japan running news

by Brett Larner Newcomer James Rungaru  (Kenya/Team Toyota) rocked Saturday's Nittai Univ. Time Trials men's 10000 m A-heat with a solo 27:22.53 PB, going out at sub-27 pace without accompaniment and lapping the entire field.  Toyota's B-Kenyan, Rungaru ran 15 seconds faster than Paul Tanui 's winning time at Friday's National Corporate T&F Championships 10000 m and 16 seconds faster than Toyota's A-Kenyan John Thuo  ran at the national meet.  His nearest competition, Ethiopian Fekele Assefa  (Team Kanebo), finished in only 28:36.63 after running most of the race with Masaki Ito  (Kokushikan Univ.). Ito's PB of 28:38.13 led three university men under 29 minutes, the most surprising being Aritaka Kajiwara  of the minor Shoin University .  With a performance like this behind him Kajiwara is a lock on a spot for the 2012 Hakone Ekiden's Select Team.  Also in the field in his first race since the Daegu World Championships marathon earlier...

217th Nittai University Time Trials June 11-12, Nittai University, Yokohama click here for complete results Women's 5000 m Heat 22 1. Kaho Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 15:43.27 2. Yuka Kakimi (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 15:45.43 3. Tomomi Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 16:03.56 4. Yukie Nagata (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 16:06.20 5. Miho Ihara (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 16:07.86 6. Yoko Aizu (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 16:09.28 7. Risa Nakamura (Team Hitachi) - 16:10.96 8. Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 16:13.24 9. Yuki Hidaka (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 16:19.02 10. Misaki Kato (Team Kyudenko) - 16:21.54 Men's 5000 m Heat 27 1. Genki Yagisawa (Meiji Univ.) - 13:55.04 2. Michael Githinji (Kenya/Team Toho Refine) - 13:55.49 3. Hideyuki Anzai (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 13:55.77 4. Ryo Matsumoto (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 13:56.06 5. Shinichi Yamashita (Takigahara SDF Base) - 13:56.16 6. Muryo Takase (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 13:57.91 7. Kazuhiro Kuga (Komazawa Univ.) - 13:58...

http://kumanichi.com/fsports/30km/index.cfm http://kumanichi.com/fsports/30km/30km52/20080225.1.cfm http://kumanichi.com/fsports/30km/30km52/20080225.2.cfm http://kumanichi.com/fsports/30km/30km52/20080225.3.cfm translated and edited by Brett Larner On Feb. 24 individual entrant Masaki Shimojo (Team Konica Minolta) won the 52nd Kumanichi 30 km Road Race in Kumamoto in 1:30:33. He became only the 3rd individual entrant to ever win the event, the last being Tomoya Shimizu (Team Sagawa Express) 2 years ago. Only 2 women were entered in the race, but winner Miho Notagashira (Team Wacoal) set a new course record by 13 seconds, running 1:44:00. Although windy conditions prevented a predicted 1:29 finish time, the men's race yielded the first dead heat finish in years. It started with a slow pace. At the 10 km point, Kodai Tanabe (Team Mazda) broke from the lead pack and opened a gap, but at the halfway point it looked likely that the finish time would be in the 1:33 range. The chase...