japan running news

Birmingham, U.K., 2/21/15 click here for complete results Men's 2 Miles 1. Mo Farah (Great Britain) - 8:03.40 - WR 2. Paul Koech (Kenya) - 8:13.46 3. Bernard Lagat (U.S.A.) - 8:17.05 4. Suguru Osako (Japan/Nissin Shokuhin) - 8:25.76 5. Thomas Farrell (Great Britain) - 8:26.01 6. Philip Hurst (Great Britain) - 8:26.56 7. Tom Lancashire (Great Britain) - 8:30.79 8. Jonny Hay (Great Britain) -  8:31.69 9. Rob Mullett (Great Britain) - 8:32.50 10. Florian Carvalho (France) - 8:32.87 DNF - Dale Clutterbuck (Great Britain)

by Brett Larner It's another busy weekend in Japan, with at least six big races across the country and one important one overseas.  Saturday kicks off with the second of the two-meet Japanese cross country season as the Fukuoka International Cross Country Meet plays host to Japanese athletes hoping to join the National Team for this year's World Cross Country Championships.  With a total of four foreign athletes led by the Japan-based Jonathan Ndiku (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) in the senior men's 10 km there isn't much of an international component, but bigger Japanese names on the entry lists include #1-ranked collegiate runner Kenta Murayama making his last appearance in the Komazawa University uniform before his graduation next month and United Airlines NYC Half-bound Koki Takada (Waseda University) and Takashi Ichida (Daito Bunka University) in the senior men's 10 km, Chiba International XC runner-up Maki Izumida (Rikkyo Univ.) in the senior women's 6 k...

by Brett Larner Waseda University graduate Suguru Osako (Team Nissin Shokuhin) turned up at Sunday's Birmingham Grand Prix to run with sometimes training partner Mo Farah in pursuit of fellow Waseda grad Kensuke Takezawa 's Japanese national record of 8:24.69.  While Farah went out way ahead of the field to set a European area record of 8:07.85 for the win, Osako came up a few seconds short of Takezawa's mark in 8:28.30.  In a distance rarely raced by Japanese athletes, Osako's time was good enough for all-time Japanese #2, joining his all-time #6 5000 m best of 13:20.80 just behind Takezawa's all-time #5 mark of 13:19.00. A small contingent of Japanese high schoolers also turned up at Saturday's International Antwerp Athletics Gala.  Takuya Hanyu (Yachiyo Shoin H.S.), who last November ran 14:00.55 to become Japan's fastest-ever high school first-year for 5000 m, finished 2nd behind Australia's Mitchel Brown in a new PB of 13:52.98 that moved hi...