japan running news

Yamada Denki assistant coach Hirokazu Miyauchi, Ayumi Nakayama, Honda assistant coach Yosuke Osawa, 1960 Olympic marathoner and former Canadian national record holder Gord Dickson, Maki Suzawa and Minoru Okuda. Part five in a series of republished interviews. Speaking of his experience in Japan not long after winning the Beijing Olympics marathon, Kenyan  Samuel Wanjiru said, "Japanese people are conservative and don't like change." Well, sometimes things do change. In response to an invitation from race organizers interested in diversifying their elite field, the Honda and Yamada Denki corporate teams agreed to send three young runners to the 2010 Toronto Waterfront Marathon, two of them for their marathon debuts, with support from JRN.  Minoru Okuda (25, Honda) was a Hakone Ekiden star at Chuo University. Ayumi Nakayama (25, Yamada Denki) has four marathons, a best of 2:28:51 and bad luck with weather to her name. Just 22, Maki Suzawa (Yamada Denki) won the 2...

all photos (c) 2010 Brett Larner all rights reserved The start. Minoru Okuda (Team Honda) Ayumi Nakayama (Team Yamada Denki) Maki Suzawa (Team Yamada Denki) The team award ceremony. 2010 Toronto Waterfront Marathon click here for complete results Men 1. Kenneth Mungara (KEN) - 2:07:58 - PB, CR 2. Jafred Chirchir (KEN) - 2:08:10 ( CR ) 3. Daniel Rono (KEN) - 2:08:15 ( CR ) 4. Nixon Machichim (KEN) - 2:08:22 ( CR ) ----- 16. Minoru Okuda (Team Honda) - 2:18:53 - debut Women 1. Sharon Cherop (KEN) - 2:22:43 - PB, CR 2. Tirfi Tsegaye (ETH) - 2:22:44 - PB ( CR ) 3. Merima Mohammed (ETH) - 2:23:06 - PB ( CR ) 4. Koren Yal (ETH) - 2:24:33 - PB ( CR ) ----- 9. Ayumi Nakayama (Team Yamada Denki) - 2:38:26 13. Maki Suzawa (Team Yamada Denki) - 2:42:08 - debut Maki Suzawa and Ayumi Nakayama where all Japanese people must go before they die.

by Brett Larner This weekend marks the real beginning of the fall marathon season. With no major domestic women's marathon on the fall calendar and a relatively wide window in which to qualify for next summer's World Championships, a larger than usual number of Japanese marathoners are lining up overseas. First and foremost, 2010 Tokyo Marathon winner Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda) will be running tomorrow's Berlin Marathon as he aims to fulfill his post-Tokyo promise of delivering Japan its fourth 2:06. Fujiwara holds the Japanese collegiate and debut marathon records thanks to his 2:08:12 run at the 2003 Biwako Mainichi Marathon. For the next six years he suffered a continuous series of overtraining-induced injuries, but his Tokyo win signals that he is back to full capactiy. Fujiwara's coaches Kiyoshi Akimoto and Yosuke Osawa told JRN that he plans to go through halfway in 1:03:15 and then if all goes well to take a shot at the Japanese national record of 2:06:16....

JRN will be on location at the 2010 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon this week. Apologies in advance for any interruptions to regularly-scheduled service.

all photos by Brett Larner Two women from the Yamada Denki women's ekiden team, 2:28 marathoner Ayumi Nakayama and 1:10 half marathoner Maki Suzawa , will be running next month's Toronto Waterfront Marathon. Yamada Denki head coach Katsuaki Isobata invited JRN to attend Yamada Denki's altitude training camp in Sugadaira, Nagano the last weekend of August to watch some of Nakayama and Suzawa's training. Below are some photos of the weekend, primarily of a 30 km tempo run Nakayama did with accompaniment from several teammates. Click photos to enlarge. The start point of Sugadaira's main road loop, a course of about 6.5 km in length at 1300 m elevation. Nakayama, left, in singlet, on the first loop of her 30 km run paced by teammates Megumi Kanetomo and Aoi Miyaji . Coach Isobata follows in a car shouting out instructions and pace. Nakayama is wearing pink Mimura brand shoes custom-made by master craftsman Hitoshi Mimura . Miyaji takes a turn leading near the end o...

by Brett Larner One month to the day from Arata Fujiwara's course-record win at the Ottawa Marathon, the organizers of the Sept. 26 Toronto Waterfront Marathon have announced that they will invite four Japanese athletes to this year's race as part of their International Team Challenge team competition. The Japanese contingent, the first in the history of the event, will consist of Yamada Denki women's team runners Ayumi Nakayama and Maki Suzawa and Honda men's team athletes Takashi Horiguchi and Minoru Okuda . Race director Alan Brookes commented, "This is the first time we'll have had elite Japanese athletes on our flat, fast course. We're delighted to welcome Team Japan, a strong team from one of the great marathon-running nations, to Toronto Waterfront for the first time, and expect them to do very well against teams from around the world." Nakayama holds a PB of 2:28:50 from the 2008 Osaka International Ladies Marathon. Freezing rain at this ye...

by Brett Larner With six elite marathons in seven weeks, the crowded 2010 Japanese marathon season gets rolling this Sunday, Jan. 31 with the Osaka International Women's Marathon . With only an Asian Games spot at stake in a year without a major worldwide championships this year's Osaka has nevertheless attracted an interesting field containing a good number of relative newcomers and a few solid pros. Osaka has been the site of some very memorable marathon debuts. Last year it was the site of track and half marathon star Yukiko Akaba's first marathon, 2nd overall in a credible 2:25:40. The Team Hokuren runner has been one of the main forces in the domestic track and ekiden scene for the last two years but her shaky appearances at the Olympics, the World Half Marathon and especially her disastrous run in the World Championships marathon have all weakened Akaba's reputation. With some expecting her to become Japan's next sub-2:20 woman Akaba is returning to Osaka to g...

by Brett Larner The Osaka International Women's Marathon has announced the elite field for the 2010 edition of the race to be held on Jan. 31. The domestic field should prove to be quite interesting, headed by Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren), including talented veterans Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) and Kayoko Obata (Team Acom) and featuring promising first-timers Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu) and Azusa Nojiri (Team Daiichi Seimei). An elite women's marathon in Japan wouldn't be complete without Sydney Olympics silver medalist Lidia Simon (Romania), and Simon is sure enough slated to be on the starting line again this time along with Olympian Olivera Jevtic (Serbia), 2009 Los Angeles Marathon runner-up Amane Gobena (Ethiopia) and others. 2009 Osaka International Women's Marathon - Elite Field click here for more detailed profiles and athlete photos Lidia Simon (Romania) - 2:22:54 (Osaka 2000) Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) - 2:23:30 (Osaka 2003) Kayoko Obata (Team Acom) - 2:25:14 (Osa...

by Brett Larner The final selection race for the 2009 Berlin World Championships women's marathon team takes place this Sunday, Mar. 8 at the 30th anniversary Nagoya International Women's Marathon . The top Japanese woman in Nagoya will automatically earn a place on the Berlin team, and with the almost complete absence of big-name domestic runners hopes are high that one of the younger, inexperienced runners will step up with a world-class performance. The chance is also there for one of the few veteran Japanese runners in the field to come back with a win. Winning times in Nagoya over the last ten years have averaged 2:25:18, with the fastest mark being Naoko Takahashi's course-record 2:22:19 in 2000 and the slowest Yasuko Hashimoto's 2:28:49 in 2007. No foreign runner has won Nagoya since Russia's Lyubov Morgunova took the 1999 race, but this year the hosts' streak may be broken. China's Xue Bai has the strongest recent credentials in the field, with a 2:2...

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/news/20090107k0000m050022000c.html http://www.47news.jp/CN/200901/CN2009010601000557.html translated and edited by Brett Larner On Jan. 6, 20 year old Maki Suzawa (Team Kyocera) won the 29th Yamazaki Women's Road Race half marathon, breaking her PB by 1:07 to take her first victory in 1:11:22. 46 elite women ran the course from the Prefectural Office building in Miyazaki city along Kusunamiki Street to the Miyazaki Prefectural Sports Park . With 200 m to go Suzawa broke from the lead pack of four to win a sprint finish. Madoka Ogi (Team Juhachi Ginko) and Ruth Wanjiru (Second Wind AC), both in training for the Jan. 25 Osaka International Women's Marathon, were 2nd and 3rd, with Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Oki) coming in 4th. Yukari Soh, daughter of marathon great Takeshi Soh, who now coaches her at Team Asahi Kasei, was 10th in her half marathon debut. Temperatures at the start were 15 degrees with 43% humidity and northerly winds at 0.7 m/s. 20...