japan running news

http://www.ayomi.co.jp/sports/detail.php?eid=02412&sports-kind=00 translated and edited by Brett Larner During a visit to Adachi Ward mayor Yayoi Kondo , senior managing director  Yuki Suzuki  and ekiden team head coach Makoto Suzuki  of the Adachi-based Sun Bel'x corporation, operators of the Bel'x Supermarkets chain, announced the addition of exciting new athletes to the company's team in April.  Nine athletes accompanied them to the meeting, among them 2014 Hakone Ekiden stars  Duncan Muthee (Takushoku Univ., 2nd Stage), Yuya Yamashita  (Juntendo Univ., 5th Stage), Takahiro Kato (Asia Univ., 7th Stage), Junpei Miyazawa  (Juntendo Univ., 7th Stage) and Shota Takatsudo  (Jobu Univ., 7th Stage).  During the chat with the mayor Coach Suzuki introduced each of the promising new athletes while watching video of them on a DVD of this year's Hakone Ekiden and talked enthusiastically about the team's goal of a breakthrough at Novemb...

by Brett Larner video courtesy of Ekiden News Just a week after record-setting depth at the Ageo City Half Marathon , where seventeen men from Kanto-region universities broke 1:03, most for the first time, more records fell at the Kanto Region University 10000 m Time Trials meet at Tokyo's National Stadium, site of the future 2020 Olympic Stadium.  Like Ageo, the Kanto meet serves to build toward final team selection for the biggest event in Japanese sports, the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden. Spurred on by the drive to make their schools' Hakone teams and by scholarships on offer to any university man who ran a sub-29 PB at the meet, last year fifteen collegiate men broke 29 in the A-heat .  This year the number was up to a stunning eighteen, led by Takuya Fujikawa  of 2012 Izumo Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University in 28:35.72. Fujikawa and Kenyan Duncan Muthee  (Takushoku Univ.) who ran in the lead group most of the way in Ageo last weekend, ran together at an...

by Brett Larner Following Monday's Izumo Ekiden, university ekiden season rolls on this Saturday with the  Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifier 20 km road race in Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park.  Each year the top ten schools at the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden, the ten-stage, twenty-team university road relay that is Japan's largest sporting and TV event, win seeded places at the following year's race.  The remaining ten teams and other hopeful universities in the Kanto Region line up the third Saturday in October to try to earn the privilege of a starting place at the prestigious Hakone.  Any readers in the Tokyo area should join the thousands of fans who go out to Showa Kinen Park on the 19th to soak in the atmosphere of a race packed with university bands, cheerleader squads and booster clubs.  For those elsewhere, for the first time this year's Yosenkai will be broadcast live instead of on tape delay.  Try Keyhole TV to catch Nihon TV's broadcast starting at 9:30 a...

by Brett Larner After doubling in the 1500 m and 10000 m last weekend, Yamanashi Gakuin University sophomore Enock Omwamba  took his third title of this year's Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships, outrunning #1-ranked Japanese collegiate Suguru Osako  (Waseda Univ.) and fellow Kenyan Daniel Kitonyi  (Nihon Univ.) for the win in the Div. I 5000 m, clocking a solid 13:31.54.   Kosei Yamaguchi  (Josai Univ.), 6th in 13:55.85, deserves special mention for running the 5000 m just after winning his fourth-straight Kanto Div. I steelechase title.  The Div. II 5000 m was a nearly perfect replica of the Div. I race, Duncan Muthee  (Takushoku Univ.) outkicking Yudai   Okamoto  (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) and Ethiopian Leul Gebrselassie  (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) for the win in 13:56.22. Earlier the same morning, Takumi Honda  of 2013 Hakone Ekiden champion Nittai University  took the honors in the Div. I half marathon, ...

by Brett Larner The 2013 Nittai University Time Trials series, Japan's premier long-distance track series and a factory for mass-producing precision-made track results with Saturdays dedicated to distances from 800 to 10000 m and Sundays focused exclusively on 5000 m, kicked off this weekend.  Although far from the highest-quality performance of the weekend, the 16:00.54 win by 10000 m national record holder Yoko Shibui  (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) in the women's 5000 m A-heat was the most noteworthy, coming just a week before her planned shot at the Moscow World Championships marathon team at next weekend's London Marathon.  A solo run with a margin of over 20 seconds over 2nd place, her run spoke well of her fitness despite the unimpressive time. Japan-based Africans won the other three major races of the weekend, with high schooler Rosemary Wanjiru  (Kenya/Aomori Yamada H.S.) taking the women's 3000 m A-heat in a quality 9:01.36, Ethiopian pros Bikila Demma D...

by Brett Larner At the second big race of the university ekiden season Nihon University senior Benjamin Gandu  continued to develop into one of the hottest properties on Japanese soil, following his 1:01:06 best at February's Marugame Half Marathon with a 57:47 win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai 20 km road race, the qualifying race for January's Hakone Ekiden for schools that fell outside the top ten at this year's Hakone.  With a nearly one and a half minute lead over the closest competition Gandu became the second-fastest man ever at the Yosenkai, leading Nihon University back to Hakone after the team's decades-long streak was broken last year. With 2009 Yosenkai winner Akinobu Murasawa  out with an Achilles injury Gandu easily broke his closest Kenyan competition, Duncan Muthee  (Takushoku Univ.), with a surge at 10 km after the pair dueled their way through 14:22 and 28:40 opening 5 km splits.  Muthee in turn barely held off Keisuke Fujii  (Chuo...

by Brett Larner Earlier this week JRN reported that based on Waseda University posting that one of its athletes had finished 211th at the Mar. 4 National University Men's Half-Marathon Championships in 1:06:11 it appeared that over 200 athletes may have broken 66 minutes for the first time ever.  With complete results available it is now evident that only 193 athletes, led by Teikyo University sophomore Toshikatsu Ebina  in 1:02:23, broke 1:06.  This surpasses the previous world record of 188 set at the 2005 Ageo City Half Marathon but falls short of clearing the 200 mark. JRN regrets the error. 2012 National University Men's Half-Marathon Championships Tachikawa, Tokyo, 3/4/12 click here for complete results 1. Toshikatsu Ebina (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:02:23 - PB 2. Yudai Yamakawa (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:02:36 - PB 3. Takumi Honda (Nittai Univ.) - 1:02:37 - PB 4. Duncan Muthee (Kenya/Takushoku Univ.) - 1:02:40 - PB 5. Kenta Kitazawa (Takushoku Univ.) - 1:02:40 - PB...

by Brett Larner A week out from the National University Ekiden Championships, the Kanto region men's scene became even more complicated as Izumo Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University, already holding ten men with sub-14 PBs for 5000 m, six of them with 10000 m bests under 29 minutes, added another name to its top ranks.  Junior Toshiaki Nishizawa  took nearly a minute off his 10000 m PB as he finished 13th in the Nittai Univ. Time Trials 10000 m A-heat in 28:51.05 to give Komazawa crucial depth beyond the ten men necessary for January's Hakone Ekiden.  Nishizawa's step up puts further pressure on defending national and Hakone champ Waseda University  and on this year's Izumo winner Toyo University . The injury-plagued Waseda's chances did take a turn for the better as sub-29 senior Takuya Nakayama , son of former 10000 m and marathon national record holder Takeyuki Nakayama , returned to competition after sitting out most of his sophomore and junior years.  N...

by Brett Larner Updated by request with top ten times per stage. Keita Shitara anchors Toyo University in for its first-ever Izumo Ekiden win. Click photo to enlarge. 2009 and 2010 Hakone Ekiden champion Toyo University , always weak in the early season in past years, came out swinging at the start of the university men's ekiden season to take down defending champion and course record holder Waseda University  and top-ranked Komazawa University  for its first-ever win at the Izumo Ekiden Oct. 10 in Izumo, Shimane. With Waseda hampered by injuries and missing three members of last year's winning squad it was always near the front but never held a clear lead.  Komazawa spent the entire race digging itself out after star first-year Kenta Murayama  blew his university ekiden debut and finished only 13th out of 21 on the 8.0 km First Stage.  Toyo ace Ryuji Kashiwabara 's opening run was actually its weakest of the day as he finished only sixth.  Toyo S...

by Brett Larner The first of this season's Big Three university men's ekidens, the Izumo Ekiden , takes place on the Oct. 10 National Sports Day public holiday.  With six stages covering 44.6 km, the longest stage only 10.2 km, Izumo is the shortest and fastest of the Big Three, lending itself to a different kind of race from November's National University Ekiden Championships and January's Hakone Ekiden. Last year Waseda University  set an Izumo course record to kick off an unprecedented season of victory.  Waseda returns a tough squad this year, with seven men holding sub-14 and/or sub-29 PBs led by sophomore Suguru Osako , the Asian junior area half marathon record holder, World University Games 10000 m champion and 1500 m national university champion.  Waseda is missing two of its key players from last year, senior Yuki Yagi  and sophomore Fuminori Shikata , but while there are few cracks in the armor Waseda doesn't come in as the favorite. Komazawa Un...

by Brett Larner Aoyama Gakuin University cleaned up at the June 25 National University Ekiden Kanto Regional Qualifier meet, its runners taking three of the four 10000 m heats to put the school into the winner's circle for Aoyama Gakuin's first-ever Nationals appearance. Combined with Aoyama Gakuin's seeded finish at January's Hakone Ekiden to qualify for both the 2011 Izumo Ekiden and the 2012 Hakone Ekiden, this season will be the school's first time making all three major university men's ekidens. With four heats of 10000 m and twenty schools fielding two runners apiece in each heat, the final team standings at the meet are determined by the combined times of all eight runners from each school, an unusual format in the Japanese distance running world. Aoyama Gakuin was already in the lead after a win by junior Takuya Yokoyama in heat two, and junior Ryotaro Otani 's breakaway win in heat three helped to extend the school's slim lead over rival Tei...

by Brett Larner The bulk of the regional university championship track meets took place the weekend of May 14-15, including Tokyo's highly competitive Kanto Regional University T&F Championships. The most noteworthy result of the weekend, however, came at the small Chugoku-Shikoku Regionals, where first-year Aya Takayanagi (Matsuyama Univ.) set a new national junior and national collegiate record in the women's 3000 mSC. Takayanagi, coached by Keiichi Murai , the husband of two-time World Championships marathon medalist Reiko Tosa , ran 10:21.41 to set the pair of new marks, and excellent start to her university career. The Kanto region is the site of the toughest men's racing in Japan, and the 10000 m is always the highlight of the meet. This year did not disappoint as junior Tsubasa Hayakawa (Tokai Univ.) overcame strong winds to beat defending champion Benjamin Gandu (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) for the win in a PB of 28:41.26 in the Div. 1 race. Hayakawa ran a patient...

by Brett Larner As the year is winding down Japan's distance runners, all the way from junior high school to the jitsugyodan corporate world, are gearing up for the national championship ekidens. It's a quirk of the system that the biggest of them all, the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden , is a regional university men's event for the Kanto area around Tokyo. Twenty teams, ten men per school, each man running one of ten stages roughly a half marathon in distance over the course of two days all with a live national broadcast with 30% viewership ratings and millions more lining the course. It's hard to overstate how important and popular it is and how captivating to watch. The 2011 Hakone Ekiden entry lists were released today and overall the field shows unparalleled quality. 45 men hold 10000 m PBs under 29 minutes, 2 of them under 28, with a raft of others holding noteworthy marks at 5000 m, 20 km and the half marathon. Takushoku University 's Kenyan first-years John Maina a...

by Brett Larner Takushoku University's fortunes under its new coach Okada continue to improve. A month after Takushoku won both the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai 20 km qualifier team and individual titles Takushoku first-years Duncan Mozay and John Maina worked together to crack 28 minutes at the Kanto Regional University Time Trials in Tokyo's National Stadium on Nov. 27. Both runners clocked 27:53, meaning they are now the fastest university runners in the Kanto region ahead of Jobu University senior Yusuke Hasegawa and Nihon University junior Benjamin Gando . Only one of the pair will be allowed to run January's Hakone Ekiden, but with two aces to choose from Takushoku is in an excellent position to make the Hakone seeded bracket. 2010 Kanto Regional 5000 m champion Taku Fujimoto (Kokushikan Univ.), fresh from a 3rd-place finish on the competitive 1st Stage of Tuesday's International Chiba Ekiden, won another of the meet's ten heats of 10000 m, pushed to a 28:41...

by Brett Larner Tokai University took the top spot at the 2010 National University Ekiden Kanto Region Qualifier track meet June 26 at Tokyo's National Stadium. With the top six schools at last year's Nationals seeded for this year's championships on Nov. 7, other schools across the country must compete in regional qualifier meets this month to requalify. Consisting of four 10000 m heats of forty runners, each made up of two runners from twenty schools, the combined times of the eight runners from each school are used to determine the team scores at the Kanto Region Qualifier. The five fastest overall schools go on to Nationals. Tokai came out first on a windy but rain-free evening thanks to strong showings from Heat Four sophomore aces Akinobu Murasawa and Tsubasa Hayakawa along with a Heat Three win from star frosh Daichi Motomura . Joining Tokai at Nationals will be Josai Univ., Kokushikan Univ., Teikyo Univ. and Nittai Univ . Takushoku Univ. missed out on making th...

by Brett Larner Little-known Kokushikan University junior Taku Fujimoto 's win at last month's Kanto Regional University T&F Championships 5000 m was one of the meet's highlights. Sitting patiently behind the leaders throughout the race, Fujimoto rocketed away from favorite Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) with one lap to go to win in a sizeable PB of 13:38.68, exactly tying Murasawa's PB. After the race Murasawa challenged Fujimoto to repeat the feat this season over 10000 m. His chance comes this Saturday at the 2010 National University Ekiden Kanto Regional Qualifiers at Tokyo's National Stadium. November's National University Ekiden is one of the peaks of the fall season. For schools which miss the top-scoring seeded bracket, late June means once more through the regional qualifiers. What makes the Kanto qualifiers one of the most entertaining events on the Japanese calendar is the format: four heats of 10000 m in one evening, each heat containing tw...

by Brett Larner Men's 5000 m A-Heat Steadily worsening rain and winds on the last day of the 2010 Kanto Regional University T&F Championships didn't slow things down as the men's 5000 m A-heat saw one of the best overall university men's 5000 m in Japanese history. Hakone Ekiden star Ryuji Kashiwabara (Toyo Univ.) and the relentlessly improving Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Meiji Univ.) took the pack of 29 through 1 km in 2:39, almost dead-on Japanese national record pace. Surprisingly, everyone went with them and few fell apart. Kashiwabara, Yoroizaka and 10000 m A-heat winner Benjamin Gando (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) took turns leading as the fastest man in the field, 19 year-old Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) patiently worked his way forward. When Murasawa finally made his move, his surprise company came from Taku Fujimoto (Kokushikan Univ.), a runner with a PB of only 13:57.57. A bigger surprise came when Fujimoto blasted away over the last lap to knock nearly 20 seconds of...

by Brett Larner Picking up where the recently-graduated Daniel Gitau left off, Kenyan Benjamin Gando (Nihon Univ.) stepped up to take the win in the men's 10000 m A-heat at the 2010 Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships , May 16 at Tokyo's National Stadium. With a 3rd-place finish as a frosh and a 2nd-place finish last year, star junior Ryuji Kashiwabara (Toyo Univ.) took the race out hard with a 2:42 first km in search of his first Kanto win but was unable to keep with up with Gando's surge over the final three kilometers. Gando fell just short of a new PB but took his first major win in 28:27.16. Behind him, Kashiwabara battled with two Japanese runners over the last lap for the runner-up spot. 18 year old Saku Chosei H.S. grad Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.), one of four frosh on the entry list with PBs under 29 minutes, tried to drop Kashiwabara and solid junior Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Meiji Univ.) but was unable to match their closing speed. Edging Kashiwa...