japan running news

by Brett Larner In the absence of any serious competition, Madoka Ogi (Team Juhachi Ginko) won the women's race at the Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon Sept. 5. Ogi's time of 1:14:17 was unremarkable but good enough to win by a margin of nearly a minute and a half over a field which included Beijing Olympics marathon gold medalist Constantina Dita (Romania) and world trail running champion Fiona Docherty (New Zealand). Along with Seattle winner Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz), Ogi is the second Japanese woman to win a Rock 'n' Roll-brand half marathon this year. Japanese men also fared decently in Virginia Beach, taking five of the top ten spots led by 5000 m and 30 km national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) in 1:03:57 for 4th behind Kenyan Yusuf Songoka 's 1:02:46 winning performance. Click here to read the official press release on Songoka and Ogi's wins. Across the ocean, formerly Japan-based Africans took both of the t...

http://www.nation.co.ke/sports/athletics/-/1100/658564/-/item/0/-/8f8hvg/-/index.html Gideon Ngatuny (Team Nissin Shokuhin), Philes Ongori (Team Hokuren) and Danielle Filomena Cheyech (Team Uniqlo) are all based in Japan.

by Brett Larner As in past years, Rikuren selected top male and female finishers from this year's Jitsugyodan Half Marathon corporate championships to run in the 2009 Great Scottish Run half marathon in Glasgow, Scotland on Sept. 6. Leading the way with a 3rd place finish in the women's race was 2008 Shanghai Half Marathon winner Megumi Seike (Team Sysmex). 2009 Miyazaki Women's Half Marathon winner Maki Suzawa (Team Kyocera) was 5th in 1:18:24. Caroline Cheptonui Kilel of Kenya took the women's race in a solid 1:09:03. In February Kilel took the stage best honors on the third leg of the final Yokohama International Women's Ekiden before crashing in March's Nagoya International Women's Marathon. A sizeable Japanese contingent in the men's race also took four of the top ten spots, with Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) the best Japanese man in 5th. Former Team Honda ace Hailu Mekonnen of Ethiopia was the runner-up in 1:01:29, ten seconds behind ...

by Brett Larner Running her marathon debut at age 27, Yoshiko Fujinaga (Team Shiseido) won the 2009 Nagoya International Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, booking her first ticket to the World Championships since competing in the 5000 m in Seville 1999 as a high school student. Fujinaga was patient and tenacious, falling behind the lead pack of Caroline Cheptonui Kilel (Kenya), Bai Xue (China) and pre-race domestic favorite Hitomi Niiya (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) five times over the course of the race but gradually working her way back up each time before taking the lead from Niiya at 36.9 km. Fujinaga ran unchallenged over the final 5 km to win in 2:28:13 and take the third and final guaranteed spot on the five-member Berlin World Championships team. Niiya was likewise patient for the first two-thirds of the race, tailing early leaders Kilel and Xue when the foreign pair broke away after a slow first 5 km but ignoring Kilel's frequent surges. Rounding the 28.5 km turnaround Kilel mad...

by Brett Larner Click here for an extensive set of photos from the ekiden and after-party courtesy of NTV. To the surprise of none, a crack Japanese national team made up of most of the country's best current distance runners easily dispatched six foreign and seven regional domestic teams to win the final edition of the Yokohama International Women's Ekiden on Feb. 22. Among the foreign teams, on paper only the Kenyan and Russia squads stood a chance of competing with the hosts' loaded national team, which covered the six-stage, 42.195 km course in 2:15:05 to take its 10th win in the ekiden's history. Kenya was a distant 2nd in 2:16:58, while Russia fell victim to two of the regional Japanese teams, finishing 5th in 2:19:20. The Japanese national team's three big guns, Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki), Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC) and Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) all took stage best titles, while Japan's other three runners were all 2nd on t...