japan running news

As a route to qualification for next month's MGC Race Olympic marathon trials the Hokkaido Marathon saw higher-quality results than usual last year, but in its first edition after the closing of the trials qualifying period yesterday's 2019 running had no shortage on quality. In warm conditions the men's race went out conservatively with a 1:06:57 first half and turned into a show of who could negative split the hardest, with the top six all running the second half faster. Ryo Matsumoto , part of the top current marathon program in Japan, Toyota , won by over 30 seconds in 2:12:57 with 2nd through 6th all finishing within 15 seconds of each other in the mid-2:13s. Kasumi Yoshida (Nitori) did a lot of the work in leading the women's pack for the first 30 km before heavy favorite Mirai Waku (Univ. Ent.) took off. Waku had said pre-race that she wanted to break 2:30, but despite falling well short of that she opened a lead of over a minute and a half to win in 2:33:...

Japan has sent a roster of 22 athletes to this weekend's  World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, full squads for both junior races and the senior men's race, a team of only four for the senior women's race, and giving the mixed relay a miss. The Senior Men's team is young but one of the better in recent years, led by towering national champion Yuta Bando (Hosei Univ.). Yohei Komatsu played a key role in Tokai University 's first-ever Hakone Ekiden win in January, breaking the decades-old Eighth Stage course record to put Tokai into the lead. Yuhi Nakaya (Waseda University) was the star 1st-year on the Hakone circuit this year, Waseda head coach Yutaka Sagara saying that he think Nakaya has the potential to be better than multi-national record holder and Waseda alumnus Suguru Osako . Following Hakone Nakaya spent time training for World XC in Kenya. The Senior Women's lineup is thin. Six of the top eight placers at Nationals were alread...

The National Cross-Country Championships were the weekend's most competitive race, but half marathons were the main source of road action. Takumi Obara (Komazawa Univ.) ran the fastest time of the day to win the 41st Inuyama Half Marathon in 1:03:52, outrunning Shoya Kawase (Seigakkan Univ.) by two seconds. Kawase's run was a rare sub-64 from a university man outside the Kanto Region, holding off 3rd placer Shota Ezomori (Waseda Univ.) by four seconds. Honoka Sugiura (Chukyo Univ.) dominated the women's race by nearly a minute to win in 1:13:31. Daiji Kawai (Toenec) won Inuyama's 10 km division in a strong 29:01, with Honoka Wada (Nagano Higashi H.S.) the fastest woman at 33:50. At the 68th Kashima Yutoku Half Marathon , Ryuichi Hashimoto (Juntendo Univ.) won the men's race in 1:04:40, with Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead) taking the women's race in 1:15:01. Hikaru Kumagai (Raffine) ran almost the identical time to Hashimoto to win the 13th Fukaya City...

Working together to execute an aggressive frontrunning team strategy born from failure two years ago in Bydgoszcz , 2018 Asian U20 3000 m gold medalist Nozomi Tanaka and 2018 Asian Junior Cross Country gold medalist Yuna Wada opened a massive lead over the African Junior Cross Country medalist Ethiopian duo of Meselu Berhe and Tsige Gebreselama in the early going of the Tampere World U20 Championships women's 3000 m. Tanaka took the lead from the gun before Wada went out front at 200 m to set a fast pace. Through splits of 3:00 and 3:03 for the first 2000 m, Tanaka kicked hard from 300 m out to close with a 2:51 for Japan's first-ever gold medal in the event, winning in a PB of 8:54.01. Berhe and Gebreselama caught Wada on the back corner but weren't even close to matching Tanaka, taking 2nd and 3rd in PBs just under the 9-minute mark. Wada just held off Kenyan Jenali Jemutai Yego for 4th in 9:00.50, seeming happy in post-race interviews to have helped a teammate ...

Fresh off a third-place finish in the women's 2000 m at France's Decanation last week just days after her 18th birthday, Nozomi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) took her month-old 3000 m PB and position in Japan's all-time rankings even further. Having hovered close to 9-flat for the last year Tanaka, the daughter of 2:29:30 amateur marathoner  Chihiro Tanaka ,  finally broke through with an 8:59.83 to take the top Japanese spot in the 3000 m at August's National High School Track and Field Championships. Oo Monday she took over a second off that time to win the Shizuoka Long Distance Time Trials women's 3000 m A-heat in 8:58.81 over rivals including 5000 m all-time high school #2 Shuri Ogasawara (Yaanashi Gakuin Prep H.S) and 3000 m all-time junior #4 Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.). Tanaka's new PB moved her up to all-time #4 among Japanese juniors and #3 among high school students for 3000 m, still 6 1/2 seconds off the records h...

by Brett Larner photos by Mika Tokairin In hopes of breaking their year-old 2:13:14 course record the organizers of Taiwan's New Taipei City Wanjinshi Marathon brought in three 2:08 men, Kenyans William Chebon Chebor and Julius Ndiritu Karinga and Japan's Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), to give it a go.  Running to show his support for the victims of last month's Tainan earthquake, Kawauchi took the challenge to heart.  With a tough uphill first 5 km including a long tunnel he pushed things at sub-2:10 pace, unusually aggressive against tough competition and quickly disposing of everybody but Chebor and Karinga.  Both took turns attacking, Chebor in particular matching Kawauchi's aggression with multiple hard surges.  The lead changed countless times between all three but nobody got away cleanly. At halfway Kawauchi led in 1:05:15, Karinga a second behind and Chebor one more back.  Around 23 km Chebor threw in another hard surge and this time ne...

http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-label-road-races/news/new-taipei-city-marathon-kawauchi Chihiro Tanaka, Yuki Kawauchi and Koichiro Yamanaka at the New Taipei City Wanjinshi Marathon press conference with support from JRN. Livestreaming of the race will be available here starting at 6:00 a.m. local time on Sunday, March 20.  Click here for live splits .

http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/nagano-marathon-2015-chirchir-toroitich

by Brett Larner The Gold Coast Airport Marathon saw the expected surpassing of Rob de Castella 's 1982 Australian all-comers' record of 2:09:18 to commemorate its graduation to the rank of an IAAF gold label race, but despite having the course, the weather, the goal and the field it was close, and little else about the race went as expected. None of the pre-race favorites factored up front, 2:06 men Nicholas Manza (Kenya) and Gebretsadik Adihana (Ethiopia) dropping out and the hoped-for duel between defending champion Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) and London Olympian Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) never materializing after Fujiwara lost contact early in the second half with cramping. Instead, virtual unknown Silah Kipkemboi Limo (Kenya), debuting off a 1:01:26 half marathon best last year in Singapore, went to the front near 20 km with pacer Isaac Macharia (Kenya) and went it alone at 25 to shake off his Kenyan competition and front-running Japanese man Ch...

by Brett Larner photos by Mari Tanigawa With a shiny new IAAF gold label to its name, Sunday's Gold Coast Airport Marathon has put together fields worthy of its distinction as the only Australian race to have achieved the honor.  The 2:27:17 women's course record is a definite possibility, the men's 2:10:01 record all but a certainty with most of the top end of the field talking about times that would put them under Rob de Castella 's prehistoric 2:09:18 Australian all-comers' record dating back to 1982.  The race will be streamed live worldwide starting at 5:45 a.m. local time with the gun going off at 7:20, giving fans worldwide the chance to catch a potential piece of history.  For the first time, JRN will be part of the broadcast alongside hosts Ian Eckersley and Steve Moneghetti to help cover the stellar Japanese component of the elite field. The withdrawal of #1-seeded Mulu Seboka (Ethiopia) means Naoko Takahashi 's 2:23:14 Australian all-comers...

by Brett Larner For its first edition as an IAAF gold label race, the July 6 Gold Coast Airport Marathon has put together men's and women's elite fields worthy of the distinction, and especially in the men's race with the multiple story lines that make a good race worth watching.  Three 2:06 men, Gebretsadik Abraha Adihana (Ethiopia), Stephen Tum (Kenya) and course record holder Nicholas Manza Kamakya (Kenya) lead the way.  Facing them is defending champion and joint CR-holder Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't).  In the race to ruin the day for Kawauchi are his arch-rival independent Arata Fujiwara (Mika House) and new training partner Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Arata Project), appearing with support from JRN.  Gunning for both Kawauchi and Fujiwara is the pride of the corporate leagues, Hirokatsu Kurosaki of two-time New Year Ekiden national corporate champion Team Konica Minolta . What more could you want?  The 2:10:01 course record?  Done.  Rob ...

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/201311/0006503245.shtml translated and edited by Brett Larner Over 20,000 people took part in the third edition of the Kobe Marathon on Nov. 17, running on the streets raised from the ruin of the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake. Starting out at a much faster pace than Kobe saw in either of its first two runnings, Hironori Arai (34, Team Chugoku Denryoku) and local veteran  Chihiro Tanaka (44, AthleC AC) set new men's and women's course records of 2:17:01 and 2:36:53. For each of them it was their first time to win in Kobe. Organized by the Hyogo Prefectural Government, the Kobe Civic Government and the Hyogo Prefecture Track and Field Association, the race had "Give Thanks for Friendship" as its official theme to express the city's gratitude for the assistance it received during the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake and to help raise support for survivors of the East Japan Earthquake and the recent major typhoon in the P...

by Brett Larner Click here for Dr. Helmut Winter's German-language article on this year's Muenster Marathon including a large number of high-quality photos. The day dawning with heavy rain, wind, thunder and lightning, the 12th edition of the Volksbank Muenster Marathon saw the worst conditions in the race's history, but with radically opposing results in the men's and women's races the weather's impact on the race was hard to determine.  In the men's race things went out very slow on the twisting roads in the course's first 10 km, understandable given the slick cobblestone surface.  The designated Kenyan pacer was more than 10 seconds per km off the target pace of 3:06/km, but still the almost entirely Kenyan lead pack lagged behind.  Japanese runners Yuko Matsumiya  (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) and Yuya Shiokawa (Team Subaru), in Muenster with support from JRN, gestured for the pacer to run the designated splits but he repeatedly looked over his sh...

by Brett Larner For the second year in a row, Germany's Volksbank Muenster Marathon  features Japanese athletes in its elite field through the support of JRN.   Yuko Matsumiya  (Team Hitachi Butsuryu), identical twin brother of 5000 m and 30 km Japanese national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya  (Team Konica Minolta), and veteran Chihiro Tanaka  (AthleC AC) are the fastest athletes in the field on paper, Matsumiya with a best of 2:09:18 and amateur Tanaka holding a 2:29:30.  But both ran these times several years ago and will face tough challenges from the best-quality fields Muenster has yet assembled.  Kenyans Bertram Kimutai Keter , Joel Kipsang Kositany  and John Kyalo  have all run under the course record of 2:10:25 within the last two years, and with favorable conditions forecast for Sunday it may well take a new course record to win.  Pre-race Matsumiya was optimistic, saying, "I'm here to win.  I'm not focused on a time,...

by Brett Larner Dark was the night, cold was the ground.  With heavy rain shifting to snow overnight and wind and below-freezing temperatures throughout the morning the 2013 Nagano Marathon had the kind of race conditions you would not wish on anybody, but although the course record was never an option civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) did what he had to do to secure his third marathon win in four starts so far this year, crossing the line in 2:14:27 more than a minute ahead of runner-up Alexsey Sokolov (Russia) to become the first Japanese man to win in Nagano's 15-year history. Alone after only 5 km, Natalia Puchkova (Russia) was just off her PB as she soloed a 2:30:40 victory in the women's race almost two km ahead of her closest competition. Kawauchi ran the early stages of the race in a quartet with last year's runner-up Silas Sang (Kenya), Eritrean Isaias Beyn  and Hirokatsu Kurosaki  of 2013 New Year Ekiden national champion Team ...

by Brett Larner The Nagano Marathon has released the names of its elite field lineup for its 15th running, to be held Apr. 21.  It's a field heavy on veterans, including 40+ runners William Kiplagat (Kenya), Chihiro Tanaka  (Athlec RC) and Yoshimi Hoshino  (eAthletes Shizuoka), imminently retiring former national record holder Atsushi Fujita  (Team Fujitsu) and, freshly departed from the Kyudenko corporate team, top-ranked woman Mika Okunaga (Yufuin Hammock AC). Two of last year's top four men return in the form of Silas Sang  (Kenya) and Alexey Sokolov  (Russia), joined from overseas by silver label Eritrean Isaias Beyn .  The domestic favorite in his fourth marathon of 2013 is Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't), but the interest level in the Japanese field extends further to include silver label men Chiharu Takada  (Team JR Higashi Nihon) and Kazuya Ishida  (Team Nishitetsu) and three men with promising runs at February's Nobe...

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/other/athletic/marathon/osaka/2012/headlines/20121125-00000004-spnavi-spo.html http://www.daily.co.jp/newsflash/general/2012/11/25/0005553103.shtml translated and edited by Brett Larner In their second editions the Osaka Marathon and Kobe Marathon moved to the same day, Nov. 25, meaning that one greater metropolitan area held two large-scale marathons simultaneously with combined fields of 50,000. In Osaka, men's winner Serod Batochir  (Mongola) ran 2:11:52 to set a new course record.  The top Japanese finisher, Yasuyuki Nakamura  (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), was 2nd in a PB 2:15:37, while half-marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato  (Team Chugoku Denryoku) was 3rd in 2:16:26.  Defending men's champion  Elijah Sang  (Kenya) faded badly after running the first part of the race in the lead pack, finishing 8th in 2:33:33. Defending women's champion Lidia Simon  (Romania) won in 2:33:12 by more than one minute ...

http://ameblo.jp/chihiroppy/entry-11402649378.html#cbox translated by Brett Larner Long before Yuki Kawauchi came on the scene, Kobe-based amateur Chihiro Tanaka (AthleC AC) was one of the great originals of Japanese marathoning.  The winner of the 1997 Hokkaido Marathon, Tanaka returned from giving birth to her first daughter to run a PB of 2:29:30 for 4th at the 2002 Nagoya International Women's Marathon, for years the Japanese national record for a mother, and another Hokkaido win in 2003.  Now in her 40's and with a second daughter, Tanaka continues to run 5~6 marathons a year reliably at the 2:38~2:42 level .  Her record for 2012 so far includes a 2:38:07 win at February's Senshu International Marathon, her third-staight Senshu win, and a 2:41:14 win at August's City-to-Surf Marathon in Perth, Australia.  On Nov. 11 she ran the Athens Classic Marathon on an invite through Athens' ties with the Nagano Marathon, finishing just out of the official IAAF race ...

by Brett Larner In his fifth marathon to date this year, 2011 World Championships marathon team member Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) added the second marathon win to his resume as he took the Aug. 26 Hokkaido Marathon in 2:18:38. Osaka-based amateur Yuri Yoshizumi (Osaka Nagai AC) came from behind to win the women's race in 2:39:06. Long one of Japan's peak elite summer races, this year saw Hokkaido all but eliminate its elite field this year, and as a result 2:08:37 man Kawauchi's win was never in serious doubt.  After a five-man lead pack went through halfway in 1:08:18, Kawauchi powered away to open a one-minute lead over his nearest competition. Although Kawauchi faded to a 1:10:20 second half in the rising temperatures, his competition faded more dramatically. Kawauchi's final margin of victory was more than three minutes over runner-up Shigeki Tsuji (Team Otsuka Seiyaku), who clocked 2:21:49. In the women's race Yoshizumi started far behind sub-2:3...

http://www.jiji.com/jc/zc?k=201207/2012070100109&g=spo translated and edited by Brett Larner Click photo for complete race video. At the July 1 Gold Coast Marathon in Australia, Kaori Yoshida  (Amino Vital AC) won the women's race in 2:30:36.   Madoka Ogi  (Team Juhachi Ginko) ran 2:33:48 for 2nd.  In the men's race Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref.) was 4th overall in 2:13:26. 2012 Gold Coast Airport Marathon Queensland, Australia, 7/1/12 click here for complete results Note: There are wide disparities between the net and gross times listed in the official results.  The times listed below are based on the apparent gross times and will be adjusted pending further information. Women 1. Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) - 2:30:36 2. Madoka Ogi (Team Juhachi Ginko) - 2:33:48 3. Hellen Kimutai (Kenya) - 2:36:45 4. Filomena Costa (Portugal) - 2:40:57 5. Chihiro Tanaka (AthleC AC) - 2:40:58 Men 1. Alemayehu Shumye (Ethiopia) - 2:10:35 2. Ro...