japan running news

It's a big year at the Marugame Half on Feb. 2. On the women's side you've got two of the fastest Japan-based Kenyans and past Marugame winners Dolphine Omare and Pauline Kamulu vs.  Dominique Scott , Calli Hauger-Thackery and Isobel Batt-Doyle and home team Rika Kaseda , Kaede Kawamura and Haruka Kokai . On the men's side you've got sub-60 Kenyans Alexander Mutiso , Cleophas Kandie , Bedan Karoki and Emmanuel Maru with another 15 men sub-61 right behind them. The Japanese crew is led by frequent training partners Tomoki Ota , 1:00:08, and Kotaro Shinohara , 1:00:11. Although they do it in the big ekidens all the time, no Japanese man has ever broken the one hour barrier in an official half marathon. C'mon already, this is the chance. Get it done. There's a smattering of other internationals mixed in including Canada's Rory Linkletter and Australians Brett Robinson , Andy Buchanan and Tim Vincent , but the other main story on the men's side...

  Japan-based Kenyans dominated at the revamped and improved Kumamoto Kosa Road Race across all three of its main distances. Agnes Ngetich  from the Canon  team got things started in the women's 5 km, blasting a 14:48 that left Japanese NR holder Nozomi Tanaka  almost 40 seconds behind. Tanaka, whose 15:25 was technically a NR, was only 10 seconds up on Nanami Watanabe , who continued a good season with a 15:35 for 3rd only 1 second off Tanaka's previous NR iteration. Kosa's 10 km race has historically been for high school boys, but this year's race had an excellent field of corporate league runners. Triple Hakone Ekiden CR breaker Vincent Yegon , now with the Honda  corporate team, won in 28:05 by 1 second over  Festus Kiprono . Mangata Kibet  was 3rd in 28:13, with Kenyans taking the top 6 spots. Top high schooler Mahiro Kubo  from local Omuta H.S.  ran a solid 29:58, good enough for the win a lot of years but only 14th against his older c...

One of the three big races happening this weekend in Japan, the Tokyo Legacy Half is a preview of the course for next year's Tokyo World Championships marathon, starting at the National Stadium, downhill in the first 5 km, flat in the middle, and then back up to the stadium for the finish. TBS-BS is broadcasting the race live starting at 8:00 a.m., with streaming of the finish line on YouTube and a tape delayed regular TV broadcast at 1:35 a.m. on Oct. 30. Fresh off a 30:13 road 10 km and with a 1:05:58 best Loice Chemnung is the heavy-duty favorite in the women's race, 4:34 up on her nearest competition, Mongolian NR holder Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh . The Tokyo Legacy Half reduces appearance fees by 20% for anyone who finishes over 5 minutes behind the winner, so for Galbadrakh and sub-1:11 Japanese women Yuki Nakamura and Mao Kiyota it's not just a race for 2nd but against whatever Chemnung brings to Tokyo. Amos Kurgat is the top man in the field at 58:47, and he...

The Tokyo Legacy Half happens Oct. 20 on what's basically the course just announced for next year's Tokyo World Championships marathon. With a 1:05:58 best Loice Chemnung is a mile ahead of the rest of the women's field led by Mongolian NR holder Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh , Gold Coast Marathon winner Yuki Nakamura and last year's 4th-placer Natsuki Ogawa . Last year's top 3 men Evans Keitany , Benard Kimeli and Bedan Karoki are all back along with sub-60 men Amos Kurgat ,  Cleophas Kandie and Andrew Lorot , top Japanese man Tomoki Ota at 1:00:08, and a million more. Straight from Paris, Paralympians Misato Michishita , Tsubasa Kina , Tomoki Suzuki , Kenya Karasawa and more lead the para half field. Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon Elite Field Highlights Tokyo, 20 Oct. 2024 complete field listing times listed are athletes' best in last 3 years except where noted Women Loice Chemnung (Kenya) - 1:05:58 (2024 Malaga Half) Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh (Mongolia) - 1...

Sheila Chepkirui is the favorite in the Feb. 4 Marugame Half Marathon women's race, at 1:04:36 about three minutes up on her closest competition, Japan-based Kenyans Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) and Dolphine Omare Nyaboke (U.S.E.). Ayuko Suzuki (Japan Post) leads the Japanese women at 1:08:53, but the most interesting person on the entry list is her teammate Ririka Hironaka , all-time Japanese #2 for 5000 m and 10000 m and making her half marathon debut here. When Hitomi Niiya set the current NR of 1:06:38 in early 2020 it seemed like a mark that would last a long time, but with a better understanding of how much shoe tech has inflated road times since then that has to be a realistic goal for Hironaka, if not this time then next. Sub-58 man Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) has a recent best of 58:48 that puts him just ahead of Charles Langat , ranked #2 at 58:53. Cleophas Kandie (Mitsubishi Juko) is the only other runner under 60 minutes with a best of 59:18 from Marugame...

Sunday is a big day for road racing in Japan, with three major races, the Fukuoka International Marathon , Hofu Yomiuri Marathon and Kumamoto Kosa 10-Mile Road Race  all happening. Even before them there's a big event Saturday, a one-day mini edition of the Nittai University Time Trials track meet in Yokohama with a large number of people who raced last weekend's Hachioji Long Distance meet or Queens Ekiden on the start lists. Fukuoka is really the main event, set up to try to get one runner, 2:06:35 man Kyohei Hosoya (Kurosaki Harima), to the 2:05:50 he needs to steal the third spot on the Paris Olympic team from the 3rd-placer at October's Olympic marathon trials, former NR holder Suguru Osako (GMO). Hosoya fell in the trials and dropped out. Since then he's run well in shorter races and doesn't seem to have any lingering damage, but considering that he's never broken 2:08 again since his 2:06:35 at the Miracle at Lake Biwa in 2021 it'd be a stretch fo...

In its 75th anniversary race the Marugame Half saw new course records in both the women's and men's races and a near-miss on a new Japanese men's NR. Japan-based Kenyan  Pauline Kamulu soloed a 1:07:22 CR to win the women's race by 49 seconds, 4 seconds under the old CR and her fastest time since her 1:06:56 for bronze at the 2018 World Half Marathon Championships. Rika Kaseda continued to climb the ranks among Japanese women with a 1:08:11 for 2nd, landing her in the all-time Japanese top 10. Australian duo Isobel Batt-Doyle and Sinead Diver were 3-4 just 2 seconds apart in 1:09:27 and 1:09:29. In the men's race a lead sextet of Japan-based Kenyans Alexander Mutiso , Cleophas Kandie and Andrew Lorot , corporate leaguer Tomoki Ota , and collegiate runners Kotaro Shinohara and Reishi Yoshida went through 10 km together in 10 km before splitting into two groups. Lorot fell off the front group before 15 km and Yoshida off the back group by 15 km, leaving Muti...

Continuing a stellar season that saw him run a 26:55.04 10000 m best in October, Benard Kibet Koech (Kyudenko) took 20 seconds off Haile Gebrselassie 's world best for 10 miles with a 44:04 win at the Kumamoto Kosa 10-Mile Road Race on Sunday. Alone early, Koech checked his watch repeatedly as he hammered the course, his only competition the great Gebrselassie's 17-year-old record. In the end nobody came within a minute and a half of him, Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) winning a three-way race for 2nd in 45:47 and Cleophas Kandie (Mitsubishi Juko) 3rd in 45:49. Takashi Namba (Toenec) was 4th in 45:50, just 10 seconds off Masanari Shintaku 's 45:40 national record from 1984. Kento Nishi (Osaka Gas) and Masashi Nonaka (Osaka Gas) were both under 46 minutes, and altogether 100 people were under 49:30, making it one of the deepest 10-milers in history. The high school boys' 10 km was also solid, with the top 9 all under 30 minutes. Maynard Nganga (Senshu Tamana H...

Three big pre-ekiden season meets happened this weekend and produced some big results. Saturday at the Nittai University Time Trials in Yokohama, Richard Kimunyan (Hitachi Butsuryu) and Benard Koech (Kyudenko) pushed each other under Josphat Ndambiri 's longstanding 10000 m Japan all-comers record of 26:57.36, Kimunyan setting the new record at 26:54.76 and Koech next in 26:55.04. Those times made them the only Kenyans under 27 minutes this year worldwide, with the Hachioji Long Distance meet still to come next month. Three others were under 27:30 led by Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) in 27:12.84, with Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) the top Japanese man at 6th in 27:53.00. Justus Soget (Honda) took the 5000 m A-heat in 13:24.01, the top five all under 13:30 and another Fujitsu runner, Olympian Hiroki Matsueda , filling the top Japanese spot at 8th in 13:34.62. Harumi Okamoto (Yamada Holdings) won the women's 5000 m A-heat in 15:49.72, and Kenyan Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Ji...

The 10000 m component of this year's National Track and Field Championships happens Monday night in Shizuoka, just 5 months after the rescheduled 2020 edition. One spot each on the men's and women's 10000 m squads for the Tokyo Olympics 10000 m are already occupied by the winners of those races, and to pick up one of the two remaining spots this time around people will need to have the Olympic standard and make top 3.  Tatsuhiko Ito  (Honda), runner-up in December in 27:25.73, is the only one of the 44 Japanese men entered to have already cleared the 27:28.00 standard, so all he needs to worry about is putting himself among the first three. His nearest competition, Daiji Kawai  (Toenec) and  Tetsuya Yoroizaka  (Asahi Kasei), will need to find another 7 or 8 seconds to have have a shot. None of the 23 Japanese women entered has cleared the 31:25.00 standard, but Ririka Hironaka  (Japan Post) came close in her debut last month in 31:30.03 and, along wi...