japan running news

Everything in Japanese marathoning is already about qualifying for the MGC Race, Japan's trials race for the L.A. Olympics. Scheduled the same day as the Fukuoka International Marathon, the Dec. 7 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon counts the same weight as Fukuoka, Tokyo and Osaka in men's qualification, with trials spots up to be had by the first 6 Japanese men under 2:09:00 and the first Japanese woman under 2:27:00. The only real contender to do that among the women is Mizuki Nishimura , running her first marathon off a 1:41:42 CR at the Kumanichi 30k in February. Given the Tenmaya corporate team's track record of success in the marathon, including the current women's NR of 2:18:59, her chances are pretty good. Ayumi Morita ran a 2:31:38 PB in Tokyo last year, but it's a big jump for her to get down to 2:26 and it'll mostly be a question of whether Nishimura executes the same way she did at Kumanichi. For men there are 6 under 2:09:00 in the last 3 years, with Ryoma T...

Following Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifier half marathon, the weekend's other big half is Sunday's Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon . The Tokyo Marathon Foundation has been trying to get this race off the ground for the last few years, and it is pretty cool. Starting and finishing on the track in the National Stadium built for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and following basically the same course as the one originally planned for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the MGC Race Olympic marathon trials, and last month's Tokyo World Athletics Championships marathon, it's quickly gotten popular as a mass participation race. But as an elite race it's got a few problems. The uphill finish that was such an important strategic part of the MGC and World Championships marathons means it'll never be as fast as it could be. And its timing in the middle of ekiden season severely limits the number of Japanese athletes and Japan-based Africans who can run it, especially fo...

Two good races happened Sunday at the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon . The women's race was a head-to-head race between 2022 marathon world champion Gotytom Gebreslase and debuting Japan-based Janet Nyiva . Side-by-side through 15 km, Nyiva shattered Gebreslase with a massive surge over the last 5 km that ultimately put 52 second between them, Nyiva wining in 1:07:37 and Gebreslase next in 1:08:29. 2023 Asian marathon champion Eunice Chebichii Chumba held off the up-and-coming Kana Kobayashi , a member of Japan's marathon team for September's Tokyo World Championships, with a 1:09:07 for 3rd. Kobayashi's 1:09:09 for 4th was a PB by almost 5 minutes and the fastest time ever on the rolling Gifu course by a Japanese woman. Yumi Yoshikawa was 5th in 1:10:51. Five men went out front on mid-59 pace. Dawit Wolde , debuting Kiprono Sitonik , Vincent Yegon and veteran Bedan Karoki all took turns leading, with only Richard Kimunyan tucking in and declining to share the load. ...

It's a big year at the Marugame Half on Feb. 2. On the women's side you've got two of the fastest Japan-based Kenyans and past Marugame winners Dolphine Omare and Pauline Kamulu vs.  Dominique Scott , Calli Hauger-Thackery and Isobel Batt-Doyle and home team Rika Kaseda , Kaede Kawamura and Haruka Kokai . On the men's side you've got sub-60 Kenyans Alexander Mutiso , Cleophas Kandie , Bedan Karoki and Emmanuel Maru with another 15 men sub-61 right behind them. The Japanese crew is led by frequent training partners Tomoki Ota , 1:00:08, and Kotaro Shinohara , 1:00:11. Although they do it in the big ekidens all the time, no Japanese man has ever broken the one hour barrier in an official half marathon. C'mon already, this is the chance. Get it done. There's a smattering of other internationals mixed in including Canada's Rory Linkletter and Australians Brett Robinson , Andy Buchanan and Tim Vincent , but the other main story on the men's side...

Yuya Yoshida 's story is really the kind you love to read. A guy who never got to run the big races at Aoyama Gakuin University until his very last chance his senior year, when he dropped a course record at the 2020 Hakone Ekiden in what he was thinking of as his last race. Then a 2:08:30 marathon debut for 3rd at Beppu on his coach's advice. Then a 2:07:05 win at the Fukuoka International Marathon later the same year after deciding to keep going and joining the GMO corporate team. A few years of setbacks, then a 2:06:37 PB in Osaka this spring. And now this. A 2:05:16 CR for the win in Fukuoka, 1:02:58 at halfway and a smoking 1:02:18 mostly solo 2nd half, 2 seconds under the old record set back in pre-super shoe days in 2009 by the great Tsegaye Kebede . Really, what else is there to say? Yoshida was great. In the pack through 25 km, then throwing down at dropping 2:06:31 man Yusuke Nishiyama and everyone else except Israeli Tadesse Getahon , who lasted another 5 km befor...

Amos Kurgat and Loice Chemnung soloed new course records to win Sunday's Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon , with Paralympians Tomoki Suzuki and Wakako Tsuchida winning the wheelchair races. A late addition to the field, Kurgat took off and immediately left it behind, going through 10 km in 27:48 and never looking back. Although he slowed on the uphill back up to Tokyo's National Stadium in the last 5 km, Kurgat was never in danger and won easily in a course record 59:52, 18 seconds under the old record set by Vincent Kipkemoi in the race's 1st edition two years ago. Bedan Karoki was the first runner to break from the chase pack, taking 2nd in 1:00:38. The next four runners came into the stadium together, with last year's Ageo City Half winner Paul Kuira having the kick to take 3rd in 1:00:49. The top Japanese man at February's Tokyo Marathon in 2:06:31, Yusuke Nishiyama was the first Japanese man across the line here too, just off his PB in 1:01:13 for 8th. Chemnu...

One of the three big races happening this weekend in Japan, the Tokyo Legacy Half is a preview of the course for next year's Tokyo World Championships marathon, starting at the National Stadium, downhill in the first 5 km, flat in the middle, and then back up to the stadium for the finish. TBS-BS is broadcasting the race live starting at 8:00 a.m., with streaming of the finish line on YouTube and a tape delayed regular TV broadcast at 1:35 a.m. on Oct. 30. Fresh off a 30:13 road 10 km and with a 1:05:58 best Loice Chemnung is the heavy-duty favorite in the women's race, 4:34 up on her nearest competition, Mongolian NR holder Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh . The Tokyo Legacy Half reduces appearance fees by 20% for anyone who finishes over 5 minutes behind the winner, so for Galbadrakh and sub-1:11 Japanese women Yuki Nakamura and Mao Kiyota it's not just a race for 2nd but against whatever Chemnung brings to Tokyo. Amos Kurgat is the top man in the field at 58:47, and he...

The Tokyo Legacy Half happens Oct. 20 on what's basically the course just announced for next year's Tokyo World Championships marathon. With a 1:05:58 best Loice Chemnung is a mile ahead of the rest of the women's field led by Mongolian NR holder Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh , Gold Coast Marathon winner Yuki Nakamura and last year's 4th-placer Natsuki Ogawa . Last year's top 3 men Evans Keitany , Benard Kimeli and Bedan Karoki are all back along with sub-60 men Amos Kurgat ,  Cleophas Kandie and Andrew Lorot , top Japanese man Tomoki Ota at 1:00:08, and a million more. Straight from Paris, Paralympians Misato Michishita , Tsubasa Kina , Tomoki Suzuki , Kenya Karasawa and more lead the para half field. Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon Elite Field Highlights Tokyo, 20 Oct. 2024 complete field listing times listed are athletes' best in last 3 years except where noted Women Loice Chemnung (Kenya) - 1:05:58 (2024 Malaga Half) Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh (Mongolia) - 1...

  The Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon took place Oct. 15 alongside the Marathon Grand Championship Olympic marathon trials, starting and finishing at Tokyo's National Stadium. In the men's race, Evans Keitany (Toyota Boshoku) ran down leader Bedan Karoki (Toyota) and holding off Benard Kimeli (Fujitsu) to take the win in 1:01:10. In his first pro season Aoyama Gakuin University graduate Kotaro Kondo (SG Holdings) was the top Japanese finisher in 1:01:26. In the women's race, Gladys Chepkurui (Kenya) broke the course record with a 1:08:03 for the win. Dolphine Nyaboke Omare (U.S.E.) was also under the old CR in 1:08:13 for 2nd. The top Japanese woman was Natsuki Ogawa (Suzuki AC) in 1:14:34 for 4th. Tomoki Suzuki won the men's wheelchair race in 43:40, with Tsubasa Kina winning a photo finish with Wakako Tsuchida in the women's race, both athletes clocked at 52:45. Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon Tokyo, 15 Oct. 2023 complete results Men 1. Evans Keitany (Toyota Bo...

Qualification for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships wrapped up Sunday with the last four regional corporate ekidens. In the highly competitive Chubu Region race, Toyota , the winner the last 7 years, struggled when Bedan Karoki  finished only 8th on the Second Stage. Despite Toyota's fourth runner Tomoki Ota  making up a lot of the ground with a sensational 43:48 CR on his 15.5 km stage, almost a minute under the old record and 45:18 pace for 10 miles, Toyota faced pressure throughout the race from Toyota Boshoku . A 34:07 course record for the 11.8 km Seventh Stage by anchor Yuji Onoda  was enough to seal the win for Toyota Boshoku, finishing the 80.5 km race 39 seconds up on Toyota in 3:54:15.  Aichi Seiko  was the top team to miss the qualifying cutoff, almost two minutes behind the last qualifier, Chuo Hatsujo , in 3:59:13. Held simultaneously with the Chubu Region race, the Hokuriku Region saw an even closer margin of vict...

Like the title says, regional corporate league track and field championships lead this weekend's main action, with every region except Kyushu set to go ahead with its meet despite the proliferation of a new round of states of emergency across the country. Two of the most competitive regions, East Japan and Chubu, will be streaming their meets live, with Kansai likely to join the list. East Japan, whose Day One stream above, runs 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday Japan time and again 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday. The meet schedule and entry lists can be had here . Featuring a lot of the best Japan-based Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes, the men's 5000 and 10000 m look like the best races of the meet, with the 5000 m A-heat also having like Olympic 5000 m team member Yuta Bando  (Fujitsu), newly-minted Olympic 10000 m team member Tatsuhiko Ito  (Honda), and Olympic marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) back in action, hopefully, after scratching from the Lake Biwa Maratho...

 A typhoon passing to the south brought rain and wind to most of the country throughout the weekend, but with what's left of ekiden season getting off the ground next weekend there were a million high-level meets across the country. None higher-level than Friday's  Chubu Corporate Track and Field Championships , where Bedan Karoki (Toyota) turned in his second sub-27:10 clocking in the last three weeks, winning the men's 10000 m A-heat in 27:08.91. 19-year-old Philemon Kiplagat (Aisan Kogyo) was 2nd in 27:46.67, the first sub-28 by a junior this year. Five other men were under 28 in the same heat, including first-timers Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) and Daiji Kawai (Toenec). A total of 44 men were under 29 minutes between all three heats. Victor Korir Kipkirui (GMO) took the top spot in the men's 10000 m A-heat at Saturday's Track Games in Tokorozawa , a quad meet between Waseda University, Meiji University, Toyo University and Soka University with some GMO corpor...

Thank you for your support of the Yokohama DeNA Running Club . Founded in 2013, the DeNA corporate team will be disbanded at the end of 2020. Beginning in 2021, DeNA will take a new approach toward supporting the activities of individual athletes who aim to compete at the international level. Despite the impact of the coronavirus crisis upon all our sports business, with its new approach DeNA hopes to continue to support competitive running in the medium to long-term future. Right now we are in the midst of making new contract offers to our existing athletes under the new model. We will continue to keep you informed about each athlete's plans for the next fiscal year and in every case will respect the athlete's wishes, whatever they may be. Head coach Tomoaki Kunichika and other members of the current team's staff will be retiring. We thank them for their contributions to the team's development. We hope to have your continued support in the future. Translator...

After months off from competition, the athletes at this year's Hokuren Distance Challenge produced high-level performances across the board, with world-leading times at all four meets in the series and a string of Japanese national records. Using World Athletics scoring tables to compare performances across distances and meets, Rosemary Wanjiru (Starts) turned in the best run of the series with her world-leading 30:38.18 in the Abashiri meet 10000 m. Benard Kibet (Kyudenko) had the best men's performance of the series when he held off Bedan Karoki (Toyota) to win the Fukagawa meet 10000 m with a 27:14.84 world leader. Kibet was the only athlete male or female to have two performances inside the overall ten best in the series, his 13:11.77 win in the Abashiri 5000 m ranking at #9. Among Japanese athletes, Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) had the top performance of the series with her 31:23.30 PB in the Abashiri 10000 m. Four Japanese women turned in five performances inside ...

https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/sports/2020/05/11/japan-based-karoki-still-hungers-for-olympic-spot-on-home-soil/

After moving up to the top ranks of amateur Japanese women's marathoning with a 2:36:37 PB at this year's Tokyo Marathon, club runner Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Kanto) took another big step with a 2:33:16 PB for 14th at the Chicago Marathon . Running almost perfectly evenly, her first 5 km 18:11 and none after that faster than 17:49 or slower than 18:17, Kaneshige managed a slight negative split with a 1:16:46 first half and 1:16:30 second half. Just short of rival club runner Haruka Yamaguchi 's 2:33:09 PB in Sydney last month, with that kind of control Kaneshige looks to have plenty more room for growth. On the men's side, four Japanese men, Minato Oishi (Toyota), Tsubasa Hayakawa (Toyota), Ryoma Takeuchi (Hitachi Butsuryu) and Yuta Takahashi (Otsuka Seiyaku), went out in the second pack with the main leading group of American men. The fastest Japanese half marathoner so far this year, Oishi was almost as steady as Kaneshige the entire way as he opened with a 15:...

Takuya Fujikawa age: 26 sponsor: Chugoku Denryoku graduated from: Sera H.S., Aoyama Gakuin University best time inside MGC window: 2:10:35, 7th, 2019 Tokyo Marathon PB: 2:10:35, 7th, 2019 Tokyo Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 13:51.40 (2013) 10000 m: 27:58.87 (2018) half marathon: 1:01:46 (2019) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) 7th, 2019 Tokyo Marathon, 2:10:35 12th, 2018 Gold Coast Marathon, 2:15:59 6th, 2018 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:11:59 other major results: 5th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Third Stage (13.6 km), 38:29 8th, 2019 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:01:46 – PB 4th, 2018 Hachioji Long Distance Meet 10000 m, 27:58.87 – PB 1st, 2015 Hakone Ekiden Ninth Stage (23.2 km), 1:08:04 3rd, 2014 Hakone Ekiden Ninth Stage (23.2 km), 1:09:23 Fujikawa has followed a super-elite path through the Japanese ekiden world for most of his career. Alongside Bedan Karoki (Kenya), he was part of Sera High School ’s 2011 National High School Ekiden Championships ...

Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich dominated the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon 's 9th edition, running the fastest-ever women's half marathon on Japanese soil to win in 1:06:06. Taking advantage of cooler than usual conditions Chepngetich was out at world record pace from the gun, accompanied early on by fellow Kenyans Joan Chelimo Melly and Evaline Chirchir but alone by 10 km and leading by 6 seconds over Melly in 30:45. The second half hit her hard, but Chepngetich had no trouble holding on well enough to take 1:38 off the 1:07:44 course record set two years ago by world record holder Joyciline Jepkosgei . Melly, Chirchir and 4th-placer Mimi Belete (Bahrain) all went under 1:08:20, with Miyuki Uehara (Daiichi Seimei) taking the top Japanese spot at 6th in 1:11:03. The men's race was more conservative, with a lead pack of ten including last year's winner Nicholas Kosimbei (Kenya/Toyota), 2014 winner Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA) and national record holder Yuta Shitara (Hond...

9th Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon Elite Field Highlights Gifu, 4/28/19 times listed are best in last three years except where noted complete men's field complete women's field Women Joan Chelimo Melly (Kenya) - 1:05:04 (Prague 2018) Ruth Chepngetich (Kenya) - 1:06:19 (Istanbul 2017) Eunice Jepkirui Kirwa (Bahrain) - 1:06:46 (Istanbul 2017) Rose Chelimo (Bahrain) - 1:08:37 (Ras Al Khaimah 2017) Miyuki Uehara (Japan/Daiichi Seimei) - 1:09:13 (Sanyo Ladies 2017) Mimi Belete (Bahrain) - 1:09:15 (Verona 2017) Gotytom Gebreslase (Ethiopia) - 1:09:39 (Boston 2018) Ana Dulce Felix (Portugal) - 1:11:50 (Lisbon 2018) Evaline Chirchir (Kenya) - debut  - 30:43 (Valencia 10 km 2019) Men Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA) - 58:42 (Ras Al Khaimah 2018) Jorum Okumbo (Kenya) - 58:48 (Copenhagen 2017) Abraham Kipyatich (Kenya/Asahi Kasei) - 1:00:08 (Prague 2018) Abdellah Mande (Uganda) - 1:00:14 (Venlo 2018) Yuta Shitara (Japan/Honda) - 1:00:17 (Usti nad Labem 2017) Nicholas Kosimb...

Headwinds in the last 6.5 km and cold rain throughout kept the really fast times from happening as scheduled, but the 2019 Tokyo Marathon  still brought plenty of surprises. #1-ranked Birhanu Legese (Ethiopia) winning the men's race wasn't one of them. The lead pack blasted most of the first half sub-2:04 pace, only breaking up after rounding the 20 km turnaround. Early casualties included last year's 4th-place Gideon Kipketer (Kenya) and Asian record holder El Hassan El Abbassi (Bahrain), but just after the turnaround national record holder Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) and 2018 Berlin Marathon 4th-placer Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) dropped back, Osako stopping shortly thereafter. The remaining six split into two trios. In the front group, defending champ Dickson Chumba (Kenya) fell back from Legese and Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA) approaching 30 km before Legese took off after the final pacer said goodbye. On the way down to the 35.8 km turnaround Legese'...