japan running news

One of the central support pillars for Gunma's top women's long distance team Yamada Denki, Kasumi Nishihara has begun her tenth year with the team. With two 10000 m national titles and representation of Japan at the World Championships to her name, Nishihara has led the team on the road in the ekiden as well. A veteran at age 31, Nishihara is still full of motivation, saying, "People talk about age, but I can still progress. More than anything else, I still think running is fun." She is excited to try to make the Tokyo Olympic team on the track, and to finally make a long-awaited marathon debut. Nishihara joined Yamada Denki in 2011 after graduating from Bukkyo University. She won the 10000 m national title twice, in 2014 and 2015. In 2014 she was 8th in the 10000 m at the Incheon Asian Games, and a year later ran at the Beijing World Championships. From 2014 through 2016 she also won the National Sports Festival 5000 m three years in a row. She also had her sha...

Sairi Maeda age: 27 sponsor: Daihatsu graduated from: Kumamoto Shinai Joshi Gakuin H.S., Bukkyo University best time inside MGC window: 2:25:25, 10th, 2019 Nagoya Women’s Marathon PB: 2:22:48, 2nd, 2015 Nagoya Women’s Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 15:32.22 (2012) 10000 m: 32:03.43 (2014) half marathon: 1:10:24 (2015) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) 10th, 2019 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, 2:25:25 2nd, 2018 Hokkaido Marathon, 2:30:56 15th, 2018 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, 2:30:54 other major results: 13th, 2015 Beijing World Championships Marathon, 2:31:46 1st, 2015 Sendai International Half Marathon, 1:10:24 – PB 2nd, 2015 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, 2:22:48 – PB 3rd, 2014 Osaka International Women’s Marathon, 2:26:46 – Univ. NR One of only two women in the field to have gone to university, Maeda set the collegiate national record of 2:26:46 at the Osaka International Women’s Marathon her senior year at Kyoto’s Bukkyo University . In the same rac...

by Brett Larner Ekiden season rolls on this Sunday with the Morinomiyako Ekiden , the 34th edition of the National University Women's Ekiden .  25 university teams and one regional select team will race over 38.0 km in six stages.  Kyoto's Ritsumeikan University has won the national title ten times in the last thirteen years and is in the middle of the longest streak in the championships' history, with five straight wins behind them and looking to add a sixth.  The last team to beat them, Kyoto rivals Bukkyo University , have completely disappeared since the departure of head coach Kenichi Morikawa to take over at the Yamada Denki women's corporate team, while the only other team to beat Ritsumeikan since 2003, 2005 champ Meijo University of Aichi, was 5th last year almost four minutes behind Ritsumeikan. Ritsumeikan won September's Kansai Region University Women's Ekiden , but its margin over runner-up Kyoto Sangyo University was only 24 seconds over ...

http://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/sports/article/20150616000166 translated by Brett Larner On June 16 Kyoto's Bukkyo University announced new leadership for its two-time National University Women's Ekiden champion women's middle and long distance program.  A member of both the Bukkyo faculty and the Kyoto Track and Field Association, Yoshihiko Nakagawa , 68, has been named to the executive head coach position, a position in which he has already begun serving.  Additionally, the new position of "advisor" has been created to provide backup to the leadership team.  Both the Kyoto Track and Field Association's Hiroshi Taniguchi , 66, and Bukkyo alum Junko Ochi , 32, have been tapped in this capacity.  Ochi was an outstanding member of the Bukkyo team, winning the anchor stage at both the 2001 and 2003 National University Women's Ekiden Championships.  Both she and Taniguchi will provide support to Nakagawa and coaches Yusuke Tanaka and Yuka Maeda .

http://mainichi.jp/sports/news/20121029k0000m050036000c.html translated by Brett Larner With 28 teams on the starting line for the six-stage, 38.6 km National University Women's Ekiden Championships on Oct. 28 in Sendai, defending national champion  Ritsumeikan University  celebrated the championships' 30th anniversary by running 2:06:05 to take a record-setting seventh national title.  Rival Bukkyo University  was relegated to the runner-up position for the second-straight year, 1:05 behind Ritsumeikan, while Tsubuka University  was 3rd in its first Nationals appearance in nine years, making the seeded top six for the first time in ten years. Ritsumeikan sat in 4th at the end of the First Stage, 13 seconds behind the lead before junior Akane Yabushita  took over with a stage-best run to put Ritsumeikan into the lead.  The team sustained the lead through the Third Stage and was unchallenged all the way to the finish.  After starting the Sec...

by Brett Larner The women's ekiden season kicked off with a matchup between the two top university teams in the country, Kyoto's dynamic pair  Bukkyo University  and Ritsumeikan University.   Ritsumeikan, missing aces Michi Numata  and  Hanae Tanaka , dominated the first half by winning the first three stages, including new records on the First and Third Stages by members Mutsumi Ikeda  and Risa Takenaka .  Down 50 seconds at the start of the Fourth Stage, 2010 national champion Bukkyo's fortunes turned around thanks to a stage record run by ace Hikari Yoshimoto , and thanks to stage win by anchor Shiho Takechi and the absence of Ritsumeikan's Numata and Tanaka Bukkyo pulled away to a comfortable win nearly a minute and a half up on their rivals. Bukkyo and Ritsumeikan are both so far ahead of any other school that their B-teams beat the next-strongest school, Kyoto Sangyo University .  Ritsumeikan's B-squad Fifth Stage runner Ikumi Natsuhara...

by Brett Larner 2010 National University Women's Ekiden champions Bukkyo University rounded out their season by knocking nearly a minute and a half off course record at the five-stage, half marathon-distance 25th anniversary Chugoku Women's Ekiden , Feb. 13 in Hiroshima. 10000 m national collegiate record holder Hikari Yoshimoto led Bukkyo off with a stage record of 18:58 for the 5.83 km First Stage, and Bukkyo runners took stage best on three of the four remaining legs including an anchor stage record by Shiho Takechi . Only the professional Team Deodeo 's Fourth Stage runner Ruriko Kubo broke Bukkyo's domination, running a stage record 7:33 for the 2.4 km Fourth Stage, but even there Bukkyo's Sairi Maeda took second-best. Deodeo took 2nd in 1:09:29, only four seconds off the course record, but Bukkyo was so strong that they were nearly a minute and a half ahead in 1:08:08. Bukkyo's perennial rivals Ritsumeikan University were a distant 3rd in 1:10:11. 201...

by Brett Larner Led by stage record performances by its pair of aces, 2010 national university 5000 m Kasumi Nishihara and national 10000 m collegiate record holder Hikari Yoshimoto , Bukkyo University won the 2010 National University Women's Ekiden on Oct. 24, covering the six-stage, 38.6 km distance in a new course record time of 2:02:44. Perpetual rivals Ritsumeikan University were second in a strong 2:04:20 after trailing Bukkyo from the start. Bukkyo's Chinami Mori started things off with a 14-second lead over Ritsumeikan on the 5.8 km First Stage, and from there Bukkyo's next three runners progressively extended the lead to 1:18 thanks in large part to Nishihara's 28:56 stage record on the 9.1 km Third Stage. Ritsumeikan's Akane Yabushita managed to make a dent with a 12:38 stage record on the 4.0 km Fifth Stage, but anchor Yoshimoto delivered the win in style as she outran Ritsumeikan anchor Machiko Iwakawa by 50 seconds, running a new stage record of 25:...

The 2010 National University Women's Ekiden Championships, a.k.a. the Morinomiyako Ekiden, takes place this Sunday, Oct. 24. The race will be broadcast live from 11:45 a.m. to 2:35 p.m. on Nihon TV. Overseas viewers can watch live online via Keyhole TV by clicking here . In the ekiden, look for Bukkyo University to take down perpetual rivals Ritsumeikan University thanks to its pair of stars, national university 5000 m champion Kasumi Nishihara and 10000 m national collegiate record holder Hikari Yoshimoto . Junior Risa Takenaka will try to lead Ritsumeikan to an upset win.

by Brett Larner With the memory of their 3-second loss at last year's National University Women's Invitational Ekiden to spur them on, Bukkyo University followed up on their win over rivals Ritsumeikan University at October's Morinomiyako Ekiden by handing Ritsumeikan their first-ever loss at the national championship ekiden. With four of its runners taking stage best titles, two setting new stage records and one equalling the existing stage record, Bukkyo covered the six-stage, 30.67 km course in Tsukuba, Ibaraki prefecture in 1:37:35, breaking Ritsumeikan's course record from last year by 58 seconds. Ritsumeikan was only two seconds slower than its record-setting performance last year but a full minute behind Bukkyo. Bukkyo's Yuika Mori got the race started on the right note, leading a four-way breakaway on the 5.0 km First Stage and outkicking Kenyan Ann Kingori (Nihon Univ.) and 2008 National University 10000 m champion Michi Numata (Ritsumeikan Univ.) to wi...

by Brett Larner The last race of the year for university women is the National University Women’s Invitational Ekiden, a relatively young event in Tsukuba, Ibaraki prefecture with six stages covering 30.67 km. Titan Ritsumeikan University has won every year the National Ekiden has been held. This year is the final time the team’s star Kazue Kojima will wear the school’s uniform in an ekiden, one last race to complete an undefeated stage record for her university career. Earlier in the season Ritsumeikan looked unbeatable, running better than ever at October’s Morinomiyako Ekiden, but they were easily beaten by rivals Bukkyo University, led by the talented Kasumi Nishihara. After placing 2nd by just 3 seconds at last year’s Nationals Bukkyo looks set to break Ritsumeikan’s stranglehold on the national title. Nishihara has been dealing with injuries throughout the fall and may not be in condition to challenge Kojima, but her team overall is strong, tough and ready. There are of course mo...

by Brett Larner While the popularity and prestige of the Hakone Ekiden has concentrated Japan's university men's distance talent within the Tokyo-centered Kanto Region, women's university runners are more geographically dispersed. If there is one stronghold it must be the Kansai Region around Kyoto and Osaka, home of the dominant Ritsumeikan University women's team and their cross-town rivals Bukkyo University. The two schools meet again this weekend at the six-stage, 38.6 km Morinomiyako Ekiden , the first of the season's two national university women's ekidens. Ritsumeikan is the three-time defending Morinomiyako champion and has qualified more than any other school in the field, running in the last twenty of Morinomiyako's twenty seven editions. Ritsumeikan's winning streak exactly coincides with the career of its ace runner Kazue Kojima. Kojima is the best university runner of her generation, a multiple national champion who has never lost an ekiden ...

by Brett Larner The Ritsumeikan University women`s ekiden team extended its national championship dynasty at the 5th All-Japan University Women`s Invitational Ekiden in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture on Dec. 24, defeating 19 other teams to win the event for the 5th time. Despite a strong challenge from Bukkyo University , who set new stage records on 3 of the 6 stages, Ritsumeikan once again prevailed over this 30.67 km course. 1st Stage: 5 km All 20 runners on the first stage stayed together until the 2 km point when a few began to drift away from the back of the pack. At the 3 km point Ryoko Kisaki of Bukkyo broke away, dropping a 3:00 km between 3 and 4 km. Juntendo University`s Yuka Inatomi and Nihon University`s Kenyan 'exchange student' Ann Kingori followed, Kingori dropping Inatomi with 500 m to go. Neither was close to Kisaki, who was strong right to the finish in a new stage record time. 1. Bukkyo: 15:39 (Ryoko Kisaki, 4th yr., new stage record ) 2. Nihon: 15:50 (Ann Ki...