japan running news

by Brett Larner Today's retirement press conference marks the end of the road for one of the sport's all-time greats, Mizuki Noguchi .  Noguchi is best remembered, rightfully, for her achievements in the marathon.  Five wins and seven top three finishes in ten marathon starts.  An Olympic gold medal.  A World Championships silver medal.  A Japanese national record of 2:19:12.  That time still a Berlin Marathon course record no one has been able to touch more than ten years later, the only World Marathon Majors course record held by a Japanese runner. Her gold medal win at the 2004 Athens Olympics brilliantly executed, her loss to Catherine Ndereba at the 2003 Paris World Championships showing her exactly what she had to do to beat Ndereba a year later on the bigger stage and then doing it perfectly, almost down to the second, breaking Paula Radcliffe in the process.  Her DNS at the the 2008 Beijing Olympics a national heartbreak.  Her co...

by Brett Larner Kenyans Jairus Chanchima and Henry Chirchir top the men's entry list for the Apr. 19 Nagano Marathon , with Beatrice Jepkemboi joining them in hope of becoming just the second Kenyan women's champion in Nagano's 17-year history.  Kiflom Sium (Eritera) and Bayron Piedra (Ecuador) round out the small international men's field, 2:11 man Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and debuting 1:01:25 half marathoner Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei) looking like the domestic Japanese favorites. The women's race features good old-time names like Catherine Ndereba (Kenya), Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC), Eri Okubo (Miki House) and Chihiro Tanaka (Athlec AC), but with Russian women having taken 7 of the last 10 Nagano titles it's safe to say that Nadezhda Leonteva is likely to be Jepkemboi's toughest competition in the women's race despite a difference of over 4 minutes in their bests.  Shoko Mori (Team Otsuka Seiyaku), a training partn...

by Brett Larner In its third running the Naoko Takahashi Cup Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon continues to take over from the Sendai International Half Marathon as Japan's premier late-spring half.  This year organizers have set up a pair of great duels among their overseas elites. On the men's side, world record holder Zersenay Tadese  (Eritrea) faces course record holder Martin Mathathi  (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) in a rematch of the 2007 Osaka World Championships 10000 m, where Tadese led most of the race until a surge from Mathathi, who ended up with bronze, knocked him out of the medals.  Other top international competition includes three-time Sapporo International Half Marathon winner Cyrus Njui  (Kenya/Team Hitachi Seiryu), Japan-based Kenyans Jacob Wanjuki (Team Aichi Seiko) and Micah Njeru  (Team Toyota Boshoku), 2005 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Dmytro Baranovskyy  (Ukraine) and American Ryan Vail . Seven sub-63 Japanese men are sch...

http://www.tv-aichi.co.jp/news/2013/04/post-89.html translated by Brett Larner complete field listing coming shortly On April 26 the names of the special invited athletes for the 3rd running of the Naoko Takahashi Cup Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon on May 19 were released.  Making his third appearance in Gifu, Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't) will face half marathon world record holder Zersenay Tadese  (Eritrea) and others.  Fans can look forward to both a shot at a new course record and to seeing Kawauchi, just named to the 2013 World Championships marathon team, in person.  Two-time Olympic marathon silver medalist Catherine Ndereba  (Kenya) leads the women's field. Highlights of the 3rd edition of the Naoko Takahashi Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon will be broadcast on TV Aichi at 3:00 p.m. on May 19.

http://jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2012052000089 translated and edited by Brett Larner In the race's second running, held May 20, 2007 Osaka World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Martin Mathathi  (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) won his second-straight Naoko Takahashi Cup Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon in a time of 1:01:29.  London Olympics marathon team member Arata Fujiwara  (Miki House) was the top Japanese finisher, 6th overall in 1:03:05, while civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref.) was 12th in 1:04:13. Both Fujiwara and Kawauchi ran last weekend's Sendai International Half Marathon as well, with Fujiwara marking a faster time in Gifu.  "Running consistently two weeks in a row makes me feel like I've got the risks involved with what I want to do [at the Olympics] under control," said Fujiwara of his performance, which confirmed that he is able to produce desired results even under unfavorable conditions.  To simulate the heat he is l...

by Brett Larner Coming in just ahead of the wave of Tokyo Marathon hype, the organizers of the reformatted Nagoya Women's Marathon have announced the elite field for the final Japanese women's Olympic selection race to be held Mar. 11.  Switching gears from a small, elite event to a mass-participation women-only race with an accompanying mixed half-marathon, Nagoya will host a tiny overseas field and the biggest domestic invited field in memory. The all-but-negligible international field features veteran medalists Catherine Ndereba  (Kenya) and Lidia Simon  (Romania) returning for their perpetual Japanese invites along with Eastern Europeans Albina Mayorova  (Russia), Olena Shurkhno  (Ukraine) and Rasa Drazdauskaite  (Lithuania).  Of more interest is the domestic field, the closest thing Japan has seen to a straight-up Olympic trials race. Fifteen Japanese women are on the invited list to contend for the Olympic team spot or spots still availabl...

http://www.47news.jp/CN/201105/CN2011051501000316.html http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&rel=j7&k=2011051500107 http://www.mbs.jp/news/jnn_4725601_zen.shtml translated and edited by Brett Larner complete results coming soon At the May 15 Naoko Takahashi Cup Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, 2007 World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) won in 1:00:47. 2011 World Championships marathon team leader and amateur runner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) ran 1:04:44 for 13th. Kawauchi ran among the leaders through 10 km but fell off pace after colliding with another athlete. "I had trouble moving my legs properly after that," he said. "Looking at my performance I'd have to say that I'm disappointed with a result like this, but it was good to get the feeling of racing again. I'd like to polish things up for the Sapporo International Half in July." Kawauchi then headed out to run hill repeats in the surrounding...

http://www.asahi.com/sports/spo/NGY201103070002.html translated by Brett Larner Organizers of the first running of the Naoko Takahashi Cup Gifu Half Marathon , scheduled for May 15, announced on Mar. 7 that two-time Olympic marathon medalist and former world record holder Catherine Ndereba (Kenya) will run this year's race. Takahashi is also scheduled to take part. Ndereba commented, "I'm looking forward to running together with all of you."

by Brett Larner The 2009 International Chiba Ekiden takes place on Monday, Nov. 23. As economic times have continued to grow harder Japan's once-thriving international ekiden circuit has dwindled dramatically. When the Yokohama International Women's Ekiden took a bow in February this year it left Chiba as the lone representative of the format, and even it was scaled back in 2007 from separate men's and women's races to a single, six-stage 42.195 km race featuring mixed men's and women's teams. This wasn't necessarily a bad move, the mixed teams having proved to be popular and interesting. Being the host country, Japan has tended to stack the deck in recent years. This year is no exception as the Japanese national team far outweighs any other in star power: men's half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) and women's 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshoki), 2009 men's 1500 m and 500...

video stills and text by Brett Larner photos and video by Mika Tokairin As a high-pressure front swept away a week of cold and rain with cloudless morning temperatures of 20 degrees and variable, gusting winds, 2006 European 10000 m champion Inga Abitova of Russia scored her first important marathon win with a 2:27:18 victory at the inaugural Yokohama International Women's Marathon on Nov. 15. As predicted , the race was between Abitova and 2009 Hokkaido Marathon winner Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC), who ran down Beijing Olympics silver medalist and 2007 World Champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya for 2nd place in 2:28:51. Beijing gold medalist Constantina Dita (Romania), who reported injury troubles shortly before the race, was a distant 11th in 2:36:04. Unseasonably warm conditions at the start played into the hands of Shimahara, an athlete noted for her warm weather skills and her fast finish. Having rehearsed a new fast-starting strategy for winning earlier this season in se...

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2009111101005 translated by Brett Larner On Nov. 11 Rikuren announced that the Kenyan team at the six-stage, 42.195 km International Chiba Ekiden on Nov. 23 will include 2009 Berlin World Championships marathon gold medalist Abel Kirui and two-time Olympic silver medalist Catherine Ndereba. Also in the field are Beijing Olympics women's marathon gold medalist Constantina Dita (Romania) and Athens Olympics marathon gold medalist Stefano Baldini (Italy). The Chiba Prefectural team will feature former marathon national record holder Atsushi Fujita (Team Fujitsu). Race-day lineups will include three men and three women on each team. Translator's note: Ndereba and Dita are regulars at the International Chiba Ekiden, which will take place eight days after the pair's appearance at this Sunday's Yokohama International Women's Marathon. Abel Kirui's presence in Japan two weeks before the Fukuoka International Marathon all but guar...

an editorial by Brett Larner The first Yokohama International Women's Marathon takes place this Sunday, Nov. 15. With a small field limited to women under 3:15, an innovative circuit course designed for fast times, a live nationwide TV broadcast, the defending Olympic gold and silver medalists and one of the best-performing domestic women of the year on the starting line organizers and media have hailed Yokohama, the replacement for the Tokyo International Women's Marathon, as a continuation of a proud tradition. Amid the fanfare one question has gone unanswered. Simply, why? When the Tokyo International Women's Marathon (TIWM) began in 1979 it was the world's first IAAF-sanctioned women-only marathon. Women lacked the same opportunities as men to race in large, competitive marathons, not least the Olympics, and Japanese women's marathoning was in a fledgling state. Following the model of the elite Japanese men's marathons such as Fukuoka International, Biwako ...

http://www.asahi.com/sports/spo/TKY200910210174.html translated by Brett Larner The first running of the new Yokohama International Women's Marathon, sponsored by the Asahi Newspaper Group and others, takes place Nov. 15. On Oct. 20 the event's organizing committee announced the lineup of the elite field of eleven. 2007 World Championships 6th place finisher Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC), the Ominami twins Hiromi and Takami (Team Toyota Shatai) top the domestic contenders, while Beijing Olympics gold and silver medalists Constantina Dita (Romania) and Catherine Ndereba (Kenya) will be the main overseas competition. The domestic field consists of five invited athletes. Shimahara, 3rd at last year's Chicago Marathon and 3rd in the 2006 Osaka International Women's Marathon, is an experienced veteran. In August she set the Hokkaido Marathon course record of 2:25:10, her PB. At age 32 she is at the peak of her powers. The Ominami twins, both past winners of the Rotterdam...

http://www.47news.jp/CN/200909/CN2009091501000561.html translated by Brett Larner Sydney and Athens Olympics distance runner Megumi Oshima, 34, gave birth to a baby boy on Sept. 14. Looking for a sponsor, Oshima hopes to make a comeback to the running world and compete in the 2012 London Olympics together with her husband Kenta Oshima, 30, (Team Nissin Shokuhin). Oshima and Kenta met during the course of their professional running careers and married in June, 2004. Both wanted children, so the couple planned to have one following the announcement of the teams for the Beijing Olympics. Having left her sponsoring company last year, Oshima was in the midst of looking for a way to continue her life as a professional athlete when she discovered she was pregnant in January. "Counting backward from my planned peak at the selection race for the London Olympic team and taking my age into account we decided that this was the only good chance we'd have for a child," she says. "...

Click here for complete results from the Aug. 16 New York City Half Marathon. 2009 New York City Half Marathon - Top Finishers Men 1. Tadesse Tola (Ethiopia) - 1:00:50 2. Ridouane Harroufi (Morocco) - 1:02:32 3. Ryan Hall (U.S.A.) - 1:02:35 4. Abdi Abdirahman (U.S.A.) - 1:02:50 5. Henrick Ramaala (South Africa) - 1:02:52 6. Abderrahime Bouramdane (Morocco) - 1:04:08 7. Stephen Chemlany (Kenya) - 1:04:10 8. Ketema Nigusse (Ethiopia) - 1:04:13 9. Worku Beyi (Ethiopia) - 1:04:26 10. Hosea Rotich (Kenya) - 1:04:59 ----- 11. Hiroshi Yamada (Team Konica Minolta) - 1:05:06 19. Shuichi Fujii (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 1:08:36 Women 1. Paula Radcliffe (U.K.) - 1:08:53 2. Mamitu Daska (Ethiopia) - 1:11:04 3. Catherine Ndereba (Kenya) - 1:12:22 4. Nadia Ejjafini (Bahamas) - 1:12:47 5. Buzunesh Deba (Ethiopia) - 1:13:17 6. Ilsa Paulson (U.S.A.) - 1:13:17 7. Deena Kastor (U.S.A.) - 1:13:33 8. Aniko Kalovics (Hungary) - 1:14:37 9. Lindsey Scherf (U.S.A.) - 1:14:56 10. Sheri Piers (U.S.A.) - 1:16:10 -...

http://www.eastandard.net/sports/InsidePage.php?id=1144020990&cid=39

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20090508-OHT1T00018.htm http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/090507/spg0905071819002-n1.htm http://www.daily.co.jp/general/2009/05/08/0001894330.shtml http://www.chunichi.co.jp/chuspo/article/sports/news/CK2009050802000144.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Following the naming of Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) and Kensuke Takahashi (Team Toyota) to the Berlin World Championships men's marathon team and Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) and Tomo Morimoto (Team Tenmaya) to the women's team on May 7, Rikuren officials and the newly-named athletes themselves discussed their goals. Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki, 65, said that between the men's and women's team the big picture target for this year's World Championships is "One medal and two other top-eight finishes." For the first time, the men's and women's marathon alternates will be included as full members of the national team. At the Beijing Olymp...

http://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/article.php?mid=P2009022500210&genre=L1&area=K00 translated and edited by Brett Larner The final edition of the Kyoto City Half Marathon takes place Mar. 8, with an invited field of six athletes leading the way. Having become a national sensation with his stunning run in January's Hakone Ekiden, Ryuji Kashiwabara (Toyo Univ.) tops the list of four invited men, while National University Women's Ekiden anchor stage winner Kasumi Nishihara (Bukkyo Univ.) will run the women's race. Kashiwabara set a new record on the Hakone Ekiden's legendary 5th stage while only a 1st-year, leading Toyo on to its first-ever Hakone win. All eyes will be focused upon him as he makes his half marathon debut. 2008 World Half Marathon national team member Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) is also in the field, as are Ietani's teammate Jun Shinoto, who set a new stage record on Hakone's 9th leg in 2008 before graduating from Chuo Gakuin University...

http://iaaf.org/WXC09/news/newsid=49245.html 30 km world record holder and 5000 m national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya and his Konica Minolta teammate Hiroshi Yamada, training together in Kenya this month, ran in the Kenya Prisons Cross-Country National Championships on Feb. 7. No word on their results.

http://www.iaaf.org/LRR08/news/newsid=48496.html