japan running news

https://www.iaaf.org/news/report/jepchirchir-breaks-world-half-marathon-record The Ras Al-Khaimah Half was the fifth-straight win for Tokyo-based Bedan Karoki (DeNA RC), having won two track races in 24 hours at November's Nittai University Time Trials meet , the first a 10000 m in 27:07.30, a brilliant win in the most competitive January race in the world, the New Year Ekiden's 8.3 km Second Stage , and a tune-up for RAK with a win at the 10 km Discovery Cross meet in Kenya late last month.  Karoki is set to debut at April's London Marathon after a DNS there last year. photo © 2017 Dr. Helmut Winter all rights reserved

https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-cross-country-championships/news/cross-country-eldoret-san-sebastian Bedan Karoki (DeNA RC) is based in Tokyo and trains on Yoyogi Park's cross-country loop almost every morning when in town.

2015 was a complex year in Japan with lots to get excited about, a new generation of talent finally starting to break through the wall, multiple national records and world record-setting depth in what seemed like just about every major race, countered by embarrassingly bad World Championships performances, 2020 Tokyo Olympics organizational snafus that ranged from incompetent to much worse, and the consequences of the country's race organizers' and elite athlete coordinators' ready willingness to deal with people who trade freely in dirty athletes finally starting to come home to roost.  JRN's top ten most-read articles of 2015: 1. Hakone Champion AGU's Isshiki Leads 27 under 1:03 and 265 Sub-1:06 at National University Half Marathon Championships - Mar. 1 Tadashi Isshiki , a 2nd-year at 2015 Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University , ran 1:02:11 to top a field that produced historic results including a world record 265 men under 1:06:00 and 643 under 1:...

http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00289305.html http://dena.com/running/news/2015/04/04-01.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Karoki and Seko backstage before the announcement. In the wake of Monday's Japan Industrial Track and Field Association press conference formally announcing the corporate federation's new Project Exceed 100 million yen [~$1 million USD at normal exchange rates] bonus program for a new Japanese marathon national record in the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the DeNA corporate team held a press conference Tuesday at the DeNA offices in Shibuya, Tokyo to announce that its star runner, 2015 World Cross Country Championships silver medalist Bedan Karoki , has filed the necessary paperwork to transfer his citizenship from Kenya to Japan.  "Please look kindly upon me as I strive to bring Japan gold," Karoki said. Appearing at the press conference alongside Karoki were DeNA CEO Isao Moriyasu , executive head ...

by Brett Larner Japan came up empty-handed at the 2015 World Cross Country Championships in Guiyang, China as its perennial best hope for a medal, its junior women's squad, could do no better than 5th.  Junior women's team leader Azusa Sumi took 16th overall, 1:07 behind winner Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia but still the top-placing non-African born athlete in any of the day's races along with China's Changqin Ding in the senior women's race.  Although shy of a medal the junior women still topped the Japanese team results, the junior men and senior women finishing 9th.  With only three runners in the senior men's race Japan did not field a complete team of four scorers in that event. World Cross Country Championships Guiyang, China, 3/28/15 click here for complete results Junior Women's 6 km 1. Letesenbet Gidey (Ethiopia) - 19:48 2. Dera Dida (Ethiopia) - 19:49 3. Etagegn Woldu (Ethiopia) - 19:53 4. Daisy Jepkemei (Kenya) - 19:59 5. Mihret Tef...

by Brett Larner The 2015 New Year Ekiden marked a transition in Japanese distance running as a new wave of heavily talented collegiates including sub-62 half marathoners Shinobu Kubota (Komazawa University to Team Toyota), Suguru Osako (Waseda University to Team Nissin Shokuhin) and twins Keita Shitara (Toyo University to Team Konica Minolta) and Yuta Shitara (Toyo University to Team Honda) made a major impact in their corporate league debuts. Training with Alberto Salazar 's Nike Oregon Project and running for 2012 New Year Ekiden winner Nissin Shokuhin , Osako ran under control through the 12.3 km First Stage before kicking away in the last km to open a 5-second lead, 6 seconds ahead of 2011 winner Toyota and 7 seconds ahead of two-time defending champion Konica Minolta .  2013 World XC Jr. silver medalist Leonard Barsoton (Kenya) took Nissin's lead even further to 11 seconds, soloing a stage-winning 22:39 for the 8.3 km Second Stage.  Sub-27 Kenyan Bedan Karoki ...

by Brett Larner The New Year Ekiden national championship road relay is the raison d'être for Japan's corporate league men, the key race around which the entire year revolves.  37 teams battle it out over 100 km divided into 7 stages with a 6 1/2 hour live nationwide broadcast to millions of fans.  Most of the top corporate men in Japan, both Japanese and African, will be there, and you can follow highlights of the action via @JRNLive . Two-time defending champion Konica Minolta comes in strong.  Stronger than ever, in fact, with a major boost from rookie Keita Shitara , sub-28 and sub-62 while at Toyo University where he won the 2014 Hakone Ekiden's uphill Fifth Stage before graduating this year.  Konica's chances largely rest on the recovery of star Tsuyoshi Ugachi from the Fukuoka International Marathon earlier this month, his third marathon in his first year taking on the distance. Ready to take over from Konica Minolta is 2012 winner Nissin Shokuhin ....

by Brett Larner Earlier this year when Oregon-training then-future 3000 m national record holder Suguru Osako (Team Nissin Shokuhin) ran in a U.S. track meet its webcast announcer, talking about Osako's PBs, said in a mocking tone of voice, "Who runs track in November?"  The answer, of course, is just about every elite Japan-based runner. November is full of track time trial meets that coaches use to assess fitness within their rosters ahead of the mid-December to mid-January national championship ekiden season.  One of the biggest happens on Saturday, the Hachioji Long Distance time trials meet in Tokyo's western suburbs featuring seven men's 10000 m heats packed with much of the top talent in the country.  The A-heat features 18 of the best Japan-based Africans paced by sub-27 man Bedan Karoki (DeNA RC), young sub-28 Japanese athletes Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota), Keita Shitara (Team Konica Minolta), Yuta Shitara (Team Honda) and Tetsuya Yoroizaka (T...

by Brett Larner Despite weeks of heavy rains that brought fatal landslides across the Hiroshima region, the 2014 Hiroshima Cross-Country Meet went ahead as planned under relatively good conditions.  Charles Ndirangu (Team JFE Steel), a graduate of the local Sera H.S. ekiden program that previously produced the likes of sub-27 man Bedan Karoki (DeNA RC) and 2012 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Joseph Gitau (Team JFE Steel), had an easy time adding a win to his resume, finishing more than 30 seconds up on the rest of the men's 8 km field in 24:24.  Little-known Shogo Kanezane (Team Chugoku Denryoku) outran the rest of the Japanese field for 2nd, at 24:55 the only Japanese man to go under 25 minutes. His teammate Kaido Kita filled out the podium in 25:01.  The top man from the third corporate team at the meet, Chudenko's Naoya Hashimoto , was 6th in 25:16 in the midst of the chase pack's blanket finish. 2014 Hiroshima XC Meet Men's 8 km Hiroshima, 8/23/14 ...

by Brett Larner Japan’s biggest summer track series, the Hokuren Distance Challenge on the northern island of Hokkaido, wrapped up this week with its final two meets in the towns of Kitami and Abashiri. The Kitami meet was relatively low-key as everyone focused on the series closer in Abashiri. Building toward his marathon debut with two half marathon wins and a sub-27 best for 10000 m to his name this season Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA RC) delivered the biggest result in Kitami, winning the 5000 m A-heat in 13:15.25. Hokkaido-based high schooler Charles Ndungu (Kenya/Sapporo Yamanote H.S.) was 3rd in a quality best of 13:35.55 just ahead of top Japanese man Minato Oishi (Team Toyota), 4th in 13:36.40. Kenyan Susan Wairimu (Team Denso) won the women’s 3000 m A-heat over two-time 5000 m national champion Misaki Onishi (Team Sekisui Kagaku), 9:01.29 to 9:05.45, while the year’s #1-ranked Japanese woman Ayumi Hagiwara (Team Uniqlo) took the 5000 m A-heat in 15:33.71. In Aba...

by Brett Larner Japan-based Kenyans Paul Tanui  (Team Kyudenko) and Bedan Karoki  (DeNA RC) ran big at the U.S.' Prefontaine Classic 10000 m, both setting new sub-27 PBs for 2nd and 3rd behind winner Galen Rupp 's new 26:44.36 American record.  Tanui, the Moscow World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist and fastest in the world going into the race with a 27:16.75 two weeks ago at the Kyushu Corporate Track and Field Championships, ran next to Rupp in the front pack for the entire race, twice going to the front in the late going before Rupp got away on the last lap.  Tanui first broke 27 at Prefontaine three years ago.  Today he took just over a second off his best from that race with a 26:49.41 PB. Karoki, who runs for the Toshihiko Seko -coached DeNA  corporate team in central Tokyo and set a 1:00:02 course record at the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon less than two weeks ago, started more conservatively in the second pack before working his way up to joi...

by Brett Larner Tokyo-based 2014 Lisbon Half Marathon winner Bedan Karoki  (Kenya/DeNA RC) and little-known Visiline Jepkesho  (Kenya) upstaged big names Zersenay Tadese (Eritrea) and Edna Kiplagat  (Kenya) to take the men's and women's title at Sunday's fourth edition of the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon . Tadese led through 5 km in 14:17 with Karoki relaxing two seconds back at the rear of the lead pack of Africans.  From there Karoki moved to the front, pushing the pace to a 14:06 split until by 10 km only he, Tadese and Japan-based Ethiopian Abayneh Ayele  (Team Mazda) remained.  Things slowed over the next 5 km, but despite the slackened pace Karoki picked up a slight lead.  Heading into the last 5 km as temperatures rose Karoki said goodbye for good, dropping a 14:03 split from 15 km and 20 km to open his lead over world record holder Tadese to 1:14.  Closing at near-world record speed, Karoki crossed the line in 1:00:02, taking the win and...

by Brett Larner The Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon leads this weekend’s Japanese road action, in just its fourth year already surpassing the long-running Sendai International Half Marathon as Japan’s leading late-spring half. With the withdrawal of 2011-2012 Gifu winner  Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), who sat out the London Marathon with an injury following his 1:00:11 win at February’s Marugame Half, last year’s winner and world record holder Zersenay Tadese (Eritrea), 4th at this year’s World Half Marathon Championships in 59:38, returns to face #1-ranked Japan-based Kenyan  Bedan Karoki  (DeNA RC), winner of March’s Lisbon Half in 59:58 in his half marathon debut.  With the aggressive Karoki in the race and good weather the lead pack should have a good shot at bettering Tadese’s course record of 1:00:31. Making up that lead pack are last year’s 3rd, 5th and 6th-placers Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko), Abayneh Ayele (Ethiopia/Team...

by Brett Larner With track season well under way there's a shortage of domestic road action this month.  Formerly Japan's main May half marathon, the Sendai International Half Marathon 's stock has fallen in recent years against the rise of the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon a week later but still features a good men's field including marathoners Arata Fujiwara  (Miki House),  Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't) and Kazuhiro Maeda  (Team Kyudenko), Japan-based Kenyans Joseph Gitau  (Team JFE Steel),  Johana Maina  (Team Fujitsu) and Mekubo Mogusu  (Team Nissin Shokuhin), former Hakone Ekiden stars Kenta Chiba  (Team Fujitsu),  Takehiro Deki  (Team Chugoku Denryoku) and Ryuji Kashiwabara  (Team Fujitsu) and more.  The women's field is thinner, with veterans Yuri Kano  (Team Shiseido),  Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) and Yukari Sahaku  (Team Univ. Ent.) going up against young talents Ayaka Hitomi  (Team Shi...

by Brett Larner The organizers of the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon have put together one of the best men's fields in a Japanese half in recent memory for the race's fourth running on May 18.  World record holder Zersenay Tadese  (Eritrea) returns after running a course record 1:00:31 last year to beat 2011-2012 winner Martin Mathathi  (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC).  Mathathi is also back to go for a third title after sitting out the London Marathon with a minor injury.  The big addition to the mix is Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA RC), who made a successful transition to longer distances with a 59:58 debut to win the 2014 Lisbon Half despite problems in the early going. Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) joins them under the hour mark as a top contender on paper, but with a recent best of only 1:01:54 it would take a pretty major return to form for him to compete with the three big names. Also notable is the debut of 27:13 man Edward Waweru  (Kenya/Tea...

by Brett Larner videoes by Ekiden News 2014 World Half Marathon Championships bronze medalist Sally Chepyego Kaptich  (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) returned to competition this weekend, dominating the women's Grand Prix 10000 m with a world-leading 31:28.07 just a few seconds off her best at the 62nd edition of the Hyogo Relay Carnival in Kobe. Ayumi Hagiwara (Team Uniqlo), one of the big hopes for the next generation of Japanese women, was next across the line in 31:50.85 just ahead of collegiate road 10 km national record holder Kasumi Nishihara  (Team Yamada Denki) who cleared 32 for the first time in 31:53.69.  2014 Marugame Half Marathon winner Eri Makikawa  (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) just missed making it four under the 32 minute mark, running a sizable PB of 32:00.25 for 4th.  19-year-old half marathon junior national record holder Reia Iwade  (Team Noritz) cleared her goal of a sub-32:30 debut, running 32:24.38 for 8th. Newcomer William Malel Sitonek ...

http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/bedan-karoki-edp-half-marathon-of-lisbon-iaaf Bedan Karoki is based in Tokyo where he runs for the DeNA Running Club corporate team coached by marathon legend Toshihiko Seko .  7th-placer Paul Tanui runs for the Kyushu-based Kyudenko Team alongside 2:08:00 marathoner Kazuhiro Maeda .  London Olympian Ryo Yamamoto  (Team SGH Group Sagawa) was 20th in a weak 1:05:50 .

http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/worlds-best-10k-bedan-karoki-mary-wacera Bedan Karoki is based in Tokyo where he runs for the DeNA Running Club corporate team coached by marathon legend Toshihiko Seko .  7th-placer Paul Tanui runs for the Kyushu-based Kyudenko Team alongside 2:08:00 marathoner Kazuhiro Maeda .

http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/faith-kipyegon-bedan-karoki-2014-iaaf-permitk 2014 Kenya National Cross-Country men's top two  Bitan Karoki  (DeNA RC) and Leonard Barsoton  (Team Nissin Shokuhin) are both based in central Tokyo and regularly train on the cross-country loop in Yoyogi Park.

by Brett Larner Sunrise over Japan's northeast coast, 1/1/14. Photo by Mika Tokairin. For the second year in a row Konica Minolta came out on top of the corporate men’s circuit, winning the 58th running of the seven-stage, 100 km New Year Ekiden national championships in Maebashi, Gunma by a margin of nearly a minute and a half over last year’s runner-up Toyota Kyushu and by more than three minutes over 2012 national champion and course record holder  Nissin Shokuhin . Things started slowly for Konica Minolta as 5000 m and 30 km national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya , winner of last year’s anchor stage, was only 15th on the 12.3 km opening leg and 17 seconds back from stage winner Tomoya Onishi (Team Asahi Kasei), who led start to finish except for brief challenge late in the stage by Ryo Kiname (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki). Kenyan ringer Paul Kuira craftily moved Konica Minolta up to 3rd behind leaders Edward Waweru (Team NTN) and Leonard Barsoton (Team Nis...