japan running news

Everything in Japanese marathoning is already about qualifying for the MGC Race, Japan's trials race for the L.A. Olympics. Scheduled the same day as the Fukuoka International Marathon, the Dec. 7 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon counts the same weight as Fukuoka, Tokyo and Osaka in men's qualification, with trials spots up to be had by the first 6 Japanese men under 2:09:00 and the first Japanese woman under 2:27:00. The only real contender to do that among the women is Mizuki Nishimura , running her first marathon off a 1:41:42 CR at the Kumanichi 30k in February. Given the Tenmaya corporate team's track record of success in the marathon, including the current women's NR of 2:18:59, her chances are pretty good. Ayumi Morita ran a 2:31:38 PB in Tokyo last year, but it's a big jump for her to get down to 2:26 and it'll mostly be a question of whether Nishimura executes the same way she did at Kumanichi. For men there are 6 under 2:09:00 in the last 3 years, with Ryoma T...

The Dec. 1 Fukuoka International Marathon is the first of this winter season's big selection races for the home soil team for next year's Tokyo World Championships, and the domestic field is a great one. Kenya Sonota , 2:05:59 in Tokyo last year, and 2:06 men Yusuke Nishiyama , Yuya Yoshida , Kazuya Nishiyama and Daisuke Doi make up the main contenders to get a spot, with internationals Lemeck Too , Jie He , Bethwel Yegon , Vincent Raimoi , last year's winner Michael Githae , and Shaohui Yang perfectly positioned to add momentum to the shot at the 2:06:30 Worlds standard that they'll all be taking. 8 other Japanese men in the 2:07 to 2:09 range make it one of the most competitive Fukuoka editions in a long, long time. Last year Githae outkicked Yang by 1 second to win 2:07:08 to 2:07:09, Yang with a Chinese NR that was broken a few months later by He in Wuxi. Chinese men's marathoning has momentum right now too, and it wouldn't be surprising to see either He...

  The winner of Tokyo's Year End Half Marathon in 2019,  Andy Buchanan  ran a crafty race to beat four sub-61 Japanese men and the debuting Australian  Isaac Heyne  at the Gold Coast Half Marathon . Smiling most of the way, Heyne led on 2:59/km pace through the turnaround point just before 11 km before Koki Kamata  took over. From there it was a series of turnovers that took the lead group down to just Heyne, favorite Shunsuke Shikama , 2:06 marathoner Daisuke Doi , and Buchanan. All of them made moves in the last 2 km, but Buchanan made the definitive one in the last km, pulling away to win in a PB 1:02:20. After falling slightly behind, Heyne fought back for 2nd in 1:02:22 with Doi getting Shikama on the line for 3rd, both clocking 1:02:25. Four other Japanese men including 2:05 marathoner Kenya Sonota  made the top 10. The women's race started out as a trio with Australians Leanne Pompeani  and Jessica Stenson , and two-time winner  Sara H...

The rain mostly stopped exactly 10 minutes before the start of the Osaka Marathon , and conditions were actually pretty good for most of what ended up a record-breaking race. Backing off from the organizers planned 3:19/km when the main invited elites told them nobody wanted to go that fast in cold and rain, the women's race was a pack run until the late stages with a group of 7 or 8 stretched out over 5 seconds hitting half in 1:11:38. Shedding one or two at a time as the kilometers went by from there, by 40 km it was down to Ethiopians Waganesh Nekasha and Beyenu Degefa in 2:17:08 with Australian veteran Lisa Weightman 6 seconds back and last year's CR breaker Helen Tola Bekele another 5 seconds behind. Nekasha had the stronger kick and scored the win in 2:24:20, Degefa losing 17 seconds to finish 2nd in 2:24:37 and both just over a minute of their bests. Weightman followed up her 2:24:18 in Valencia in December with a 2:24:43 for 3rd to solidify her claim to a spot on wh...

by Brett Larner The 15,000 runner-strong Ome 30 km and 10 km Road Race has rolled out the men's and women's elite fields for its 51st running on Feb. 19.  Coached by 1992 Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist Kochi Morishita , defending men's champion Yuki Oshikawa (Team Toyota Kyushu) returns to try to become the first man since 1986 to win Ome two years in a row.  Last year Oshikawa had a narrow 9-second win over Kenyan Michael Githae (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), and this year Githae returns with a good chance of becoming Ome's first-ever Kenyan winner.  Both have tough competition in the form of celebrity runner Daichi Kamino (Team Konica Minolta), the former star of the Hakone Ekiden's famed uphill Fifth Stage. Ome's course is a tough and hilly one that plans to Kamino's strengths, and for both he and Oshikawa there's a nice payday waiting for a solid run: 500,000 yen for the win [~$4400 USD] , 2,000,000 yen for breaking Masaki Ito 's 201...