japan running news

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/local/baseball/20080204/20080204_003.shtml translated by Brett Larner Nothing is sweeter than a hometown win! At the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon on Feb. 3, Tomoya Adachi (22, Team Asahi Kasei) of Oita was the first runner back to the Oita Civic Track, winning his debut marathon in a time of 2:11:59. Moving up from the chase pack as an individual entrant rather than as one of the invited elites, Adachi overtook leader Elijah Mutai (Kenya) just before the 39 km point, maintaining the lead unchallenged all the way to the goal line. Yoichi Watanabe (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) was 6th in 2:15:17 and Tomokazu Sakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) was 9th in 2:17:00. Running in his team's last event before it is disbanded later this year, Tokio Yamazaki of Team Toshiba LSI finished well in 10th place. Mutai dropped out of the race at the 40 km point. Conditions at the start were 10.5 degrees and 68% humidity, with 1.5 m/s NW winds. After breaking the goal ta...

by Brett Larner While much of the rest of Japan struggled with heavy snow, clear skies, cool temperatures and gentle winds greeted the runners in the 42nd Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon in Oita Prefecture. Beppu-Oita, or Betsudai as the race is usually known, has the reputation of being a development for younger runners to break through into the front ranks of Japanese marathoning. This year's race lived up to the event's reputation. A large pack of 16 runners with 2 pacemakers ran together through the first half of the race, passing 5 km in 15:19. 2003 L.A. Marathon winner Mark Yatich was the first to drop off the pack. Race commentators passed along their condolensces to Yatich, whose older brother was killed last week in the ongoing strife within Kenya. By 10 km the pack was down to 14 runners plus the pacemakers, going through the mark in 30:29. 15 km (45:50) and 20 km (1:01:16) passed mostly without event. Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki's Yoichi Watanabe slipped and fell...

by Brett Larner On Jan. 17 the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon announced the domestic and international elite fields for the event's 57th running on Feb. 3. Although Beppu-Oita, or Betsudai as the race is colloquially known, has in the past sometimes served as a selection race for world-level competitions, its absence from the pool of Beijing Olympics selection races means that this year's domestic elite field is comparatively limited. The Japanese elite field includes only four athletes. Team Kanebo's Michitane Noda is the most experienced of the group, holding a PB of 2:09:58 from the 2003 Fukuoka International Marathon. Noriyuki Mizuguchi of Team Otsuka Seiyaku will be trying to improve on his PB of 2:14:26. The remaining two domestic competitors, Team Nissin's Kenta Oshima and Team Fujitsu's Takayuki Ota, are fast half-marathoners who will be debuting at the full marathon distance in Betsudai. The overseas elite field is slightly larger at seven runners. The top e...