japan running news

by Brett Larner Photo via komagusan . Click for more from Hofu. What is there to say about Yuki Kawauchi ? Nobody understands why he did the two-week 2:09:57 / 2:12:33 double at the Fukuoka International Marathon and Hofu Yomiuri Marathon last year, but for reasons known only to himself, two weeks after a failed bid for a sub-2:08 in Fukuoka this year resulted in a disappointing 2:10:29 Kawauchi was back for a negative-split 2:10:46 win in Hofu, an apparent world record for the shortest-ever time between sub-2:11 performances,  the 4th-fastest winning time in Hofu's 43-year history and the 4th-best of his own career. Fukuoka was his 3rd-best. Pacers Yuichiro Ueno  (Team S&B) and James Mwangi  (Kenya/Team NTN), both of whom were in Fukuoka, took things out just sub-2:12 pace through 5 km and then proceeded to gradually ratchet things down ever so slightly.  By Ueno's departure at 20 km the lead group of eight was down to 2:11:33 pace, Kawauchi never ...

by Brett Larner The organizers of the Dec. 16 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon released their 2012 elite field on Nov. 28.  While Hofu has evidently cut its small international field, for the second year in a row it will star the great Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref.) in an inexplicably suicidal double just two weeks after the Fukuoka International Marathon.  Last year Kawauchi ran 2:09:57 for 3rd in Fukuoka in an inspirational performance, then followed up in Hofu with a head-to-head battle with Mongolian defending champion  Serod Batochir  where he placed 2nd in 2:12:33.  This year Kawauchi is shooting for 2:07 in Fukuoka, and with no Batochir to push him the best you could probably say is that a slower time seems likely in Hofu. Kawauchi's strongest competition should come from Taiga Ito  (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC).  Ito holds a 2:13:16 best from last year's Gold Coast Marathon but has struggled with frequent injury problems since then.  A 2:18:55 at t...

by Brett Larner click here for photos of the race With ideal weather across most of the country, Kenyans Dishon Karukuwa (Team Aisan Kogyo) and Titus Waroru (Chinzei Gakuin H.S.) ran through light rain to take down the course records in the men's half marathon and high school boys' 10 km divisions at the 62nd running of the Kanaguri Hai Tamana Half Marathon Mar. 6 in Tamana, Kumamoto. Back on the roads after running January's Osaka International Women's Marathon, last year's runner-up Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera), one of the nine Japanese women training in Christchurch, New Zealand at the time of the recent major earthquake, took the women's 10 km by a wide margin. The 19 year-old Karukuwa ran 1:02:20 to break the standing half marathon course record by 18 seconds. He was the first Kenyan winner in Tamana history and only the third non-Japanese to ever take the title. Runner-up Yukinobu Nakazaki (Team Toyota Kyushu) ran a strong 1:03:09, fast enough to...

by Brett Larner The worldwide marathon season came to a close for the year with the Dec. 19 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon . Coming off a top-10 finish at September's Berlin Marathon, Mongolian ace Serod Bat-Ochir took his first win in three straight Hofu appearances. Bat-Ochir sat in a large pack behind pacemaker Dishon Karukwa (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) through the early stages of the race until it whittled down to three by 30 km. Pushing ahead, he dropped Kenyan debutant Samuel Ganga (Team Mazda) and by 35 km had a three-second gap on Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC). From there it was smooth sailing all the way to the finish. Ganga dropped out before 40 km, leaving Ito free in 2nd and challenged only by teammate Hiroyuki Kamiguchi (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), who ran a patient race to close strongly and take 3rd. Although Hofu has regularly had second-tier women, its official women's division only opened last year. Hiroko Yoshitomi (Saga T&F Assoc.) put pressure on past winners His...