japan running news

As Australia's Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon returned for the first time since 2019, Lindsay Flanagan became its first American winner female or male, taking 6 seconds off the course record and over 2 minutes off her PB to take 1st in 2:24:43. Accompanied by dedicated male pacers and a large group of men in a race that never saw a lead women's group congeal, Flanagan went through halfway in 1:11:59 and then sped up even further, clocking her two fastest 5 km splits of the race, 16:52 and 16:47, from 20 to 25 km and 25 to 30 km. The effects of that came down on her after 30 km as she slowed beyond 3:30/km, but with a rally over the last km she held on to crack Ruth Chebitok 's 2018 CR of 2:24:49. Post-race Flanagan and her coach, Australian NR and Oceania AR holder Benita Johnson , were elated, having just met each other in person a few days before the race after a year of online coaching. Like Flanagan, 2nd-placer and local favorite Lisa Weightman , the...

Australia's Village Road Show Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon is set to return next weekend for its first full-on in-person edition since 2019. The elite fields for its half marathon and marathon division are smaller than usual but full of top domestic talent with some international support from the U.S.A., Japan, and elsewhere. A familiar face in Japan, Eloise Wellings leads the women's half marathon, her PB of 1:09:29 set at the Marugame Half in 2016. Earlier this year she ran a marathon best of 2:25:10 in Nagoya and 1:10:42 for 4th at the Gifu Seiryu Half, setting up a good head-to-head race with Jessica Stenson , 2:25:15 in Perth last fall and with a 1:10:59 best in Marugame in 2018. Brett Robinson leads the men's half marathon with a 59:57 NR for the win in Marugame in 2020. Tim Vincent is his strongest competition on paper with a 1:01:43 on the aided Rome-Ostia Half course earlier this year, but Joel Tobin-White , 1:02:03 in Marugame 2019, Commonwealth Games-boun...

2019 world champion Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya ran solo almost the entire way to win the biggest women-only marathon in the world and biggest 1st-place prize money in the sport at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , her 2:17:18 winning time a new course record, the 2nd-fastest ever in a women-only marathon, 2nd-fastest ever in Japan, and 2nd-fastest of her career. The lead group's pace was set at 3:20/km, 2:20:39, ideal for Japanese debut marathon NR holder Yuka Ando (Suzuki) but not to Chepngetich's taste. After a 16:34 opening 5 km she went ahead of the pacer into the lead alone, staying there until 30 km. In a chase trio with the pacer were Ando, 2:17 runner Lonah Chemtai Salpeter of Israel, and ambitious 2:26 runner Ai Hosoda (Edion). The pacer was first to drop from the chase group, with Hosoda losing touch before 20 km. At that point Chepngetich's lead was up to 49 seconds, but in the second half Salpeter began to run her down. Ando couldn't stay with S...

Running on his 29th birthday, Takuya Noguchi (Team Konica Minolta) became just the sixth Japanese man to ever win a marathon outside Japan in a sub-2:10 time as he shot down favorites and past champions Kenneth Mungara (Kenya) and Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) to win the Gold Coast Airport Marathon in a 2-minte-plus PB of 2:08:59. In the women's race #1-ranked Abebech Bekele (Ethiopia) became only the second Ethiopian woman to ever win Gold Coast as she took more than a minute off the year-old course record to win in 2:25:34. Pre-race Noguchi's wife Risa Takenaka (Team Shiseido), the 2015 Gold Coast women's winner and running again this year, told JRN that he was in better shape than she was and had come in part to try to outgun Kawauchi. With a good season behind him including a 1:02:37 half marathon PB and 2:11:04 marathon PB in February and a 1:02:21 half marathon best in May Noguchi had the momentum to see that through. Two-time defending champ Mung...

by Brett Larner click here for men's field listing The Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon has lined up a great women's field for its 71st running on Feb. 5.  Rio Olympics marathon silver medalist and defending champion Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) will go up against Rio 6th and 9th-placers Shalane Flanagan and Amy Cragg of the U.S.A., 2015 Marugame winner Eloise Wellings of Australia and 2016 Japanese National Corporate Half Marathon champion Miho Shimizu (Team Hokuren). Flanagan's 1:07:51 on the aided San Diego course last year is the only time that tops Kirwa's then-Bahraini national record 1:08:06 in Marugame 2016, promising a close race if Flanagan doesn't repeat her 2015 DNS .  Shimizu, the only Japanese woman to break 1:10 in 2016 , should likewise have a good race for 3rd against Wellings if the Australian shows a return to form following her DNF last month at the Sanyo Ladies Half .  One promising debut comes in the form of sub-31:45 track runn...

by Brett Larner 山陽女子ロードレース大会　ハーフマラソンの部　優勝　小原怜選手（天満屋）　１時間１０分０４秒 pic.twitter.com/TcCK4fVuTz — M.Kawaguchi (@rikujolove) December 23, 2016 Japan's Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) and Kenyan Rosemary Wanjiru (Team Starts) went it alone to win the 35th anniversary Sanyo Ladies' Road Race half marathon and 10 km divisions with strong negative split runs. After a slow 17:00 first 5 km in the half Ohara got to work, covering the next 5 km in 16:24 and opening a 16-second lead over a pack of nine led by Rio Olympics marathoner Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku).  From there she never faltered, her pace holding steady all the way to a 1:10:03 win.  38 seconds behind, Misaki Kato (Team Kyudenko) took 2nd in 1:10:42 with relative newcomer Ayaka Fujimoto (Team Kyocera) 3rd in 1:11:20.  Ito faded to 5th in 1:11:39 just ahead of London Olympics marathoner Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya).  Invited Australians Eloise Wellings and Cassie Fien were both DNFs, Fien dropping out befo...

http://www.sanyonews.jp/article/459054 translated by Brett Larner 327 women are set to run the 35th anniversary Sanyo Ladies Road Race Dec. 23 in Okayama.  117 are entered in the Yuko Arimori Cup Half Marathon, with 210 entered in the Kinue Hitomi Cup 10 km.  Top-level domestic and international athletes including some who ran in this summer's Rio de Janeiro Olympics are set to bring fireworks to the streets of Okayama. The half marathon is led by Rio marathoner Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) and features last year's runner-up local Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) and 2015 World Championships team member Risa Shigetomo  (Team Tenmaya). Misaki Kato (Team Kyudenko), who ran brilliantly at last month's National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships, and Reia Iwade (Team Noritz), who set the junior national record of 1:09:45 in Sanyo in 2013, are also on the list.  Rio 5000 m 9th-placer Eloise Wellings and 2016 World Half Marathon Championships team member Cassie Fi...

by Brett Larner Great conditions meant fast times across the board including three national records at the first major Japanese half marathon of the season, the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon . A large pack including internationals Goitom Kifle (Eritrea), Fabiano Sulle (Tanzania) and Japan-based 18-year-old Dominic Nyairo (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.), Hakone Ekiden stars Keisuke Nakatani and Naoki Kudo (both Komazawa Univ.), corporate runners Keijiro Mogi and Shuho Dairokuno (both Asahi Kasei) and Taku Fujimoto (Toyota) went out slightly slower than expected, hitting 5 km in 14:27 on track to just crack 1:01.  20-year-old Kudo, a second-year at Komazawa, pushed the next 5 km faster, on 1:00:50 pace at 10 km in 28:50.  Mogi, also just 20 after going straight into the corporate leagues post-high school, took over after 10 km and dropped the fastest 5 km yet, shaking down the leaders to just himself, Kifle, Nyairo and Sulle as he took them through 15 km...

by Brett Larner For its 70th edition the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon has wheeled out another quality field of top-level domestic elites peppered with an international seasoning to meet IAAF labelling requirements.  Like the United States' Houston Half Marathon, Marugame is a surprisingly fast race where many run lifetime bests they never approach again, enough of them to set world records for depth .  For Japanese men this year it serves as one of the selection races for the 2016 World Half Marathon team while for the women it's simply a day at the races. Five athletes with recent sub-70 marks make up the top tier in the women's race.  2014 Asian Games gold medalist Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) leads the way with a best of 1:08:31, followed closely by Diane Nukuri (Burundi) and the top female Japanese half marathoner of 2015, Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya).  Just under the 70-minute mark with PBs at December's Sanyo Ladies' Half are the promising Yuka An...

2015 was a complex year in Japan with lots to get excited about, a new generation of talent finally starting to break through the wall, multiple national records and world record-setting depth in what seemed like just about every major race, countered by embarrassingly bad World Championships performances, 2020 Tokyo Olympics organizational snafus that ranged from incompetent to much worse, and the consequences of the country's race organizers' and elite athlete coordinators' ready willingness to deal with people who trade freely in dirty athletes finally starting to come home to roost.  JRN's top ten most-read articles of 2015: 1. Hakone Champion AGU's Isshiki Leads 27 under 1:03 and 265 Sub-1:06 at National University Half Marathon Championships - Mar. 1 Tadashi Isshiki , a 2nd-year at 2015 Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University , ran 1:02:11 to top a field that produced historic results including a world record 265 men under 1:06:00 and 643 under 1:...

by Brett Larner photos by @rikujolove 2013 winner and 2014 World Half Marathon Championships bronze medalist Sally Kaptich Chepyego (Team Kyudenko) returned to the Sanyo Ladies' Road Race half marathon today, breaking her own course record to win in 1:08:17.  A large pack of 15 including Chepyego, top-ranked Japanese women Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya), Michi Numata (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) and Misaki Kato (Team Kyudenko) and 2015 Marugame Half winner Eloise Wellings (Australia) went out conservatively just over 1:10 pace.  The pack shrank to 6 as Chepyego pushed the pace into 1:07 territory approaching 10 km, and with a surge early into the second half she was away.  Chepyego ran free to the end, cutting 7 seconds off her 2013 CR and finishing just outside the top 10 in the world this year. Ohara, already with sub-1:10 credentials to her name, was left chasing Chepyego alongside the debuting Pauline Kamulu (Team Route Inn Hotels).  When Kamulu struggled i...

http://www.sanyonews.jp/article/265824/1/ translated and edited by Brett Larner The elite field for the 34th Sanyo Women's Road Race on Dec. 23 was announced on Nov. 30.  The first selection race for next March's Cardiff World Half Marathon Championships in the U.K., Sanyo features world-class talent like 2014 Copenhagen World Half Marathon bronze medalist and Sanyo course record holder Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko), 2015 Marugame Half Marathon winner Eloise Wellings (Australia), 2015 Beijing World Championships 10000 m runner Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) and more.  A large number of women aiming to make next year's Rio Olympic team will be lining up in the half marathon.  Alongside Ohara are 2014 Asian Games marathon 4th-placer Eri Hayakawa (Team Toto), 2014 World Half Marathon Championships team members Sayo Nomura (Team Daiichi Seimei) and Chieko Kido (Team Canon AC Kyushu), and rising young talent like 2015 Hokkaido Marathon winner Yui Okada (Team Ot...

Beijing, China, 8/27/15 click here for complete results Women's 5000 m Heat 1 1. Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 15:20.82 - Q 2. Mercy Cherono (Kenya) - 15:20.94 - Q 3. Mimi Belete (Bahrain) - 15:20.94 - Q 4. Irene Chepet Cheptai (Kenya) - 15:21.03 - Q 5. Susan Kuijken (Netherlands) - 15:25.67 - Q 6. Misaki Onishi (Japan) - 15:33.84 - q 7. Stephanie Twell (Great Britain) - 15:34.72 - q 8. Nicole Tully (U.S.A.) - 15:41.03 - q Women's 5000 m Heat 2 1. Almaz Ayana (Ethiopia) - 15:09.40 - Q 2. Senbere Teferi (Ethiopia) - 15:14.57 - Q 3. Viola Jelegat Kibiwot (Kenya) - 15:15.27 - Q 4. Janet Kisa (Kenya) - 15:26.49 - Q 5. Eloise Wellings (Australia) - 15:26.67 - Q 6. Ayuko Suzuki (Japan) - 15:28.18 - q 7. Jennifer Wenth (Austria) - 15:43.57 - q ----- 11. Azusa Sumi (Japan) - 16:13.65

by Brett Larner It was a big day for records at Australia's Gold Coast Airport Marathon , high-quality fields and the relative absence of the Gold Coast's infamous winds combining for a day to remember.  Japan's Takehiro Deki (Team Chugoku Denryoku) got things started in the men's half marathon, running alone after just 7 km to drop a 1:02:11 PB for the win, the 5th-fastest winning time in the event's 32-year history.  A very likeable former Hakone Ekiden star who as a complete unknown in college ran a 58:51 CR at the Takashimadaira 20 km and a 2:10:02 marathon debut without specific marathon training his junior year, Deki helped set Aoyama Gakuin University on the road to its course-record Hakone Ekiden win this year. "It was a little tough being out there on my own," he said post-race, "but I ran the way I wanted. This was a big step toward making the Rio Olympics team in the marathon."  Deki's coach Yasushi Sakaguchi , who previo...

by Brett Larner click photo for finish footage Japan-based Kenyan Paul Kuira (Team Konica Minolta) and Kenya-based Kiwi Zane Robertson made some history Sunday as they pushed each other just under the 59:48 course record at the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon . Kuira, along with Samuel Wanjiru and Daniel Njenga a graduate of Sendai Ikuei H.S. , and Robertson, both debuting, ran in a lead pack that included favorite Bernard Koech (Kenya), Juan Luis Barrios (Mexico), Benjamin Ngandu (Kenya/Team Monteroza) and Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko), Kuira's Konica teammates Masato Kikuchi and Keita Shitara and collegiates Ken Yokote (Meiji Univ.) and Daichi Kamino (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) through a solid 28:10 first 10 km, on track for 59:25.  Kamino, the star of the 2015 Hakone Ekiden with a brilliant course record on its uphill Fifth Stage, was the first to fall off Japanese national record pace, with the rest following by 15 km. A surge from Ngandu sh...