japan running news

by Brett Larner Waseda University graduate Suguru Osako (Team Nissin Shokuhin) turned up at Sunday's Birmingham Grand Prix to run with sometimes training partner Mo Farah in pursuit of fellow Waseda grad Kensuke Takezawa 's Japanese national record of 8:24.69.  While Farah went out way ahead of the field to set a European area record of 8:07.85 for the win, Osako came up a few seconds short of Takezawa's mark in 8:28.30.  In a distance rarely raced by Japanese athletes, Osako's time was good enough for all-time Japanese #2, joining his all-time #6 5000 m best of 13:20.80 just behind Takezawa's all-time #5 mark of 13:19.00. A small contingent of Japanese high schoolers also turned up at Saturday's International Antwerp Athletics Gala.  Takuya Hanyu (Yachiyo Shoin H.S.), who last November ran 14:00.55 to become Japan's fastest-ever high school first-year for 5000 m, finished 2nd behind Australia's Mitchel Brown in a new PB of 13:52.98 that moved hi...

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 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...

by Brett Larner Ahead of this month's IAAF World Junior Championships, the 14th Asian Junior Athletics Championships got underway July 1 in Hanoi, Vietnam. Among the Japanese results on the meet's first day: Hiroaki Koike won the boys' 3000 m steeplechase in 9:10.66, beating Kenyan-born Bahraini runner-up Isaac Kemboi Chelimo by over 20 seconds. Katsuki Suga was 2nd in the girls' 5000 m in 16:31.22, less than 10 seconds behind Ethiopian-born Bahraini winner Tejitu Daba Chalchissa . Eri Tayama finished 5th. Kazuki Baba and Farouq Ishimoto went 3-4 in the boys' 100 m, clocking 10.86 and 10.91. Mizuki Ito finished last in the girls' 100 m final, running 12.64. Both Japanese runners in the boys' 400 m qualified for the final, Kengo Yamasaki winning Heat 1 in 48.11 and Suguru Ito coming in 2nd in Heat 2 in 49.00. For complete results from the first day of competition, click here . (c) 2010 Brett Larner all rights reserved

by Brett Larner Ethiopian Nahom Mesfin (Team Kanebo) and 1500 m national record holder Fumikazu Kobayashi (Team NTN) got the track season started off with a duel over 1500 m at the Kanaguri Memorial Track Meet April 10 in Kumamoto. With a PB performance Mesfin came out a step ahead as both runners broke Kobayashi's 5 year old meet record. Kenyan Ann Karindi (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) fell 0.11 seconds short of the women's 1500 m meet record but still set a PB of 4:09.41 and beat national record holder and teammate Yuriko Kobayashi by 9 seconds. The other meet record of the day came in the high school boys' 5000 m, where Takashi Ichida (Kumamoto H.S.) ran 14:11.75 to break the existing meet record by 6.5 seconds. The old record holder, Ikuto Yufu (Komazawa Univ.), made his university debut in the men's 5000 m where he was 8th in a creditable PB of 13:53.20. Kenyan Josephat Ndambiri (Team Komori Corp.) took an unsurprising win in the men's 5000 m as Kenyans went ...

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/track/news/20100125k0000m050090000c.html translated by Brett Larner At the last major women's ekiden of the season, the 21st Kita-Kyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden on Jan. 24 in Kita-Kyushu, Team Tenmaya won the five-stage, 32.8 km open division for the first time in 15 years. Top-ranked Kojokan H.S. took its first win the six-stage, 32.8 km high school division. Both teams hail from Okayama Prefecture and carried over the momentum from Okayama's win at last week's National Interprefectural Women's Ekiden. Tenmaya's Second Stage runner Yuka Izumi took the lead which Third and Fourth Stage runners Yoshie Kurisu and Kaori Urata lengthened with stage best runs. Tenmaya's anchor, Beijing Olympian Yurika Nakamura , was never seriously threatened as she cruised home for the win. Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo took 2nd after advancing in the later stages, while early leader Team Juhachi Ginko fell to 3rd. Team Acom, which w...