japan running news

http://news.goo.ne.jp/article/mainichi_region/region/mainichi_region-20160201ddlk40050396000c.html translated by Brett Larner Appearing at an event in Kurosaki as part of a campaign to revitalize the area through better health, London Olympics men's marathon 6th-placer Kentaro Nakamoto and other members of the local Yasukawa Denki corporate team spoke on the theme of "From Kurosaki to the World."  "My goal is to make the Rio Olympics," Nakamoto said with determination. The event took place in the Yasukawa Denki Headquarters Auditorium.  Appearing alongside Nakamoto were 2015 Sydney Marathon winner Hisanori Kitajima and 2012 Fukuoka International Marathon 5th-placer Bunta Kuroki , a graduate of Tsutsui Elementary School.  The trio spoke about the appeal of the marathon, their training, and their future goals. All three plan to run March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, which will serve as the final Olympic selection race.  Nakamoto commented, "T...

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/sports/athletic/all/2013/columndtl/201303040002-spnavi?page=1 by Yoshimichi Nakao translated and edited by Brett Larner The finale has come and gone for the series of domestic selection races for the Japanese men's marathon team for August's Moscow World Championships.  At the last of the domestic races, the Mar. 3 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, general division entrant Masakazu Fujiwara  (Team Honda) ran 2:08:51 to finish 4th overall as the top Japanese man, ten years and one day since his last 2:08, the longest any man has ever gone between successive sub-2:10 marathons.  Although he missed hitting the Federation's 2:07:59 standard for automatic Worlds team selection Fujiwara's performance still went a long way toward getting his name on the shortlist. 2012 London Olympian Ryo Yamamoto (Team Sagawa Express) was 5th in 2:09:06, with Fujiwara's teammate Suehiro Ishikawa  (Team Honda) achieving his first sub-2:10, 6th in 2:09:10. ...

by Brett Larner Click photo for Fukuoka video highlights courtesy of race broadcaster KBC.   Click here for lower-resolution stream . click here for post-race comments from many of the top competitors in Fukuoka Despite an expected duel between the debuting Martin Mathathi  (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and former world record holder Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia), completely unheralded Japan-based Kenyan Joseph Gitau  (Team JFE Steel), with bests of only 1:01:19 and 2:21:54, stepped up to deal with all the major players' moves and deliver a masterful 2:06:58 win at the Dec. 2 Fukuoka International Marathon , one of the fastest winning times ever on the Fukuoka course.  2011 Daegu World Championships 7th-placer Hiroyuki Horibata  (Team Asahi Kasei), coached by marathon great Takeshi Soh , scored one for the corporate leagues as he took down independent rivals Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) and Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) for 2nd in 2:08:24, short of the F...

by Brett Larner Despite heavy snow throughout much of western Japan and a nearby volcanic eruption which has continued through recent weeks, times were quick at the 49th Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon with four of the top ten recording PBs and the remaining six marking their debuts. Winner Kenji Takeuchi (Team Toyota Kyushu), a former teammate of Beijing Olympics marathon gold medalist Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya) and coached by Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita , clocked a ten-minute PB to win in 2:12:44, putting him inside the five fastest winning times in Nobeoka. Runner-up Takumi Owada (Team Hitachi Cable) broke his own PB by nine minutes to finish 40 seconds back from Takeuchi in 2:13:24. Takuro Yamashita (Team Fujitsu), instrumental in Asia University's 2006 Hakone Ekiden win, took four minutes off his PB to round out the top three in 2:13:33. Little changed for the first part of the race as pacer Yoshikazu Kawazoe (Team Asahi Kasei) took a large pac...

by Brett Larner Organizers of the 49th Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon have announced the elite field for the Feb. 13 race. A developmental race for up-and-coming marathoners and first-timers, Nobeoka serves the role of a step up to the next tier of the Japanese marathoning circuit. Last year's 3rd-placer Takanori Ide (Team Kyudenko) heads the field, and with training partner Kazuhiro Maeda going for a World Championships spot a week before at the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon Ide has been doing the workouts necessary to win. His competition will include last year's 5th-place man Kenji Higashino (Team Asahi Kasei), Takayuki Ota (Team Fujitsu), and, looking to improve on his rare overseas debut at last fall's Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Minoru Okuda (Team Honda). Among the debutants Okuda's teammate Seigo Ikegami (Team Honda) is the most likely to have a strong showing, but 1:02 half marathoners Yusuke Ichinoi (Team Nishitetsu) and Takaharu Miyazaki (Team Sumco) s...