japan running news

  According to investigators, two-time Olympic marathon medalist Erick Wainaina has had his case referred to prosecutors after allegedly injuring a railway employee by striking him in the face at a station in Setagaya, Tokyo. Wainaina, 50, was the bronze medalist in the marathon at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and won silver in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Wainaina is suspected of assaulting a woman in her late teens and a male Tokyu Denentoshi Line employee by hitting them in the face during an altercation at Komazawa University Station in March this year, resulting in minor injuries to the man's face. According to investigators, the incident began on the train between Wainaina and the woman, and after getting off at Komazawa University Station he hit her in the face when she asked him to go to the station office with her to report it. When the male railway employee responded to the situation Wainaina reportedly hit him too. In response to questioning Wainaina is said to have answered,...

Atlanta Olympics marathon bronze medalist and future Sydney silver medalist Erick Wainaina , future marathon national record holder Atsushi Fujita , and the first Kenyan to go all the way through the Japanese high school, university and corporate league system, Stephen Mayaka , head-to-head at the now-defunct Sapporo Half Marathon in 1998. Atlanta gold medalist Josiah Thugwane is running in 4th in most of this clip but ends up 5th.

http://dd.hokkaido-np.co.jp/news/area/doto/1-0151017.html http://www.sankei.com/affairs/news/150628/afr1506280022-n1.html translated and edited by Brett Larner A total of 3827 people took part in the 30th anniversary Lake Saroma Ultramarathon in Hokkaido on June 28, challenging their own limits as they ran with support and warm cheering from volunteers, local residents of the towns of Yubetsu, Saroma and Kitami, and the runners' friends and family members. 3326 people ran in the 100 km division.  At the 5:00 a.m. start the temperature in Yubetsu was 8.7 degrees, 1.9 degrees cooler than the usual average temperature.  Running the 100 km for the sixth-straight year, two-time Olympic medalist Erick Wainaina (Kenya) addressed the runners in front of Yubetsu Sports Center, telling them, "100 km is a long way, but just stay focused on your own pace and making it to the finish line," before joining them for the race. 501 runners started in the 50 km division from 100 ...

by Brett Larner The 28th edition of Japan's premier ultra, the Lake Saroma 100 km and 50 km Ultramarathon , took place June 30 along the northeastern shore of Hokkaido.  Lake Saroma was to have been the official selection race for the Japanese team for this year's IAU 100 km World Championships, but on Friday organizers posted a notice on the race website informing top-ranked participants that due to  uncertainty surrounding South Africa's readiness to host the World Championships  this October the team selection would be cancelled. Despite both this disappointment and hot temperatures, both the men's and women's 100 km races saw world-leading performances.  In the men's 100 km division, 2009 winner Hideo Nojo  (New Balance) improved on his 2nd-place finish last year with a world-leading 6:37:16 for this year's title, 4 1/2 minutes ahead of 2:18 marathoner Takayoshi Shigemi  (Urugimura).  Two-time Olympic medalist and 2010 Lake Saroma champion Eri...

This is part two in JRN's four-part series of interviews with the key people in Samuel Wanjiru 's life in Japan.   Click here for the introduction to the series, an explanation of how it came about, and links to the other interviews .  Check back tomorrow for part three, an interview with Wanjiru's former teammates Yu Mitsuya  and Masato Imai . Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita is the man who showed Samuel Wanjiru how to be a marathoner, but under his coaching Wanjiru also set all of his world records from the junior 10000 m record to his three times cracking the best-ever half-marathon mark.  Six weeks after Wanjiru's death Morishita agreed to a one-on-one interview about Wanjiru's years with the Toyota Kyushu corporate team, their coach-athlete relationship, and his post-Japan marathon career.  Morishita was candid and unexpectedly introspective in his opinions of what went wrong, including his own mistakes.  In this intervie...

The first of JRN's four-part series interviews in the weeks following Samuel Wanjiru 's death with the people in Japan who knew him best and made him what he was. For an explanation of the origin of these interviews please click here . In this interview, Stephen Mayaka , the first Kenyan to run in Japan all the way from high school through university and on to a pro career and a mentor to Wanjiru and other Japan-resident Kenyans, talks about his experiences with Wanjiru. Tomorrow's interview will be Wanjiru's coach at the Toyota Kyushu corporate team, Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita . Stephen Mayaka interviewed by Brett Larner in Takasaki, Gunma, 6/23/11 © 2011 Brett Larner All rights reserved No part of this interview may be reproduced or quoted without express written permission. photo  © 2011 Daniel Seite All rights reserved To start with, could you talk about the early stages?  Wanjiru’s discovery, his life in Kenya before he c...