japan running news

A fixture on runners' schedule for 79 years, the Fuji Mountain Race took place July 24 in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi. 3521 runners from across the country and around the world took on the challenge of racing up Mt. Fuji. The event is divided into 2 distances, the Summit Course of 21 km with 3000 m of ascent, and the Fifth Stage Course of 15 km with 1480 m climb. The Summit Course turns steep after the Seventh Stage, with runners slipping and stumbling on the loose rock on the trail as they near the peak. In the Summit Course race Ruy Ueda , 32, won for the second year in a row. Yuri Yoshizumi , 40, achieved an 8th-straight victory in the women's summit race. A local Fujiyoshida resident, post-race Yoshizumi said, "I mostly train on Mount Fuji too. All the local people cheering me on helped me to push harder." Takashi Mino won the men's title in the Fifth Stage Course, with Mirei Sugai taking the women's title. 79th Fuji Mountain Race Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, 24 ...

The JAAF has announced that due to the rapid increase in coronavirus infections in Hiroshima, the National Men's Ekiden scheduled to take place there on Jan. 23 has been canceled. It is the second year in a row for the event to be canceled because of the pandemic. The National Men's Ekiden starts and finishes at Hiroshima's Peace Park, with teams from each of Japan's 47 prefectures made up of 7 athletes ranging from junior high school students to top pros covering a 48.0 km course through the city and neighboring Hatsukaichi. Including coaches and team staff, roughly 600 people from across the country had been scheduled to take part. Athletes entered this year represented the best of multiple generations, including 6 members of the Tokyo Olympic team , 9 members of Aoyama Gakuin University 's 2022 Hakone Ekiden champion team, and many of the top people from December's National High School Ekiden . But since the start of the new year COVID-19 infections have s...

by Brett Larner 2012 Hakone Ekiden course record-setter Toyo University dominated rival and previous Hakone course record holder Waseda University in the men's 3000 m at the 2012 Trial in Isesaki night meet organized by Jobu University .  Toyo's downhill specialist Takanori Ichikawa ran up front with twin teammates Yuta Shitara and Keita Shitara , emerging a step ahead of Yuta for the win as both broke eight minutes.  Keita, until recently the stronger of the twins, fell behind late in the race but held on for third in 8:07.12.  Waseda's top finisher Fuminori Shikata could do no better than 5th a second back from Keita. All told Toyo athletes took eight of the top ten spots, boding well for their chances in the upcoming fall ekiden season and their Hakone title defense on Jan. 2-3.  Look for Toyo to line up in next month's Hood to Coast Relay in Oregon. 2012 Trial in Isesaki Jobu University, Isesaki, Gunma, 7/21/12 click here for complete results Men...

by Brett Larner Members of Japan's top two university teams, 2011 Hakone Ekiden winner Waseda University  and 2009-2010 winner Toyo University , held a midsummer face-off July 23 in Isesaki Gunma at the Trial in Isesaki meet hosted by locally-based Jobu University .  With early pacing provided by Jobu graduate Yusuke Hasegawa  (Team S&B), Waseda second-year Suguru Osako , the Asian junior area record holder in the half marathon, won the men's 3000 m A-heat with a gap of nearly six seconds over Toyo's Takanori Ichikawa  and Hiroyuki Uno , running 8:05.70.  2009 Ageo City Half Marathon winner Shota Hiraga  (Waseda Univ.) was off his game as he finished only 7th in 8:18.29. For Osako the meet was a tuneup for next month's World University Games in Shenzhen, China.  Although he set the Asian junior record at the half marathon last fall as a first-year, Osako has since backed off the distance and focused on the track.  At the World Univers...

by Brett Larner Waseda University head coach Yasuyuki Watanabe has finally got it together. Weeks after Waseda's course record win at the Izumo Ekiden, the team came out fighting again and scored a stunning course record win to take the 2010 National University Ekiden Championships , its first national title in 15 years. In so doing Waseda took a big step toward Watanabe's stated goal of a triple crown this season: Izumo, Nationals and Hakone. Two-time defending Hakone Ekiden champion Toyo University got things started with an outstanding run by frosh Keita Shitara , who took down a raft of older runners to win the 14.6 km First Stage by 12 seconds. Waseda's Yo Yazawa , highly impressive on Izumo's First Stage, only managed 9th in 43:28. Star Waseda frosh Suguru Osako brought things back into place on the 13.2 km Second Stage, outrunning Toyo ace Ryuji Kashiwabara by 20 seconds to put Waseda into 2nd. Further back, Meiji University star Tetsuya Yoroizaka set a new st...

by Brett Larner Sophomore Shota Hiraga brings Waseda University in for a course record win at the 2010 Izumo Ekiden. With starting temperatures an unseasonable 27 degrees, Waseda University head coach Yasuyuki Watanabe finally put it together Oct. 11 with the biggest success of his career, a sleek and scintillating course record win at the 22nd Izumo Ekiden . Despite a slight edge on paper over rivals Komazawa University and Nittai University , Watanabe's history of drilling talented squads into the ground and arriving at important races in tatters stood against Waseda's chances. The fears of another blowup were groundless. All six Waseda runners, juniors Yo Yazawa and Yuki Yagi , sophomore Saku Chosei HS grads Hiroyuki Sasaki and Shota Hiraga and star frosh recruits and 2010 World Jr. Championships teammates Suguru Osako and Fuminori Shikata ran perfectly, the first time in recent memory that can be said of a Waseda team. Yazawa pushed Kenyan Cosmas Ondiba (Yamanashi ...

http://www.iaaf.org/WJC10/news/kind=108/newsid=57503.html 2010 World Junior Championships - Top Results click here for complete results Men's 10000 m 1. Dennis Chepkongin Masai (KEN) - 27:53.88 - PB 2. Gebretsadik Abraha (ETH) - 28:03.45 - PB 3. Paul Kipchumba Lonyangata (KEN) - 28:14.55 - PB ----- 8. Suguru Osako (JPN) - 29:40.14 (ranked 3rd pre-race) 9. Fuminori Shikata (JPN) - 29:47.87 (ranked 5th pre-race) In other results from the second day of competition: Manami Mashita made the second round in the women's 800 m while teammate Ayaka Yokose missed the cutoff. Although Junki Yanagisawa recorded a season best, both he and Keitaro Sato failed to move past the first round in the men's 400 m. Miho Shingu was more successful, making the next round in the women's 400 m. Both Takumi Kuki and Ryo Onabuta advanced through the first round of the men's 100 m. Nodoka Seka likewise advanced in the women's 100 m, but teammate Akane Ishida was a DNS. Women's ...

by Brett Larner The 2010 World Junior Championships in athletics begin tomorrow, July 19, in Moncton, Canada and Japan is sending a solid team with more realistic medal chances than its senior teams typically have at the World Championships level. Japan's best chance for a gold medal may be in the women's 10000 m race walk, where Kumiko Okada 's PB of 45:23.83 is well over a minute better than her closest rival Chiaki Asada . Be this as it may, the lion's share of the attention is likely to be on Japan's other legitimate gold medal contender, sprinter Shota Iizuka in the men's 200 m. Iizuka, a first-year at Chuo University, gained international attention in May thanks to a Youtube video of his stunning anchor leg for Chuo in the men's 4 x 100 m relay at the Kanto Regional University Championships. In that world-class performance Iizuka singlehandedly gave Chuo a one-second margin of victory and the national collegiate record of 38.54. Iizuka went on to win ...