japan running news

On July 21 the Uniqlo women's team announced that 2-time Olympic 10000 m runner Yuka Takashima had joined its lineup as of July 16. Born in Yamaguchi in 1998, Takashima anchored Okayama's Kojokan H.S. to its first-ever National High School Ekiden win in 2005. After graduating she joined the Denso corporate team, playing a key role in its 3-straight National Corporate Women's Ekiden titles. In 2015 she ran the 10000 m at the 2015 Beijing World Championships. In the spring of 2016 Takashima transferred to the Shiseido corporate team, where she made the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics team in the 10000 m. She played an important role for the team in its ekidens, and in 2022 anchored Shiseido to its first national title in 16 years. In 2023 she was 2nd in the 10000 m National Championships, securing her place on her 2nd Olympic team at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Takashima's PBs are 15:26.33 for 5000 m, 30:57.26 for 10000 m, and 2:26:13 for the marathon. In March this year T...

The last big women's race of championship ekiden season, the Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden saw 8 corporate teams square off against 19 of the top high school teams in the country over a 27.2 km race. For corporate leaguers that was divided into 5 legs, with the final leg, 10.4 km, split into two legs for the high school teams. Kairi Ikeno put National High School Ekiden 8th-placer Suma Gakuen H.S. out front on the 5.3 km First Stage, missing the CR by 2 seconds in 16:51. Only 17th at the Queens Ekiden corporate national championships, Kyocera was 5 seconds out front by the end of the 3.8 km Second Stage, but that didn't last long when Yume Yabutani ran a 12:35 CR on the 3.9 km Third Stage to put National High School Ekiden runner-up Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. in the overall lead by 23 seconds. That lead stayed exactly the same over the 3.8 km Fourth Stage, while from behind Denso , which had failed to qualify for the Queens Ekiden, closed to 15 seconds b...

One of the only races to resist the pressure to cancel as Japan's COVID numbers break new ground, the Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden took place Sunday in northern Fukuoka with top high school, college, club and corporate teams racing a short 27.2 km course through cold rain.  Only 21 of the 40 teams on the entry list started, but among them was defending open division champ Denso . Denso took the lead on the 3.8 km Second Stage with another course record run from CR holder Husan Zeyituna and held on through midway on the 10.4 km Fifth Stage, when anchor Yuka Matsumoto was caught by Nozomi Tanaka of the non-scoring Meijo/Toyota Select Team . The Meijo/Toyota hybrid crossed the line first in 1:28:05, Denso 51 seconds back to score 1st in the open division and claim a 2nd-straight win. But they were actually 3rd across the line. The local Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S. team led the high school division from the start, falling back a bit on the Second Stage but clocking t...

The 41st edition of the 6-stage, 42.195 km National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships took place Nov. 28 in Sendai, Miyagi. 28 teams took part, with Sekisui Kagaku  running a course record 2:13:03 to win its first national title. Shiseido was 52 seconds behind in 2nd and Denso  3rd, with 2-time defending champ Japan Post  coming up short of a three-peat at 4th. On the race's longest and most competitive stage, the 10.9 km Third Stage, Sekisui Kagaku's Sayaka Sato  took over the lead, and solid runs from the rest of its runners helped protect the team's lead all the way to the end.  Queens Ekiden 41st National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships Sendai, Miyagi, 28 Nov., 2021 28 teams, 6 stages, 42.195 km complete results Top Individual Stage Performances First Stage  (7.6 km) - Harumi Okamoto (Yamada Holdings) - 23:52 Second Stage  (3.3 km) - Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku) - 10:07 - CR Third Stage  (10.9 km) - Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 3...

The Denso corporate team held off top-ranked Tenmaya and Kamimura Gakuen High School to win the 31st Kitakyushu Women’s Invitational Ekiden, Sunday in Fukuoka. A unique race that pits top-ranked corporate, university and high school teams against each other in a season-ending epilogue to last weekend’s National Women’s Ekiden, the Kitakyushu Invitational features a long anchor stage split into two segments for the high school division to make it teams of five against six. Denso started the race in 2nd, with leading runner Shuri Ogasawara covering the 5.3 km First Stage in 16:59, 3 seconds behind Rina Miyata (Kyudenko). Its next runner, Husan Zeyituna , dropped a stage best to put Denso 9 seconds ahead, but despite a scare from Kyudenko’s fourth runner Joan Kipkemoi Denso’s win was never at real risk. Anchor Akko Matsumoto brought them home in 1:27:29, 48 seconds ahead of Kyudenko. Despite a good team performance up to that point, Kyudenko anchor Yuri Karasawa was caught i...

by Brett Larner A big weekend of racing on the track and roads lies ahead. Saturday the Tokyo area hosts not one but two massive 10000 m time trial meets.  The Hachioji Long Distance meet at Hosei University has grown to become one of the world's leading races at that distance over the last few years, the site of a 27:29.69 Japanese national record by Kota Murayama (Team Asahi Kasei) last year.  The A-heat at this year's race will be targeting 27:45 ahead of next summer's London World Championships with pacing by Bedan Karoki (DeNA RC) and features the tantalizing debut of Ronald Kwemoi (Team Komori Corp.). At the same time as Hachioji, many of Japan's best collegiate men who didn't race at last weekend's record-setting Ageo City Half Marathon will be taking on 10000 m at Keio University's Kanto Region University Time Trials . Last year Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University put eight of its men under 29 minutes in one heat at Keio .  ...

by Brett Larner National championship ekiden season got off to a good start at Sunday's National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships , where two-time defending champion Team Denso led seven teams under the 2:16:12 course record it set last year on the way to its third-straight win with new records on four of the 42.195 km course's six stages. Denso's Yuki Mitsunobu led off, missing the First Stage record by 1 second as she handed off just behind Ayumi Sakaida (Team Daihatsu).  Denso's next two runners Naoko Koizumi and Yuka Takashima scored records on their stages to give their team a lead that was never broken despite new Fourth and Fifth Stage records by rivals Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko) and Risa Yokoe (Team Toyota Jidoshokki).  Denso anchor Nami Hashimoto was the only stage winner not to tie or set an individual record but her 21:26 for the 6.795 km Sixth Stage was more than enough to maintain Denso's lead of almost a minute over Toyota Ji...

http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASH8L3S2KH8LONFB009.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Set to run the women's 10000 m at the Beijing World Championships, Yuka Takashima , 27, of the Denso corporation's Daian Factory in the city of Inabe, Mie, met with Inabe mayor Yasushi Hioki on Aug. 18 to talk about her hopes and plans for the race.  A native of Yamaguchi prefecture, Takashima now runs for Denso and can sometimes be seen training on the streets of Inabe.  Facing her world-level debut, Takashima was quietly confident as she told Mayor Hioki, "My ambition to compete with the best in the world is stronger than ever."  Mayor Hioki wrote "Fly on to the world!" and a personal support message on Takashima's t-shirt.  The World Championships begin Aug. 22 with the the women's 10000 m scheduled to start at 9:30 p.m. (Japan time) on Aug. 24.  On the day of the race 200 Denso workers will watch Takashima run on TV in the factory cafeteria, whi...

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20141214-1409007.html translated and edited by Brett Larner 26 teams ran the 34th edition of the 6-stage, 42.195 km National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships in cold and windy conditions Dec. 14 in Sendai, Miyagi.  The Denso team dominated, breaking its own course record in 2:16:12 to score its second-straight win, the first time that a team has defending its national title since Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo completed a hat trick in 2005. Denso started off slow, 29 seconds down from the lead in 12th after the First Stage.  Second Stage runner Naoko Koizumi celebrated her 22nd birthday by running the second-best time on the stage to move Denso up to 3rd.  Up against each team's best Japanese athlete on the Third Stage, Yuka Takashima , 26, ran down leaders Toyota Jidoshokki and Yamada Denki in stage record time to put Denso into the lead.  Takashima ran 34:40 for the 10.9 km stage to beat multiple n...

by Anna Novick Note: Welcome to Novick in her first piece for JRN. Team Denso  ran for redemption from last year'’s 2nd place at today's snowy, slippery National Corporate Women's Ekiden , taking victory by over two minutes and a new record of 2:16:37 for the six-stage, 42.195 km course.  Just about everyone who is anyone in Japanese women's running toed the line today, and those women tore the frigid roads of Sendai apart. Denso'’s runners had nothing to lose, having faced the disappointment of 2nd place, or first loser, in last year's race. They would, however, have to hold off their attack until the Second Stage as their first runner, Mai Ishibashi relinquished the lead to Team Yamada Denki’'s Yuika Mori who began gaining distance from the pack with 2 km to go in the 7 km leg.  Mori set a new course record to 22:10 before sending Maki Suzawa off on a defensive Second Stage.  Going into the 3.9 km Second Stage, Sayaka...

by Brett Larner The month-long national championship ekiden season starts Sunday in Sendai with the 33rd running of the National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships .  Twenty-seven corporate league women's teams from across the country will compete over the six-stage, 42.195 km course in front of a nationwide audience courtesy of TBS' live broadcast starting at 11:50 a.m. Japan time. Last year's winner Team Universal Entertainment  returns as one of the favorites, taking the Nov. 3 East Japan regional qualifier by more than two minutes over 2011 national champion Team Daiichi Seimei  even without its star runner, Moscow World Championships 10000 m 5th-placer  Hitomi Niiya .  Niiya, still recovering from an injury that has kept her out of competition since Moscow, is on Universal's roster for tomorrow's national championships, and if she runs they may be close to unbeatable. Last year's runner-up Team Denso  may be its strongest competition.  L...

by Brett Larner Sunday's National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships kick off a busy string of championship road relays across Japan, with no less than eight major events in five weeks.  The Dec. 16 race in Sendai is the peak of the year for corporate-league women, with the country's top marathoners and track runners from twenty-nine teams squaring off over a six-stage, 42.195 km course.  TBS will broadcast the ekiden live nationwide beginning at 11:50 a.m. local time.  It should be possible for overseas viewers to use Keyhole TV to catch the race, but JRN will also offer live coverage via Twitter @JRNLive . The favorites look to be evenly divided between the three national divisions.   Team Universal Entertainment  won the East Japan regional qualifier last month by 3 1/2 minutes over defending national champion Team Daiichi Seimei  and comes to Nationals seeded #1.  A major factor in Universal's performance was a win on East Japan's longest...

2010 Central Japan Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden click here for complete results Stage Best Performances First Stage (6.8 km) - Maiko Kushima (Niigata Albirex RC) - 21:47 Second Stage (4.2 km) - Betelhem Moges (Ethiopia/Team Denso) - 12:29 Third Stage (10.2 km) - Yuka Takashima (Team Denso) - 34:29 Fourth Stage (4.6 km) - Yuki Kiuchi (Niigata Albirex RC) - 15:29 Fifth Stage (11.0 km) - Yuko Mizuguchi (Team Denso) - 36:03 Sixth Stage (5.395 km) - Shizuka Marumo (Team Denso) - 18:11 Top Team Performances - 42.195 km 1. Team Denso - 2:18:59 2. Niigata Albirex RC - 2:23:24 3. Team Yutaka Giken - 2:23:37 4. Team Kojima Press - 2:24:45 5. Team Aichi Denki - 2:26:05 (c) 2010 Brett Larner all rights reserved