japan running news

by Brett Larner click here for complete results In his first serious race since winning the 2011 New Year Ekiden national championships First Stage, 2010's top Japanese 10000 m and half-marathon man Tomoya Onishi  (Team Asahi Kasei) made a successful and surprising comeback after a year and a half of injury troubles as he won the July 4 Hokuren Distance Challenge Kitami Meet men's 5000 m in 13:46.06, just six seconds off his best.  Onishi ran up front much of the way with Korea ace Seungho Park  and equally injury-hampered former Komazawa University standout Sota Hoshi  (Team Fujitsu), taking the lead for good after Park dropped out.  Onishi's performance signaled hope for improvement on the promising 27:50.72 and 1:01:31 marks he recorded in 2010 and a not-too-distant marathon debut.  His twin brother, former Hakone Ekiden champion Toyo University captain Kazuki Onishi  (Team Kanebo), ran the same heat but was far off form as he finished 19t...

by Brett Larner Kenyan first-year Charles Ndungu  (Sapporo Yamanote H.S.), the first-ever Kenyan at a high school on Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, continued his rapid improvement since arriving in Japan this spring, running 13:35.54 in the June 27  Hokuren Distance Challenge Fukagawa Meet 5000 m A-heat, a PB by over 20 seconds, to finish just behind past Kenyan national XC champion Gideon Ngatuny  (Team Nissin Shokuhin).  A month ago Ndungu's coach Kazuki Kajiyama   promised him an MP3 player for breaking 14 for the first time .  What will he get now?  Ndungu's remarkable run catapults him to the top level of the Japan-based Kenyan high school contingent and makes him a solid contender for the win at next month's National High School Track and Field Championships. University-level competition was thick, with Hakone Ekiden powerhouses Toyo University , Komazawa University  and Waseda University  all recording multiple sub-...

by Brett Larner Unknown high schooler Risa Shibuya of Hanawa H.S. in the northern city of Akita turned in one of the biggest performances in the 2010 National Sports Festival on the final day of competition on Oct. 5 in Chiba. Running in the high school girls' 3000 m, Shibuya trounced 2010 Asian Junior 3000 m champion Mahiro Akamatsu (Kojokan H.S.) by over 6 seconds to win in 9:08.07, the second-fastest time of the year by a Japanese woman behind only 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshoki). Shibuya's performance would have put her in 2nd place at last weekend's National Corporate Championships ahead of world-ranked Ethiopian ace Betelhem Moges (Team Denso). With most of the top high school boys opting for the 5000 m the high school boys' 3000 m was relatively unremarkable, won in 8:25.76 by Yusuke Uchikoshi (Kokugakuin Prep Kugayama H.S.). Update: This article reports that Shibuya is a 3rd year who for the last two years placed in t...