's Hokkaido Marathon has a good men's field lined up, with five sub-2:10 men and some interesting matchups. At the front is 2024 Osaka Marathon winner Kiyoto Hirabayashi , the winners of the 2024 and 2022 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon Derese Workneh and Yuki Nakamura , and 2023 Beppu-Oita runner-up Atsumi Ashiwa , with threats from two other race winners, 2022 Hokkaido champ Luka Musembi and Tokyo Olympics marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura . Sub-61 half marathoner Kazuki Matsuyama is scheduled to debut, and if he or Hirabayashi actually start it will give the race a very different dynamic. The women's field is thinner, but 2018 World Half Marathon Championships bronze medalist Pauline Kamulu is on the list to make her debut. If she's for real nobody else in the field can touch her. If not, it'll probably be a head-to-head between the only sub-2:30 woman in the race, Yuri Mitsune , and Nanami Aoki , 2:30:01 on Osaka last year. Shiho Tachizako is ...

photo by Eldoreso , used with permission Japan's last two big marathons of the year both happened Sunday at the Fukuoka International Marathon and Hofu Yomiuri Marathon . Both came down to sprint finishes between a lead pack of four, and both saw past championships back on the top spot on the podium. Fukuoka only lasted through 15 km on the target pace for Japanese favorite Kyohei Hosoya (Kurosaki Harima) to hit the 2:05:50 he needed to replace Suguru Osako (GMO) on the Paris Olympic team. Past 15 it slowed, with a halfway split of 1:03:00 that the lead group held until 30 km. At that point it was a lead group of six, with Hosoya, 2021 Fukuoka winner Michael Githae (Suzuki), 2017 Fukuoka winner Sondre Nordstad Moen (Norway), Chinese duo Shaohui Yang and Peiyou Feng , and two-time world champion and Olympic silver medalist Abel Kirui (Kenya). The pace slowed between 30 and 35 km once the pacers stopped, but even so Feng and Kirui lost contact, leaving the other four on track ...

With temperatures climbing over 30˚C, strong winds and at times heavy rain, 20,000 people ran the Hokkaido Marathon Sunday in Sapporo, which for the first time featured a two-wave start. Former Nihon University  Hakone Ekiden runner Patrick Mathenge Wambui , now with the NTT Nishi Nihon  corporate team, broke away from the rest of the field in his marathon debut and looked set for an easy win. But the hot and humid conditions hit him hard at the end of the race, and as he staggered in the home straight Wambui collapsed to the ground. He managed to get up and finish, just holding off the fast-closing Takumi Iwata  (JFE Steel), a superb effort that outweighed his winning time of 2:20:54 being the second-slowest winning time in Hokkaido history. Iwata was 2nd in 2:20:59, with Shoma Hosoya  (Logisteed) 3rd in 2:22:24. Tomomi Sawahata , an amateur runner and veterinarian in Tokorozawa, Saitama, took the women's race in 2:38:18, the fourth-slowest women's winning time. "I...

by Brett Larner The 2012 Kitakyushu Invitational Women's Ekiden came close to an upset as Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.  came close to running down the leading pro teams, as close as 18 seconds to taking the lead spot.  Ritsumeikan Uji started off in 7th overall and 3rd among high school teams, but a strong Second Stage run by Nanami Aoki  moved them up to 3rd overall and the lead high school position.  Team ace Nanako Kanno  won the 5.1 km Third Stage outright in a solid 16:26,  overtaking the pro Team Kyocera  and coming within 22 seconds of leader Team Kyudenko , no small feat considering that Kyudenko's Second Stage runner Sally Chepyego  (Kenya) won her leg by 26 seconds. Past Olympian Naoko Sakamoto  (Team Tenmaya) overtook Ritsumeikan Uji's Asaka Iwai  by 2 seconds on the 5.9 km Fourth Stage, but both advanced on Kyudenko, Tenmaya to within 16 seconds and the high schoolers to 18 seconds.  Kyudenko anchor Mika Okunaga  neede...

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 You can't keep a great champion down. Mostly absent from competition with injuries and motivation issues for the two years since winning the 2009 Osaka International Women's Marathon, 10000 m national record holder Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) looked well on her way to staging the nth comeback of a career full of ups and downs Jan. 23 at the Kita-Kyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden , the last major women's ekiden of the season. Starting the 11.7 km anchor leg 47 seconds back from leader Yurika Nakamura of 2010 National Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden winners Team Tenmaya, Shibui virtually singlehandedly won the race as she finished the stage 48 seconds ahead in 1st. Although she was far from the stage record, Shibui also took the best time on the stage by 15 seconds over 2010 Nagoya International Women's Marathon winner Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC), clocking 37:12. Before Shibui's outstanding performance Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo was ...

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...