japan running news

After a day off for New Year's Eve, the peak of championship ekiden season rolls on first thing on Jan. 1 with the 70th edition of the New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championship race. The top 40 teams in the country race 100.0 km in 7 legs in Gunma, starting at 9:15 a.m. sharp on New Year's Day. Unedited raw camera feeds from the live broadcast will be streamed live on Youtube above starting at 9:10 a.m., with the official TBS broadcast starting at 8:30 a.m. and streaming of the broadcast on TVer . During the race live results will be posted here . Every team has to requalify for the New Year Ekiden by running one of the 6 regional corporate ekidens in early November. Usually they're pretty similar in length and elevation change at around 80 km, making a rough comparison of where teams stand fairly straightforward. This time the East Japan race was only 74.6 km and the Kyushu race 89.3 km, meaning that going by average pace the East Japan teams had an advant...

Following last weekend's East Japan and Kyushu Region corporate ekidens , qualification for the New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championship wrapped up Sunday with 3 other qualifying races covering 4 corporate regions. As in East Japan and Kyushu, one extra slot per region was available in honor of the New Year Ekiden's 70th running to the top team finishing outside the designated number of qualifying spots in that region as long as the they finished within 10 minutes of the last team in the regular qualifying bracket. In the combined Chubu and Hokuriku Region race, Toyota Boshoku took over the lead on the 3rd leg and never looked back, leading the 6 qualifying teams by 57 seconds in 3:54:00 for the 7-leg, 80.5 km course. Just over 2 minutes back from 6th finisher NTN , the Toenec team scored the special qualification slot in 4:00:35 for 7th. Perennial top Hokuriku placer YKK had a relatively narrow win over Sekino Kosan 4:00:12 to 4:01:00, both teams going on t...

  The Chugoku Denryoku  men's corporate team has announced that team member Naoki Okamoto , 40, will retire in January. Born in May, 1984, Okamoto went to Tohaku J.H.S.  and Yura Ikuei H.S.  before enrolling at Meiji University . His 2nd year at Meiji he helped it make it through the Hakone Ekiden qualifying race for the first time in 14 years and ran Hakone at the end of that season in 2005. He went on to run it his 3rd and 4th years too, placing 6th on the First Stage and 9th on the highly competitive Second Stage. After graduating in 2007 he joined Chugoku Denryoku. He was a regular on its team at the New Year Ekiden, winning the Fifth Stage in 2010. But where he really made his name was the National Men's Ekiden, held every January in Hiroshima where Chugoku Denryoku is based. Running it 19 times, he passed a total of 134 competitors in his career there and came to be recognized as one of the event's icons. He also won its Seventh Stage in 2009. In the marathon, ...

Yasushi Sakaguchi , who guided the Chugoku Denryoku men's corporate team to the peak of its power as its head coach and later executive head coach, retired from the team at the end of June. Appearing at his final race on June 29, he said, "It all went by in a blur. I was blessed with the right people for 35 years." Sakaguchi helped co-found the Chugoku Denryoku team, working to build the team up from zero and becoming its head coach in 1994. "We started with the basics, and built Chugoku Denryoku up into a well-known powerhouse in athletics," he said. Sakaguchi's coaching style encouraging the independence of his athletes helped produced Olympians, World Championships medalists and national record breakers like Shigeru Aburaya , Tsuyoshi Ogata and Atsushi Sato . In the team's golden era it even won the New Year Ekiden national title. Asked what athletics has meant to him, Sakaguchi answered, "I got to experience the world, and to see it in all its...

Along with Saturday's The Fst in Fukuoka there was a lot going on on the roads this weekend across the country, but the biggest results were on the track. Saturday at the Nittai University Time Trials , Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) soloed a 14:47.71 Olympic standard 5000 m, over a minute faster than runner-up Kana Mizumoto (Edion) who ran 15:49.25. Akidor's coach reported her splits as 2:53.7 - 3:00.3 - 2:59.9 - 3:00.8 - 2:52.2. Charles Wanjiku Kamau (Musashino Gakuin Univ.) ran 27:40.58 to lead 10 men sub-28 in the fastest 10000 m heat, 5 of them Kenyan and 5 Japanese. Most notably, just 6 days after winning back-to-back stages at the National University Ekiden Josai University 2nd-year duo Victor Kimutai and Shoya Saito joined the sub-28 club, Kimutai 2nd in 27:41.04 and Saito 9th in 27:59.68. 3 other Josai runners were sub-29 in the B and C heats. Something has finally clicked at the Josai program this season, and together with great runs at Izumo and Nationals the r...

The first big race of the year worldwide every year is the New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships, 100 km in 7 stages through Gunma northwest of Tokyo. TBS broadcasts it live domestically starting at 8:30 a.m. local on Jan. 1, with the broadcast to be streamed live on TVer . TBS will also be streaming live, unedited feeds from three different camera trucks too starting at 9:00 a.m. You'll probably need a VPN to get around geoblocking for both TVer and the unedited feed above. Live results will be here , and JRN will be covering the race live on @JRNLive  and Instagram to help you make sense of what's going on, and on the ground from the course. Buy us a coffee to help make the first of three straight days of live ekiden coverage possible. Last year the Honda team won for the first time in the race's 66-year history. Anchor Hidekazu Hijikata promptly jumped ship for CR holder Asahi Kasei , a product of 2020 rule changes around restrictions on team ...

Beijing Olympic marathoner and former team member Atsushi Sato , 43, has been named head coach of the Chugoku Denryoku  men's corporate team as of the beginning of this month. Coming back to the team after 8 years, Sato is a strong choice to succeed Yasushi Sakaguchi  and return it to its previous position as a leading producer of top-level athletes. "I'm very happy to be a part of helping the team I belonged to develop," Sato said. "I want it to evolve and grow, not just make a comeback." Sato is a native of Fukushima. A graduate of Aizu H.S.  and Waseda University , he joined Chugoku Denryoku in 2001. With his main focus on the marathon he ran 2:07:13 at the 2007 Fukuoka International Marathon , at the time the 4th-fastest ever by a Japanese man. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics he finished in last place in 76th, but a year later he came back and made 6th at the 2009 Berlin World Championships . He retired following the 2013 Fukuoka International Marathon , ...

The regional qualifier for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national championships, the Chugoku Corporate Men's Ekiden took place Nov. 10. Eight teams competed for the four places at the New Year Ekiden up for grabs. Aiming for a fifth-straight win, the Mazda team led from the start. On the Second Stage Chudenko overtook them for the top position, holding on to the lead through the Third and Fourth Stages. But with a stage record-breaking run on the Fifth Stage Mazda's Masatoshi Teranishi succeeded in turning the team's fortunes around, putting it in position for a first-ever fifth-straight Chugoku title and leading it on to the New Year Ekiden. Chudenko, Chugoku Denryoku and JFE Steel all likewise qualified. 58th Chugoku Jitsugyodan Ekiden Sera, Hiroshima, 11/10/19 8 teams, 7 stages, 80.8 km complete results Team Results  - top 4 qualify for New Year Ekiden 1. Mazda - 4:00:10 - CR 2. Chudenko - 4:02:35 3. Chugoku Denryoku - 4:03:51 4. JFE Steel - 4:06:13 -...

Takuya Fujikawa age: 26 sponsor: Chugoku Denryoku graduated from: Sera H.S., Aoyama Gakuin University best time inside MGC window: 2:10:35, 7th, 2019 Tokyo Marathon PB: 2:10:35, 7th, 2019 Tokyo Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 13:51.40 (2013) 10000 m: 27:58.87 (2018) half marathon: 1:01:46 (2019) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) 7th, 2019 Tokyo Marathon, 2:10:35 12th, 2018 Gold Coast Marathon, 2:15:59 6th, 2018 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:11:59 other major results: 5th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Third Stage (13.6 km), 38:29 8th, 2019 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:01:46 – PB 4th, 2018 Hachioji Long Distance Meet 10000 m, 27:58.87 – PB 1st, 2015 Hakone Ekiden Ninth Stage (23.2 km), 1:08:04 3rd, 2014 Hakone Ekiden Ninth Stage (23.2 km), 1:09:23 Fujikawa has followed a super-elite path through the Japanese ekiden world for most of his career. Alongside Bedan Karoki (Kenya), he was part of Sera High School ’s 2011 National High School Ekiden Championships ...

Ekiden season rolls on. Sunday in Fukushima is the 34th running of the East Japan Women's Ekiden , a miniature version of January's National Women's Ekiden featuring teams made up of the best J.H.S., H.S., university, corporate and club runners from each of the 18 prefectures in eastern Japan. Most notable on the entry list is Tokyo's Hitomi Niiya , all-time Japanese #3 for 10000 m and working her way back from a five-year retirement in hopes of making the Tokyo 2020 team. Fuji TV will broadcast the race live from noon to 2:30 p.m. Japan time. Following last weekend's East Japan and Kyushu corporate men's regional New Year Ekiden national championships qualifiers, the Kansai and Chugoku regions hold their qualifiers Sunday in Wakayama and Hiroshima. Top-placing teams from each region will go on to the New Year Ekiden on January 1st, with Sumitomo Denko and Chugoku Denryoku , featuring 2018 Hokkaido Marathon winner Naoki Okamoto , the favorites. The Kan...

The Chugoku Denryoku and Mazda men's corporate teams raced each other to new heights at the 56th Hiroshima Corporate Ekiden , each taking over two minutes off the course record Mazda set just last year. 5 of the race's 6 stages saw new records with runners from both teams breaking the record on 3 of them. Mazda's Kenji Yamamoto took an early lead on the opening stage, but on every remaining stage the two teams swapped position, Mazda never more than 13 seconds in front and Chugoku Denryoku never more than 28.  Chugoku Denryoku anchor Kaido Kita was down 13 seconds when he took the tasuki, but with only 5.49 km to work with he managed to turn that around and open 17 seconds on Mazda anchor Shori Arai after catching him. Mazda's record for the 43.82 km course was 2:08:10. This year Chugoku Denryoku won in 2:05:52 with Mazda running 2:06:09. 3rd-placer Chudenko was also just off the record at 2:08:20, briefly taking the lead on the Second Stage thanks to a stage ...

http://hirospo.com/quick/34808.html translated by Brett Larner On Dec. 15 the Chugoku Newspaper reported that 2:07:52 marathoner Shigeru Aburaya has been promoted from his position as assistant coach at the Chugoku Denryoku men's corporate team to head coach.  Aburaya will assume his new duties next year on Feb. 1.  After 25 years working in that role current head coach Yasushi Sakaguchi will become general manager.  In November Sakaguchi became coach of the JAAF's men's marathon development program for the buildup to the Tokyo Olympics. Translator's note: Along with his 2:07:52 best from the 2001 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Aburaya's achievements as an athlete included 5th-place finishes in the 2003 Paris World Championships and 2004 Athens Olympics marathons.  Besides Aburaya, Sakaguchi also coached 2:07:13 all-time Japanese #4 marathoner and half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato and 2:08:37 marathoner Tsuyoshi Ogata , the last Japanese man ...

https://twitter.com/soutarou_t/status/707312990672986112 translated by Brett Larner With a record of achievement at Aoyama Gakuin University and Team Chugoku Denryoku that made him Nagasaki's star long distance runner, Takehiro Deki , 25, announced on Mar. 8 that last month's Tokyo Marathon was his final race and that he is retiring. Deki started running during the winter of his first year at Hokuyodai H.S. and grew to become the star runner at Aoyama Gakuin, leading the team to new heights.  His third year at AGU he won the 2012 Hakone Ekiden's most competitive stage, the 23.2 km Second Stage, following up just over a month later with a marathon debut at the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon where he ran 2:10:02, the third-best ever by a Japanese university runner.  Aiming for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics at the Tokyo Marathon last month he finished 26th. Deki commented, "After entering the corporate leagues I gave my absolute best every single day, but I found that ...

interview and photo by Brett Larner On Jan. 2-3 Aoyama Gakuin University won the biggest title in Japan for the first time, setting an incredible new course record at the 91st running of the Hakone Ekiden in large part thanks to a spectacular run up the mountain on the Fifth Stage by third-year Daichi Kamino and more outstanding runs by his fellow  third-years Kazuma Kubota and Yusuke Ogura .   Back in the spring of 2012 JRN interviewed then-Aoyama Gakuin third-year Takehiro Deki and head coach Susumu Hara ahead of Deki's marathon debut at Lake Biwa, where he ran 2:10:02 .  Hara, a graduate of 2014 National High School Ekiden champion Sera H.S. , went to school outside the Kanto region at Aichi's Chukyo University and never ran the Hakone Ekiden, going on to a short-lived and unsuccessful career at the Chugoku Denryoku corporate team before leaving the sports world for an office job.  Years later he returned to take over at Aoyama Gakuin, at the time...

by Brett Larner Jan.1 is the day for which Japan’s corporate men’s running league exists, the national championship New Year Ekiden . Seven-man teams from across the country square off over 100 km on stages ranging from 8.3 km for foreign runners to 22.0 km for the best pros, with all the action broadcast live nationwide on TBS starting at 8:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day. Defending champion Konica Minolta comes back as the heavy favorite, having won the Nov. 3 East Japan regional qualifier in course-record time by a minute and a half over 2012 New Year Ekiden course record setter Nissin Shokuhin . Nissin Shokuhin was strong to be sure with a stage record from ace Yuki Sato  but Konica Minolta was just that much stronger, winning four of East Japan’s seven stages including two individual stage records. Anchor Tomohiro Tanigawa was the team’s secret weapon, just off the anchor stage record as he continued his quiet rise to Japan’s top ranks. Team Fujitsu took the remaining t...

http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0318/OSK201303180013.html translated by Brett Larner At around 5:40 a.m. on Mar. 18, a neighbor spotted flames coming from the Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima home of former Team Chugoku Denryoku marathoner Teruto Ozaki , 34. The two-story, 100 square meter wood-frame home was complete destroyed by the fire. According to prefectural authorities, Teruto resided at the home with his wife and four children.  All six were sleeping at the time of the fire but escaped unharmed. Ozaki finished 5th at the 2006 Beijing Marathon, where he ran his best of 2:13:28.  He retired from racing in January this year.

http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/News/Tn201301280004.html http://www.komaspo.com/4210 http://mainichi.jp/area/saitama/news/20130128ddlk11050143000c.html http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20130127-1077441.html http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20130127-OHT1T00214.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner Three late-season ekidens took place this weekend.  Amid light snow in Yamaguchi, 48 teams took part in the 76th running of the Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden on a 7-stage, 84.4 km course from Ube City Hall to Shunan City Hall.  In the elite division, after an exciting Sixth Stage that saw 2012 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) cover the 15.9 km stage in 46:11 to move his team up into 1st, Team Chugoku Denryoku retook the lead on the anchor stage and claimed its eleventh Chugoku Yamaguchi title and first in two years in a time of 4:06:44.   Saikyo High School 's A team won the high school division in ...

by Brett Larner The raison d'être for the Japanese men's corporate team comes bright and early every Jan. 1 with the New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships.  37 teams from 6 regions square off over 100 km in a race that sees most of the athletes bringing their peak performance of the year; at the 2012 New Year Ekiden, winner Team Nissin Shokuhin ace Yuki Sato 's record of 1:02:51 for the 22.0 km Fourth Stage was equivalent to a 1:00:16 half marathon, faster than the Japanese national record.  TBS will broadcast the race live starting at 8:30 a.m.  Overseas viewers should be able to watch online with Keyhole TV , with coverage also available via Twitter @JRNLive . Nissin Shokuhin comes to the 2013 New Year Ekiden in range of a title defense, but much of its chances depend on Sato.  At November's East Japan regional qualifier he was only 4th on his stage, contributing to the team's loss to the Tsuyoshi Ugachi -led Team Konica Minolta . ...

http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/sports/Sp201204270091.html translated and edited by Brett Larner On April 26 it was announced that Beijing Olympics men's marathoner Atsushi Sato  (33, Team Chugoku Denryoku) will take an indefinite leave of absence from the Chugoku Denryoku team to relocate his training base to his native Fukushima.  Sato will remain affiliated with Chugoku Denryoku but will enter Fukushima University in October as a research student. Born in Aizu, Fukushima, last year's disasters were a major turning point for Sato.  Becoming a driving force in helping to alleviate the region's misery in the wake of the nuclear accidents has given him new motivation.  With the understanding of his company, he chose to return to his hometown.  At Fukushima University he will be researching the physiological effects of low-oxygen training while training in his hometown of Aizu as he targets next year's World Championships.  Among the many others who have b...

by Brett Larner Japan wastes no time getting the 2012 racing season off to a start, with the New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships kicking off this Sunday, Jan. 1 at 8:30 a.m.  With 100 km split into seven stages broadcast live to a nationwide TV audience the New Year Ekiden is one of Japan's biggest and most popular races, featuring the best Japanese pro runners and Japan-resident Africans, including 10000 m world champion Ibrahim Jeilan  (Team Honda), World XC silver medalist Paul Tanui  (Team Kyudenko) and Fukuoka International Marathon winner Josphat Ndambiri  (Team Komori Corp.).  Overseas viewers up for the task should be able to catch TBS' broadcast live via Keyhole TV , with English-language splits and commentary coming to you live @JRNLive starting at 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 31 on the west coast of North America, 6:30 p.m. on the east coast, or 11:30 p.m. in London.  If JRNLive maxes out commentary will continue @JRNHeadlines . 201...