japan running news

The combined 61st Chubu Corporate Ekiden and 51st Hokuriku Corporate Ekiden regional qualifiers for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships took place Nov. 7 in Tahara, Aichi.   Toyota Boshoku won for the first time in 8 years, covering the 7-stage, 80.5 km course in 3:54:16. 2021 New Year Ekiden runner-up Toyota  was 39 seconds back in 2nd, its 7-year winning streak as the king of the Chubu Region coming to an end. Toyota Boshoku didn't take the lead until the final leg, anchor Yuji Onoda , 25, playing the critical role in his team's success. Onoda started the last stage 23 seconds behind Toyota's Atsushi Yamato  but reeled him in within 4 km. Onoda and Yamato were teammates at Aichi's Toyokawa H.S.  and had run together countless times, giving each of them insight into how the other was moving. "Usually I wouldn't be able to overtake him like that," said Onoda. "I figured he must not be in peak condition." That ...

Like the title says, regional corporate league track and field championships lead this weekend's main action, with every region except Kyushu set to go ahead with its meet despite the proliferation of a new round of states of emergency across the country. Two of the most competitive regions, East Japan and Chubu, will be streaming their meets live, with Kansai likely to join the list. East Japan, whose Day One stream above, runs 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday Japan time and again 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday. The meet schedule and entry lists can be had here . Featuring a lot of the best Japan-based Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes, the men's 5000 and 10000 m look like the best races of the meet, with the 5000 m A-heat also having like Olympic 5000 m team member Yuta Bando  (Fujitsu), newly-minted Olympic 10000 m team member Tatsuhiko Ito  (Honda), and Olympic marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) back in action, hopefully, after scratching from the Lake Biwa Maratho...