japan running news

by Brett Larner If the preliminary announcement is to be believed, the organizers of the Sapporo International Half Marathon have done an outstanding job in setting up a strong field for this year's 53rd edition to be held July 4. Last year's race was expected to include Beijing Olympics marathon gold medalist Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya), but his listing turned out to be only the empty promise of a promoter. This year's men's field is slated to include a handful of big names, and if all show Sapporo could be one of the best races of the summer. Topping the overseas men's field are Berlin World Championships marathon gold medalist Abel Kirui and 2:05 marathoner Vincent Kipruto , both of Kenya, along with their Japan-resident sub-hour countrymen Gideon Ngatuny (Team Nissin Shokuhin), the 2009 Sapporo winner, and Mekubo Mogusu (Team Aidem), the course record holder and 2007-08 winner. Somewhat of a non-sequitur, American Antonio Vega rounds out the overseas men...

by Brett Larner The Sendai International Half Marathon has announced the lineup for this year's 20th anniversary edition on May 9. The top end of the men's field promises a great duel as sub-27 10000 m man and 10 mile junior world record holder Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) makes his half marathon debut against three-time sub-hour half marathoner Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Aidem). Their goal will no doubt be not just the win but Samuel Wanjiru 's course and Japanese all-comers record of 59:43, a target that has so far eluded Mogusu by as little as 5 seconds. With a mixed field of Japanese elites, Japan-resident Africans and Japanese university men there are too many noteworthy runners to mention, but other names on the entry list include 2010 Asian Games marathon team member Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN), multiple World Half Marathon national team member Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko), Tokyo Marathon 4th placer Yuki Kawauchi (unatt.), Kenyans James...

by Brett Larner After failing to even qualify for the 2007 All-Japan Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden , Team Toyota Jidoshoki scored a surprise win over defending champion Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo at this year's national championship ekiden in Gifu Prefecture. Toyota Jidoshoki, one of two teams in the ekiden coached by Yoshio Koide, had only previously qualified once and was missing its star runner Yuriko Kobayashi, whom Rikuren banned from competing in jitsogyodan events after her enrollment in university last year. Neverthless, strong performances from the entire team, particularly anchor Aya Nagata's stage best run, were enough to unseat Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo. Team Panasonic's 17 year old Christie Muyanga, the 2008 World Junior 3000 m steeplechase champion, ran away from the field on the ekiden's 6.6 km 1st stage. She faded in the final 600 m and was almost overtaken by the chase pack which included 2008 International Chiba Ekiden Japanese national team anchor M...

http://www.iaaf.org/WHM08/news/kind=100/newsid=47971.html

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20080616-OYT1T00581.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner On June 16, Rikuren announced the members of the Japanese team for the World Half Marathon Championships to be held October 12 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Leading the team of five men and five women will be two-time Olympic marathoner Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex). The complete lineup of each team, with qualification data: Men Yusei Nakao (Team Toyota Boshoku): 1:02:00 (2nd, Sendai, 5/11/08) Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko): 1:02:05 (3rd, Sendai, 5/11/08) Masato Kihara (Chuo Gakuin Univ.): 1:02:07 (5th, Sapporo, 6/15/08) Tetsuo Nishimura (Team YKK): 1:02:35 (3rd, Jitsugyodan, 3/16/08) Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN): 1:02:40 (4th, Jitsugyodan, 3/16/08) Women Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren): 1:08:11 (1st, Jitsugyodan, 3/16/08) Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex): 1:08:25 (1st, Sendai, 5/11/08) Chisato Osaki (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo): 1:09:16 (2nd, Sapporo, 6/15/08) Miki Ohira (Team Mistui Sumitom...

by Brett Larner click here for race photos The Men`s Race Mekubo Mogusu of Yamanashi Gakuin University successfully defended his title at the 2008 Sapporo International Half Marathon, winning in a time of 1:00:52. Mogusu, in peak shape after a recent 10000 m PB of 27:27 and a half marathon course record at the Kanto University Championships, set out hard and gapped the entire field within the first 100 m. Only Chuo Gakuin University senior Masato Kihara pursued Mogusu, hanging behind the course record holder through the first 4 km. It was a familiar pattern as Kihara had also pursued Mogusu at last year`s Yosenkai 20 km road race and this year`s Hakone Ekiden 2nd stage. Although Mogusu showed signs of maturity in his running during 2007 after two years of spectacular failures, in Sapporo he fell victim to a fatal flaw he has displayed time and again, an inability to cope with competitors running near him. While he claimed afterwards to have been pursuing a world record, Mogusu respond...

by Brett Larner After an earlier preliminary announcement of its invited elites, the Sapporo International Half Marathon has released the complete field for this year`s 51st running on Sunday, June 15. Normally held in July, this year`s competition was moved to June due to the upcoming G-8 summit in Toyako, near Sapporo. Considering the dramatic difference in Japan`s weather between mid-June and mid-July, the date change will probably help to put the course records up for grabs. The Japanese runners in the field have the added motivation that the top domestic man and woman will be selected for the Japanese team at this fall`s World Half Marathon Championships. By far the favorite in the men`s race is defending champion Mekubo Mogusu (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.). Mogusu ran a solo 59:54 to win last year`s race in course record time. This year he comes fresh from setting a sizeable PB in the 10000 m and breaking his own course record in the half marathon at last month`s Kanto Regional Univer...

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/olympic/2008/news/track/marathon/news/20080528-OYT1T00424.htm http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/beijing2008/athletics/news/20080527-OHT1T00073.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner Rikuren announced on May 26 that this year`s Sapporo International Half Marathon , to be held June 16, will feature all three members of Japan`s Beijing Olympic men`s marathon team, namely Atsushi Sato (30) and Tsuyoshi Ogata (35) (Team Chugoku Denryoku), and Satoshi Osaki (31) (Team NTT Nishi Nihon). It will be the first time Sapporo has been used as an Olympic test event and the first time in 16 years that all members of a Japanese Olympic marathon team have competed against each other in a single race. The list of invited foreign runners includes Osaka World Championships bronze medalist and 2008 Tokyo Marathon winner Viktor Rothlin (Switzerland), 2-time Olympic marathon medalist Erick Wainaina (Kenya) and Atlanta Olympics silver medalist Lee Bong Ju (South Korea). Returning is Kenya...

http://www.iaaf.org/news/kind=2/newsid=42684.html#team+mitsui+sumitomo+again+gifu Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo won despite missing Osaka World Championships women`s marathon bronze medalist Reiko Tosa who has been suffering from assorted injuries since Osaka . This bodes ill for her recovery leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Similarly, Team Kyocera was missing its star runner Yumiko Hara who performed poorly in Osaka due to a leg injury. Hara is scheduled to run the Osaka International Women`s Marathon next month to attempt to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, but her absence here raises questions about her current fitness. It is also worth noting that despite most of the teams` best runners being Kenyan, foreign runners were limited to the 10 km third stage rather than being allowed to run the longest stage, the 11.6 km fifth stage. This type of restriction is also true in the men`s All Japan Jitsugyodan Ekiden. Complete results from the race website: http://www.tbs.co.jp/ekiden...

http://www.iaaf.org/WRU07/results/gender=M/discipline=HMAR/combCode=hash/roundCode=f/index.html written by Brett Larner Atsushi Sato set a new Japanese and Asian half-marathon record of 1:00:25 at the World Road Running Championships in Udine, Italy on Oct. 14, 2007. Sato placed 9th overall. Japan-based half-marathon world record holder Samuel Wanjiru, suffering from a knee injury, finished 51st in 1:03:31, behind Japan`s Sato; Kazuhiro Maeda, 30th in a PB of 1:02:08; and Kenji Noguchi, 33rd in a PB of 1:02:20. Tetsuo Nishimura was close behind Wanjiru, finishing 54th in 1:03:41. The Japanese team placed 7th out of 17 teams. Japan`s women`s team finished 3rd of 8 teams led by Chisato Osaki`s 7th place finish in a PB time of 1:08:56. Other Japanese results included Akane Taira, 12th in 1:09:17 (PB); Yoshimi Ozaki, 13th in 1:09:26 (PB); Yuko Machida, 26th in 1:11:55; and Yurika Nakamura, 39th in 1:13:13.

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