japan running news

by Brett Larner photo by Tsukasa Kawarai video by Ekiden News 1500 m junior world record holder Ronald Kwemoi (Team Komori Corp.) made his claim to longer distances Saturday at western Tokyo's Hosei University , dominating his competition over the last lap to win his 10000 m debut in 27:33.94 at the Hachioji Long Distance meet. Lacking some of the electricity of last year's Japanese national record shot , 24 athletes from four countries lined up in Hachioji's A-heat, some tuning up for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships, others chasing the 27:45.00 standard for the 2017 London World Championships. Normally reliable as a pacer, despite a perfect 2:46.00 opening kilometer Bedan Karoki (DeNA RC) struggled to keep it steady after just 3000 m. Some of the field went ahead of him for several laps before he rallied to take the field through 5000 m in 13:56.50, four seconds off target. The pack stuck with him for another 2000 m b...

by Brett Larner click here for Day One results and report  c lick here for Day Two results and report Seito Yamamoto (Team Toyota) broke one of the oldest standing meet records at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships on this year's final day of competition, clearing 5.70 m to break the 5.62 record set back in 1999 by Fumiaki Kobayashi (Miki House).  Kobayashi passed all the way to 5.30 m, clearing it and 5.50 m on his first try to seal the win.  Going straight to 5.70 m, it took him three attempts to clear it but the record was his.  The women's 4x400 m almost saw another meet record as the Junanaju Ginko team was just 0.03 off the 3:47.38 record it set in 2010 with a lineup including current third runner Mai Yamada . In distance action, Hiram Ngatia (Team Toyota) ran the fastest time in the three evenly-stacked men's 5000 m, 13:23.65, for the Heat Three and overall win.  1500 m champ Ronald Kwemoi (Team Komori Corp.) had the slowest ...

by Brett Larner Ekiden season got off to an early start with the 66th running of Akita's Towada Hachimantai Ekiden on Aug. 7.  The Honda  corporate team, less Moscow World Championships marathoner Masakazu Fujiwara  and other A-list members, outran rival Yakult  for the win after a slow start.  The Yakult A team led for the first three of the day's five stages thanks in part to a superb stage record of 36:12 on the 13.4 km Second Stage by new Kenyan ace Bernard Kimani , while Honda fell as low as 4th.  On the 16.4 km Fourth Stage new Honda recruit Wataru Ueno , a graduate of Komazawa University and Sendai Ikuei H.S., had a strong corporate ekiden debut as he made up the 30-second gap to leader Yutaro Fukushi  of Yakult before opening a lead of nearly two minutes. With Fukushi having fallen to 3rd behind Komori Corporation , Yakult anchor Soji Ikeda , another Komazawa alum, did his best to run down Honda's Hayato Saito  on the tough uphil...