japan running news

At least five major races fill the calendar this weekend across Japan. Potentially the biggest is the Karatsu 10-Miler , where half marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda) is slated to run in what many hope will be a shot at the antique national record. Over 30 seconds faster than the American national record, Hisatoshi Shintaku 's 45:40,has stood since 1984 and survived  over three decades of assaults including Shitara's 45:58 at December's Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler. It translates to 42:34 for 15 km; at last weekend's Marugame Half Shitara went through 15 km in 42:39. Just two weeks out from a shot at the Japanese national record for the marathon will Shitara try to add another national record to his resume en route to Tokyo? Many of his corporate league brethren and sistren will be lining up at the National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km Championships. Historically the world's deepest competitive men's half marathon and second-deepest women...

by Brett Larner February is one of those months with more events crammed in than it's possible to cover.  This weekend features at least three good quality marathons, a 10-miler, another late-season ekiden, and half of the elite Japanese cross country season. That XC happens east of Tokyo in Chiba at the Chiba International XC Meet, along with the Feb. 21 Fukuoka International XC Meet one of the two races that decide the Japanese team for next month's World XC Championships in China.  Marugame Half Marathon remnants Samuel Tsegaye (Eritrea) and Juan Luis Barrios (Mexico) make up the major share of the international component in the senior men's 12 km where they face the likes of 2015 Hakone Ekiden course record setter Aoyama Gakuin University 's Kazuma Kubota , Daito Bunka University wonder twins Hiroshi and Takashi Ichida and many more.  The Japanese junior teams usually represent well at worlds, and most of the country's best up-and-coming talent will be ...

by Brett Larner With heavy snow scheduled to hit most of the country on Saturday four races fill Sunday's calendar.   Chief among them is the 52nd edition of the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon , a developmental race that has seen the debuts of the likes of Moscow World Championships marathon 5th-placer Kentaro Nakamoto  (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Hiroaki Sano  (Team Honda), the top Japanese man at last year's Chicago Marathon.   Sho Matsumoto  (Nikkei Business) leads the way with a 2:13:38 best from last year's Nobeoka, but look for challenges from debuting Hakone Ekiden Sixth Stage course record holder Kenta Chiba (Team Fujitsu) and Team Otsuka Seiyaku's ace rookie Yudai Yamakawa . Click here for a field listing and more info . The 54th Karatsu 10-miler sees Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't) taking on sub-60 minute half marathoner Mekubo Mogusu  (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin), Hiroyuki Uno  formerly of Hakone Ekiden course record sette...

http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/News/Tn201302110012.html translated by Brett Larner The five-stage, 21.0975 km Chugoku Women's Ekiden took place Feb. 10 in Hiroshima. Defending champion Team Edion  outran the other 51 teams in the field to take a second-straight title in 1:10:11, its tenth win in the event's 27-year history.  Fukuoka's Yanagawa H.S. was 2nd, with Kyoto Koka H.S.  3rd.  Last year's runner-up Tottori Chuo Ikuei H.S.  was only 4th. 20 city and town teams from within Hiroshima Prefecture competed.  Moving ahead on the final stage, the Hiroshima T&F Assoc.  team finished first among them for the first time in 3 years, its fourteenth time in the top position.  The Mihara Sports Assoc.  team took 2nd and Fukuyama T&F Assoc.  3rd.  The Hiroshima T&F Assoc.  C and D teams were disqualified after a tasuki handoff mixup at the fourth exchange zone.

by Brett Larner Five races fill a busy long weekend in Japan.  First and foremost is the 51st running of the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon in Kyushu .  A developmental race at the 2:11-2:15 level, Nobeoka has in the past produced athletes such as Koji Kobayashi  (Team Subaru), who debuted there in 2:12:52 last year before going on to run the fastest time of 2012 by a Japanese man overseas, 2:10:40 at the Chicago Marathon.  This year's field includes 2010 Asian Games silver medalist Yukihiro Kitaoka  (Team NTN), 2011 Nobeoka winner Kenji Takeuchi  (Team Toyota Kyushu) and the promising Etsu Miyata  (Team Fujitsu).  A large number of athletes will be making their marathon debuts, most noteworthy among them being defending 5000 m national champion  Kazuya Deguchi (Team Asahi Kasei) and sub-63 man Ayumu Sato  (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki).  2009 Ome 30 km winner Hirokatsu Kurosaki  (Team Konica Minolta) will also make a long-...

by Brett Larner 2010 National University Women's Ekiden champions Bukkyo University rounded out their season by knocking nearly a minute and a half off course record at the five-stage, half marathon-distance 25th anniversary Chugoku Women's Ekiden , Feb. 13 in Hiroshima. 10000 m national collegiate record holder Hikari Yoshimoto led Bukkyo off with a stage record of 18:58 for the 5.83 km First Stage, and Bukkyo runners took stage best on three of the four remaining legs including an anchor stage record by Shiho Takechi . Only the professional Team Deodeo 's Fourth Stage runner Ruriko Kubo broke Bukkyo's domination, running a stage record 7:33 for the 2.4 km Fourth Stage, but even there Bukkyo's Sairi Maeda took second-best. Deodeo took 2nd in 1:09:29, only four seconds off the course record, but Bukkyo was so strong that they were nearly a minute and a half ahead in 1:08:08. Bukkyo's perennial rivals Ritsumeikan University were a distant 3rd in 1:10:11. 201...