japan running news

Yuta Shitara age: 27 sponsor: Honda graduated from: Musashi Ogose H.S., Toyo University best time inside MGC window: 2:06:11, 2nd, 2018 Tokyo Marathon (NR) PB: 2:06:11, 2nd, 2018 Tokyo Marathon (NR) other PBs: 5000 m: 13:34.68 (2015) 10000 m: 27:41.97 (2017) half marathon: 1:00:17 (NR, 2017) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) 1st, 2019 Gold Coast Marathon, 2:07:50 4th, 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:10:25 2nd, 2018 Tokyo Marathon, 2:06:11 (NR) 6th, 2017 Berlin Marathon, 2:09:03 other major results: 10th, 2019 HDC Abashiri 10000 m, 28:17.38 8th, 2019 National Championships 5000 m, 13:47.31 1st, 2019 Golden Games in Nobeoka 10000 m, 27:53.67 5th, 2019 Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, 1:01:36 5th, 2019 Kanakuri Memorial Meet 5000 m, 13:35.70 4th, 2018 Ageo City Half Marathon, 1:01:59 1st, 2018 East Japan Corporate Ekiden Seventh Stage (12.9 km), 37:42 – CR 1st, 2018 Karatsu 10-Miler, 46:12 2nd, 2018 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:01:13 ...

Wearing bib #21 on his 21st birthday, 2017 World University Games half marathon gold medalist Kei Katanishi (Komazawa University) turned in the best-ever Japanese collegiate placing at the United Airlines NYC Half , taking 7th in 1:03:05 just 26 seconds off the win. Katanishi and his Komazawa teammate Shogo Ise earned invites to the NYC Half by taking the top two Japanese collegiate spots at last November's Ageo City Half Marathon. Off the tougher new New York course both Katanishi and Ise ran in the lead group for the first two-thirds of the race, Ise near the front and Katanishi biding his time at the back of the pack. When the first real move came on the uphill approaching Times Square Katanishi was quick to reposition himself into the top three just off the shoulder of leader Dathan Ritzenhein (U.S.A.), staying in the action and looking smooth through the first set of Central Park hills. "I just took the early part easy and watched the others and what was going on,...

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/1766072.html http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20170116-00000213-sph-spo translated and edited by Brett Larner The Sumitomo Denko corporate men's team announced on Jan. 16 that Kensuke Takezawa , 30, a 2008 Beijing Olympian in the 5000 m and 10000 m, has made the decision to retire from competition.  Via a statement from the company Takezawa said, "I will retire from active competition at the end of this season.  The last few years I haven't been able to produce good results, but the strong, heartfelt support and encouragement I've received from everyone has made it possible to keep going this long.  I sincerely thank you all.  Please continue to cheer on the Sumitomo Denko team." Takezawa graduated from Hyogo's Hotoku Gakuen H.S. before going to Waseda University , where he set the still-standing collegiate 5000 m record of 13:19.00 and as a fourth-year in 2009 broke the Hakone Ekiden Third Stage re...

by Brett Larner special thanks to Dr. Helmut Winter for assistance with graphics It's fitting that last weekend's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials brought American marathoning back to Los Angeles.  In the years leading up to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics American men and women paved the way as the world's best marathoners, but the L.A. Olympics marked the start of a long decline on both sides that has only recently started to turn around.  With Galen Rupp making a massively anticipated debut and Los Angeles launching its bid for the 2024 Olympics the 2016 L.A. Trials may come to be looked back upon as another turning point.  It's worth taking an honest look at the last 50 years or so of history to understand where that turning point may take American marathoning. Looking at the average of the ten fastest marathons per year by American men, for the 16 years between the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics American men's marathoning develop...

A New York Runners Press Release Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi and three-time Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein will lead the American charge, while top returning entrant Stephen Sambu and distance running star Wesley Korir, both of Kenya, headline a deep and diverse international lineup. Race will air live in New York on ABC7 and stream live on WatchABC, 7online, and ESPN3 via WatchESPN. New York, February 18, 2015 —Defending Boston Marathon champion Meb Keflezighi and compatriot Dathan Ritzenhein , running the half-marathon distance for the first time since the 2013 NYC Half, will lead a resilient field of American men against a strong international contingent highlighted by last year’s third-place finisher Stephen Sambu and 2012 Boston Marathon champion Wesley Korir at the 2015 United Airlines NYC Half on March 15, 2015, it was announced today by Mary Wittenberg, president and CEO of New York Road Runners. “From Meb and Dathan to Stephen and Wesley, the 2015 United A...

by Brett Larner I was asked to give a speech at the welcoming reception the night before this year’s Ageo City Half Marathon about the JRN-arranged invite for the top two Japanese university finishers in Ageo to run March’s NYC Half Marathon. Guests in the audience included Ageo mayor Minoru Shimamura , KGRR chairman and Hakone Ekiden race director Yoshiyuki Aoba , Waseda University head coach Yasuyuki Watanabe and other Hakone university teams’ head coaches, and 1999 World Championships marathon silver medalist Ari Ichihashi . I decided not to prepare anything and just freestyle it. This is a translation of what I can remember saying. Good evening everybody. If you ever have to give a speech in a foreign language I would advise against drinking sake beforehand. The words don’t come out right. I’m not that strong with honorific language, so if I say things in a rude way I apologize in advance. That is not my intention. To begin with, congratulations to Mayor Shimamura and e...

by Brett Larner photo by Dr. Helmut Winter Boldly saying that he wanted “to go where nobody has gone before,” with his 2:09:15 second place finish at the Dec. 15 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon independent Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov’t) completed his eleventh marathon of the year, an historic accomplishment in more ways than one. Two of his marathons were sub-2:09, four sub-2:10, six sub-2:12, one a national all-comers’ record, two PBs, four course records, five wins and eight top-three finishes. All while faced with an endless chorus of people telling him that it's such a fine line between brilliant and stupid, that he can’t keep getting away with this kind of craziness. On the individual level he set world records twice for the shortest time ever between sub-2:10 marathons, taking one day off the record when he ran 2:08:14 and 2:08:15 forty-two days apart in March and February and then knocking an unthinkable twenty-eight days off that record with his 2:09:05 at the Dec...

by Brett Larner photos courtesy Photo Run / NYRR Invited to race after finishing in the top two spots at last November's Ageo City Half Marathon, Kenta Murayama (Komazawa University) and Kento Otsu  (Toyo University) ran the 2013 New York City Half Marathon on Mar. 17.  Up front through the slow 15:04 first 5 km, Otsu dropped back before the lead pack left Central Park while Murayama took the lead near halfway and stayed with the leaders including world-level medalists Wilson Kipsang (Kenya), Bernard Lagat (U.S.A.) and Dathan Ritzenhein (U.S.A.) through 15 km.  "I looked around at 15 km and couldn't believe some of the people I was still there with," Murayama told JRN post-race. Falling behind with Kipsang's move at 15 km, he still managed to get into the top ten with a time of 1:02:02, exactly one minute off winner Kipsang and beating his hero Lagat by nearly 30 seconds.  Otsu, who suffered injury setbacks following January's Hakone Ekiden, ra...

by Brett Larner The organizers of the Mar. 17 New York City Half Marathon have released the men's and women's elite fields for this year's race.  Alongside world-level medalists including Wilson Kipsang  (Kenya), Dathan Ritzenhein  (U.S.A.), Deressa Chimsa (Ethiopia), Meb Keflezighi  (U.S.A.) and Bernard Lagat  (U.S.A.), Japanese collegiates Kenta Murayama (Komazawa Univ.) and Kento Otsu  (Toyo Univ.) will be running as part of a relationship organized by JRN between the New York City Half Marathon and the Ageo City Half Marathon.  Murayama, the first man to win the National University Championships 5000 m as a first-year since the great Toshihiko Seko , won Ageo in 1:02:46 last November before going on to run an all-time Japanese #10 1:01:19 at February's Marugame Half Marathon, a time that would have put him 4th in New York in 2012.  Otsu, 2nd at Ageo in 1:02:53, is running New York for the second time after making his international debut t...

By David Monti (c) 2012 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved Toyo University's Kento Otsu (#2) and Yuta Shitara (#4).  Photo by Kazuyuki Sugimatsu . NEW YORK (01-Mar) -- The New York Road Runners announced today that some of the distance running's top international stars would run the seventh annual NYC Half on Sunday, March 18, joining USA Olympians Desiree Davila , Kara Goucher , Meb Keflezighi and Dathan Ritzenhein at America's most competitive spring half-marathon. Race director Mary Wittenberg , the NYRR's president and, called the additions to the race "a dynamic field of stars," adding that "the NYC Half will provide a thrilling preview" for this summer's Olympic Marathon. Leading the list on the women's side are defending champion, Caroline Rotich of Kenya (1:08:52 PB); the fastest-ever women's half-marathoner on U.S. soil, Kim Smith of New Zealand (1:07:11); and reigning ING New York City Marathon champion, Firehi...

by Brett Larner Last month JRN published a comparison of the achievements of American and Japanese men aged 18-22 over the 5000 m, 10000 m, half marathon and marathon distances, part two in a periodic series occasioned by October’s simultaneous NCAA XC Pre-Nationals 8 km and Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai 20 km road race. The comparison generated a fair number of comments and emails; my thanks to all those who offered insight and additional data, suggested further ideas and lines of inquiry, or gave constructive criticism. Among the findings in the previous article:  Using a common calculator of equivalent performances to set thresholds of 13:30, 28:03, 1:02:24 and 2:11:36 for the four distances, prior to the outstanding performances last spring by American 18 year olds German Fernandez and Chris Derrick Japanese runners led their American counterparts in speed, range, and to a lesser degree depth at ages 18 and 19. Fernandez and Derrick are exceptional young athletes who may rewrite the Am...