japan running news

It's hard to beat the numbers, and with a whole team of current students at 2024 National High School Ekiden winner Saku Chosei H.S. , Saku Chosei alumni, and junior high schoolers bound to go there, 3-time National Men's Ekiden defending champ Nagano had enough of them to score a record 4th-straight win Sunday in Hiroshima. Saku Chosei's Yamato Hamaguchi got it off with a 19:33 win on the 7.0 km opening leg just 2 seconds off the CR, and even though second and third runners Taisei Masuda and Hiroto Yoshioka underperformed enough for Nagano to fall to 7th, a new 23:32 CR by Saku Chosei's Tetsu Sasaki on the 8.5 km Fifth Stage put them back out in front and far enough away that nobody could catch them. Anchor Taishi Ito brought Nagano home for the win in 2:16:55, 5 seconds under the overall CR for the 48.0 km race that Nagano set last year. Chiba spent the first half of the race back in the middle of the field of 47 teams from each of Japan's prefectures, but...

Running with three returning members of last year's course record-breaking team, Nagano pulled off another CR to win its 3rd-straight National Men's Ekiden title Sunday in Hiroshima thanks in large part to a stellar run from anchor Mebuki Suzuki from Komazawa University . Last year's opening leg 3rd-placer Ryuto Kawahara of Nagasaki got things started with a 2:44 opening km on the 7.0 km First Stage, then let 2023 National High School Ekiden First Stage winner Sota Orita of Hyogo take over. Orita did most of the work through the middle part of the stage, then with 1.5 km to go Kawahara attacked and pulled away to break the 19:39 CR set by Sonata Nagashima last year by 8 seconds. It was one of those runs that makes the National Men's Ekiden great, with someone from a high school that isn't good enough to make Nationals taking down one of the big stars whose team did. In a four-way sprint for 2nd Nagano's Yamato Hamaguchi was 4th and Orita 5th, both one s...

2020 Hakone Ekiden 3rd-placer Koku Gakuin University , 4th-place Teikyo University and 15th-place Hosei University held a joint 20 km time trial in Chiba on Nov. 14. Toyo University star fourth-year Kazuya Nishiyama also took part, winning in 58:53. Teikyo fourth-year Sora Masuda was next in 59:35, with Hosei second-year Yuki Kawakami 3rd in 59:37. Before and after the time trial each team operated independently as a team, taking appropriate measures against coronavirus infection. The time trial itself let runners from each school push each other and gave a real sense of actual competition. Afterward Teikyo head coach Takayuki Nakano , 57, commented, "Just because you've done the training it doesn't mean there will be a race. We have to remember to be grateful for the opportunities we have. And that we're all friends." Saitama's Ageo City Half Marathon, one of the most important races in the buildup to the Hakone Ekiden, was originally scheduled for No...

After a slow start that saw it playing catchup for the first half of the 35th anniversary East Japan Women's Ekiden  in Fukushima today, the Chiba prefecture team came on strong late in the race with three straight stage wins to put anchor Rika Kaseda safely 2:45 out front with 10 km to go. A smaller version of January's National Women's Ekiden, East Japan features 18 teams made up from the best junior high school, high school, university, club, corporate and pro runners from each prefecture in the region. With their home battered by typhoons this fall the Chiba team hoped to pull of a win to give some inspiration to the people back home. Mai Shinozuka , Chika Kosakai and Rika Minami played a big role on the 6th through 8th stages, giving Kaseda, the silver medalist in the half marathon at this year's World University Games, the margin she needed to have a chance against Tokyo's Hitomi Niiya . Last year, in her first road race back from a five-year retirem...

Half marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara lived up to his pre-race words, running down everyone who stood between him and the finish line to bring Saitama Prefecture its second-ever national title at the 2018 National Men's Ekiden . Defending champ Nagano , whose win last year gave it a record seven wins in the National Men's Ekiden 's 21-year history, was the favorite for the win, its roster packed with members of 2017 National High School Ekiden winner Saku Chosei H.S. and 2017 Izumo Ekiden winner Tokai University. Shitara was unfazed, saying pre-race that he'd run down anyone within 50 seconds of him on the 13.0 km anchor stage. Nagano started strong, taking 2nd on the opening leg behind a nearly record-setting run from Ryuto Igawa (Kumamoto). Hoping for its first-ever top-three finish Ibaraki was unexpectedly strong, 5th on the leadoff leg, overtaking Nagano on the Second Stage and then advancing to 1st on the Third Stage thanks to a strong run f...

Ekiden season is in full swing, and across the country it was another busy weekend. Although there were four major ekidens nationwide, the best action came as runners from high school to the pros tuned up for the string of national championship ekiden races stretching from the end of this month to mid-January. At Kanagawa's Nittai University Time Trials meet, two-time steeplechase junior world champion Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) pipped 5000 m junior world championships bronze medalist William Malel (Honda) at the line in the 10000 m A-heat, winning in 27:22.73 to Malel's 27:22.79. Four other Kenyans including Ndiku's junior teammate Richard Kimunyan broke 28 minutes as their coaches eye who to run at the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden. Evans Yego of the tiny Sunbelx supermarket team won the more conservative 5000 m A-heat in 13:48.04, a race most notable for high schoolers Luka Musembi (Sendai Ikuei H.S.), Masato Suzuki (Suijo H.S.) and Reito Hanzawa (Gakuho Is...

by Brett Larner Two important women-only ekidens celebrate their 30th anniversaries this weekend.  In eastern Japan, Fukushima's East Japan Women's Ekiden features a scaled-down version of January's National Women's Ekiden, with teams made up of pro, collegiate, high school and junior high school athletes representing each of the 18 prefectures in the region.  Defending champion Chiba fields a very different lineup from last year's winning team led by one of Japan's current best track runners Riko Matsuzaki (Team Sekisui Kagaku).  Gunma , featuring last weekend's East Japan Corporate Women's Ekiden anchor stage course record setter Yuika Mori and Yamada Denki corporate teammate Shiho Takechi , Saitama and Shizuoka look to be Chiba's main competition.  The East Japan Women's Ekiden will be broadcast live starting at noon on Nov. 9. Further west in Fukui, the Fukui Super Ladies Ekiden delivers an interesting format pitting top corporate ...