japan running news

by Sota Nakanishi The 100th running of the Hakone Ekiden took place Jan. 2-3, 2024 . Nobuhisa Sakata , 82, former deputy sports director at Nippon TV which began broadcasting Hakone with its 63rd edition in 1987, talked about the behind-the-scenes work that made the impossibility of a live broadcast of the massive two-day event a reality. Sakata became interested in the Hakone Ekiden with its 40th running when he started working at Nippon TV in 1964. The promising Juntendo University 2nd-year Keisuke Sawaki ran despite having knee pain pre-race. He finished 15th of 15 on the highly competitive Second Stage, but afterward head coach Hiroaki Chosa defended him, saying, "We need to have people we can put in charge of the Second Stage all four years or we'll never be able to win Hakone." Two years later during Sawaki's senior year Juntendo won for the first time. Sakata was deeply moved by the determination they had put into Hakone and their preparation for it. He im...

http://www.germanroadraces.de/274-1-30436-the-artifact-of-the-month-viii-.html

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120620-970454.html translated by Mika Tokairin and Brett Larner At a special meeting of the Tokyo Marathon Foundation last week at Tokyo City Hall, complexities arose which prevented the selection of a new chairperson alongside the election of other board members.  The Foundation, which came into existence in 2010, has been headed by Japanese Federation advisor  Hiroaki Chosa  in a position with a term of two years. The Federation and Tokyo Metropolitan Government each recommended nine different candidates to succeed Chosa in his position, all of whom were rejected by the selection committee.  The twenty-one Foundation board members who were not among those nominated for the chairperson's position did succeed in determining the new temporary vice-chairperson. It appears that this exceptional perplexity was the result of a power struggle within the Foundation between the Federation and the Tokyo Met...

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20100802-OYT1T00642.htm?from=main3 translated and edited by Brett Larner The mass marathon boom is overheating. Races everywhere are selling out within a matter of hours. Tokyo's "Runner's Paradise," the Imperial Palace loop, is packed solid with runners even at the peak of summer heat. On Aug. 1 the spark that set off the wildfire, the Tokyo Marathon, opened applications for next year's edition scheduled for Feb. 27. Applications exceeded the field size of 32,000 in less than 48 hours. Organizers expect to measure the total number of applicants in the hundreds of thousands. The trend has spread to other races. The Nov. 28 Tsukuba Marathon, with a field limit of 12,000, sold out in 13 hours. Last year's race took 3 days to reach the limit. The 8,000-limit Nagano Marathon this past April 18 sold out in 5 and 1/2 hours. The Teganuma Eco Half-Marathon on Oct. 31 filled all 7,000 spots in 8 hours 20 minutes after taking 2 days ...