japan running news

We've been in transit back from NYC, where Komazawa University  2nd-year Shunsuke Kuwata turned in t he fastest-ever half marathon by a Japanese man outside Japan , and are catching up on a busy weekend in Japan and elsewhere. Saturday saw 2 new records and 2 international medals. At the rebranded Fukuoka Ohori Road Running race, Ojiro Honda (Tottori Johoku H.S.) took 1 second off the NR in the men's road mile, coming up just short of a sub-4 in 4:00.2. Laura Nicholson (Ireland) won the women's mile in 4:44 by 3 seconds over Yuzu Nishide (Daihatsu). Caroline Kariba (Japan Post) had a big win in the women's 5 km, outrunning the more accomplished Medina Eisa (Ethiopia) and Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) to win in 15:15 with Medina 2nd in 15:20 and Akidor 3rd in 15:33. Marathoner Mao Uesugi (Tokyo Metro) was the top Japanese finisher at 4th in 16:11. Kio Furuhashi (Surugadai Univ.) took the men's 5 km in 13:45 by 2 seconds over steepler Ryoma Aoki (Honda), 2n...

Last weekend's Nagoya Women's Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon the weekend before brought the main part of the first year of qualification for the Marathon Grand Championship Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials to be held in Nagoya in October, 2027, to an end. There are still a few races like the Nagano Marathon and overseas World Athletics platinum label races this season where people might qualify, but for the most part we're not likely to see many new additions until August's Hokkaido Marathon, where the qualifying period opened last year. As of right now 16 women and 26 men have qualified, although the first woman to make the cut, Ai Hosoda , announced that she was retiring after Tokyo earlier this month. Out of the 16 women to have qualified so far, Mikuni Yada is the fastest with her 2:19:57 debut at Osaka Women's in January. Including Hosoda that makes 2 qualifiers for the Edion corporate team, but Daihatsu has the biggest share of the field so ...

Paris Olympics alternate Ai Hosoda became the first Japanese athlete to score a place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th at the Sydney Marathon , but starting immediately after Sydney finished the hot and humid Hokkaido Marathon saw another 2 women and 3 men pick up their own trials spots. The women's race saw Japan-based Kenyan Selly Chepyego Kaptich go out solo around 3:30/km pace, hitting halfway in 1:13:35 before starting to fade. Running her debut, Aiwa Sakaguchi was a bit more conservative, running 1:15:06 through halfway with the trio of Ayano Ikeuchi , Kaena Takeyama and Yukari Nagatomo 20 second behind. Sakaguchi passed Chepyego just past 30 km to take the lead and ran on unchallenged for the win in 2:31:50. Ikeuchi dropped the other two and started to close on Sakaguchi after 30 km but couldn't quite get there, taking 2nd in 2:31:57 with Nagatomo 3rd in 2:33:57. By clearing 2:32:00 both Sakaguchi and Ikeuchi joined Hosoda on...

Tokyo's newest elite-level road race happened Sunday on the course used for Japan's 2020 Olympic marathon trials and the 2020 Paralympic Games marathon, with the first edition of the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon bringing 15,000 to the streets. Kenyan Vincent Kipkemoi outran Japan-based world all-time #4 Alexander Mutiso for the win 1:00:10 to 1:00:29, with 3rd and 4th-placers Benard Kimeli and Vincent Raimoi also getting under 61 minutes despite the tough uphill finish. With prize money running 8 deep Kenyans took the top 8 spots. Winning a three-way sprint finish on the track for 9th and top Japanese honors was Kenta Murayama , outkicking marathoners Daisuke Uekado and Yusuke Nishiyama by 1 second in 1:02:14. In the women's race, unknown Caroline Nyaga outran 2022 National Corporate Half Marathon champ Dolphine Omare Nyaboke for the win, breaking her PB by over a minute and a half in 1:08:23. Nyaboke was 2nd in 1:09:46. On the climb back up to the stadium 2022 Hokka...

Japan's 2022 first half domestic marathon season is done, and with Sunday's Wan Jin Shi Marathon having been the last chance for people to get onto the board for the Japan Marathon Championship Series I it's clear where things stand for the new JMC national title, for Oregon World Championships team qualification, and for qualification for the 2023 Marathon Grand Championship , volume 2 of Japan's more-or-less one-shot Olympic marathon trials. In terms of pure numbers, the 10 fastest men so far in 2022 average 2:07:30 and the 10 fastest women 2:22:45, putting the men #3 in the world behind Ethiopia and Kenya and the women 2nd only to Ethiopia. For men that's the 3rd-fastest annual average ever, following 2021 and 2020. For women it's the fastest-ever. Kengo Suzuki leads the men at 2:05:28, with another 9 men having run 2:07. Mizuki Matsuda is the fastest women at 2:20:52, with 9 other women under 2:25. It's not that meaningful to compare modern times to ...

It's still kind of hard to believe that it's come and gone, but you couldn't have asked for a more symbolic choice to win the Fukuoka International Marathon 's final running. Coming to Japan from Kenya in his teens to attend Fukuoka Daiichi High School, finding guidance from Olympic marathoner Arata Fujiwara  and working his way up the Fukuoka podium every year,  Michael Githae  (Suzuki) came through to become the final Fukuoka champion in 2:07:51. In JRN's Inside the Outside - When the World Came to Fukuoka  Githae said, "This is my last chance. I'm going to run my best." Just before the start of the race Fujiwara, a 3rd-placer and twice sub-2:10 in Fukuoka, told JRN, "He's really confident. I think his training was better last year when he ran 2:08, but he really believes he's going to do it this time. In these conditions I think it'll go around 2:07:30, which would be in his favor." The pace went out hotter than that, with a 14...

All good things must pass. Tomorrow is the final running of the  Fukuoka International Marathon , Japan's most iconic marathon and last remaining elite men-only race. On paper it has a field to rival the one that broke records at February's final running of the  Lake Biwa Marathon , and with excellent conditions on the forecast and the attitude on display at the pre-race press conference it looks like Fukuoka might get the sendoff it deserves.  Former half marathon and marathon NR holder Yuta Shitara  (Honda) was confident and mature in his answers at the presser, saying his training has been the same as in previous marathons, that he is in Fukuoka to win, and that he plans to run a controlled first half and then push the second. Shitara also announced a sponsor change from Nike, which which he's had a relationship since college, to Puma. Shitara's twin brother Keita Shitara  (Hitachi Butsuryu), 2:12:13 in Tokyo last year, is also in the race, creating the like...

With just over a month to go until its final edition, on Nov. 1 the organizers of the Fukuoka International Marathon held a press conference to announce its last elite field. For the second year in a row it's domestic-only, headlined by Kyohei Hosoya  (Kurosaki Harima), 2:06:35 at the final Lake Biwa Marathon this past spring, Ryu Takaku  (Yaklut), 2:06:45 in Tokyo last year, and Daisuke Uekado (Otsuka Seiyaku), 2:06:54 in Tokyo just behind Takaku.  Out of a total field of 124, along with the 3 sub-2:07 guys there are 11 sub-2:08, 18 sub-2:09, 25 sub-2:10 and many more at the sub-2:11 and sub-2:12 levels. It's an even bigger front end than was on the entry list at the record-breaking final Lake Biwa Marathon earlier this year, and for a domestic field it's one worthy of sending off Fukuoka's 75-year history. Last year's winner  Yuya Yoshida  (GMO), who was scheduled to run October's Tokyo Marathon before it was postponed until March, is absent.  With Ja...

Daisuke Uekado age: 25 sponsor: Otsuka Seiyaku graduated from: Hokuryo H.S., Kyoto Sangyo University best time inside MGC window: 2:09:27, 6th, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon PB: 2:09:27, 6th, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 14:06.13 (2016) 10000 m: 28:48.22 (2013) half marathon: 1:03:28 (2016) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) 22nd, 2019 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:15:49 8th, 2018 Berlin Marathon, 2:11:07 6th, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:09:27 – PB other major results: 11th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Fourth Stage (22.4 km), 1:05:59 2nd, 2018 Kansai Corporate Ekiden First Stage (12.6 km), 37:54 81st, 2018 Valencia World Half Marathon Championships, 1:04:48 10th, 2017 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:12:58 48th, 2016 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:03:28 – PB 1st, 2016 Kyoto Marathon, 2:17:54 Someone else totally unique in the MGC men’s field: Uekado is the only one who graduated from a university outside the Tokyo-centri...

After an exciting head-to-head last year that saw them race each other to sub-2:10 PBs, Desmond Mokgobu (South Africa) and Hayato Sonoda (Kurosaki Harima) return to the Feb. 3 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon . The pair face not only each other but recent sub-2:10 men Hicham Laqouahi (Morocco), Abdela Godana (Ethiopia), Hiroyuki Yamamoto (Konica Minolta),  Daisuke Uekado (Japan/Otsuka Seiyaku), Justus Kiprotich (Kenya), Takuya Fukatsu (Asahi Kasei)  Kohei Ogino (Japan/Fujitsu) and Yihunilign Adane (Ethiopia) and sub-62 half marathoners Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei), Charles Ndirangu (JFE Steel) and Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei), setting up a better-than-average pack by Beppu-Oita standards. For the Japanese men Beppu-Oita counts toward qualification for the MGC Race , Japan's 2020 Olympic Trials. Sonoda and Uekado have already made it along with fellow entrants Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku) and Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta), but for Ogino and others it wil...

Lost in the luminosity of Eliud Kipchoge 's world record and Gladys Cherono 's women's course record at the Berlin Marathon were a score of Japanese results there and elsewhere overseas, ranging from the sparkling to the dull. Cherono and 2nd and 3rd placers Ruti Aga and Tirunesh Dibaba all broke Mizuki Noguchi 's Berlin Marathon course record of 2:19:12 which has stood since she set that national record mark in 2005. A kilometer behind Dibaba, Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) followed up her 2:22:44 debut in Osaka in January with a 2:22:23 PB for 5th, making her just the fourth Japanese woman ever to break 2:23 twice in her career. 2:23:46 woman Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) ran 2:25:23 for 7th, beating Tenmaya teammate Rei Ohara whose 2:27:28 put her only 10th but qualified her for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics marathon trials, only the second athlete after 2018 Boston Marathon winner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) to qualify for the trials under the two-race average ...

2018 Valencia World Half Marathon Championships Valencia, Spain, 3/24/18 click here for complete results and splits Women 1. Netsanet Gudeta Kebede (Ethiopia) - 1:06:11 - women-only WR 2. Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya) - 1:06:54 3. Pauline Kaweke Kamulu (Kenya) - 1:06:56 - PB 4. Eunice Chebichii Chumba (Bahrain) - 1:07:17 5. Zeineba Yimer (Ethiopia) - 1:06:07 - PB ----- 17. Kaori Morita (Japan) - 1:10:46 19. Mao Ichiyama (Japan) - 1:11:02 35. Honami Maeda (Japan) - 1:12:09 70. Yuka Hori (Japan) - 1:15:24 Men 1. Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor (Kenya) - 1:00:02 2. Abraham Naibei Cheroben (Bahrain) - 1:00:22 3. Aron Kifle (Eritrea) - 1:00:31 - PB 4. Jemal Yimer (Ethiopia) - 1:00:33 5. Getaneh Molla (Ethiopia) - 1:00:47 ----- 24. Suguru Osako (Japan) - 1:01:56 46. Kenta Murayama (Japan) - 1:03:07 71. Hayato Sonoda (Japan) - 1:04:12 82. Daisuke Uekado (Japan) - 1:04:48 108. Kota Murayama (Japan) - 1:06:49

On Mar. 6 the JAAF announced the Japanese women's and men's teams for the 2018 World Half Marathon Championships scheduled for Mar. 24 in Valencia, Spain. The women's team has few surprises, made up of the top two Japanese women from December's Sanyo Ladies Half Marathon, Miyuki Uehara (Daiichi Seimei) and Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal), the top Japanese women at February's Marugame Half and National Corporate Half Marathon, Kaori Morita (Panasonic) and Yuka Hori (Panasonic), and high-potential marathoner Honami Maeda (Tenmaya), winner of August's Hokkaido Marathon and 2nd at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2:23:46. Maeda's inclusion is clearly geared to give one of the people the JAAF views as potential 2020 Tokyo Olympics marathon team material some international championships racing experience, and that decision making process is even more clearly at work in the men's team selection. #1-ranked man Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kas...

Japan's selection process for marathon national teams, with a committee picking runners based on results at three, sometimes four official selection races plus previous international championships, has always been opaque and open to controversy, confusion and other words starting with the letters c and o. The selection for the 2015 Beijing World Championships women's team set off an uproar that led the JAAF to tread more carefully for Rio and London, and with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics looming they're going for a full-on one-shot trials race along the lines of the U.S. Olympic Trials that worked so successfully in Rio. The U.S. Olympic Trials approach to team selection is clear enough: run an achievable time to get into the Trials, where the first three across the finish line make up the team. That's the same basic concept for Japan's new Marathon Grand Championship trials race, the MGC Race for short, but nothing in Japan is ever so simple, straightforward and cl...

More than living up to the promise of his 59:48 Norwegian half marathon record at October's Valencia Half, Sondre Nordtad Moen took down all comers to win the 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon in a European record 2:05:48. 【福岡国際マラソン】 🏆優 勝　モーエン　2:05.48！ pic.twitter.com/lpzMUYHfhu — NOBUKI T&F (@nobu_777__tf) December 3, 2017 Superb pacing work took the lead group through 30 km with almost perfect 3:00/km splits along the way, a race of attrition that shaved down the field to a core group of five real contenders. Defending champ Yemane Tsegay (Ethiopia) was the first big name to go, with 2:06 man Lani Rutto (Kenya), the debuting Keita Shitara (Japan/Hitachi Butsuryu) and last year's 3rd-placer Yuki Kawauchi (Japan/Saitama Pref. Gov't) among the other big names to lose touch in the first half, leaving Moen, favorite Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA), London Olympics gold medalist Stephen Kiprotich (Uganda), last year's 5th-placer Amanuel Mesel (Eritrea) a...

by Brett Larner While Japan's elite Kanto Region collegiates were turning in historic performances on a suburban Tokyo track in preparation for the peak of their season at January's Hakone Ekiden, their rivals in western central Japan were wrapping their season up at the 77th Kansai Region University Ekiden Championships in Tango, Kyoto.  Top local schools Kyoto Sangyo University and Ritsumeikan University ran an exciting race within seconds of each other over the entire 81.4 km course, their runners setting new records on 5 of the 8 stages before finishing with one of the closest finishes in Kansai history. Kazuki Muramoto (Hyogo Kenritsu Univ.) set the tone for the day with a new 23:36 record on the 8.0 km First Stage, 44 seconds ahead of his nearest competiton Satoshi Shimoyabu (Kansai Univ.).  Kansai's next two runners Akira Yonezawa and Kohei Yamaguchi were first and third on their stages, putting Kansai into the lead before they began to drop back on the F...