japan running news

The National Women's Ekiden was the weekend's biggest race, but across the country four half marathons saw decently competitive men's action.

At Tochigi's Takanezawa Genki Up Half Marathon, as in the last few years Hakone Ekiden runner-up Aoyama Gakuin University ran its B-team of Hakone non-starters, this year with company from the team that beat it, Tokai University. AGU swept the top ten, first-year Takayuki Iida taking the top spot in 1:03:10 with teammate Shuya Iwami also getting under 64 minutes. Tokai seemed to treat the day more as a workout, but head coach Hayashi Morozumi, 52, took the chance to get in on the action too, running the 10 km division in 43:04.

In Tokyo, the High Tech Half Marathon celebrated its 20th running with the edition of a marathon division. Independent Hideyuki Ikegami (Aminosaurus) won the men's half in 1:05:08. Club runner Eri Suzuki (Noshiro Yamamoto T&F Assoc.) ran the fastest women's time of the weekend, 1:19:34, to win…

by Brett Larner

As road season got underway, three track time trials and one regional high school meet across Japan on Oct. 1 saw competitive action.

Sato leading the Otani twins in Hiroshima. Photo by rikubaka. Click for complete photo album.

At the Chugoku Jitsugyodan Time Trials meet in Hiroshima, half-marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) ran his final tuneup for next weekend's Chicago Marathon, leading the 5000 m A-heat the entire way before being outkicked.  Sato finished 3rd in 14:05.76 with Masaki Sekido (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) taking the win in 13:59.27.  Kenta Otani (Team JFE Steel) was 2nd in a PB of 14:04.13 with his identical twin brother Keita Otani (Team JFE Steel) 5th in 14:07.54.  Daegu World Championships marathoner Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) returned to action with an easy win in the women's 5000 m in 16:24.07.  Hiroki Ishida (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) took the 10000 m in 29:07.48, half a second up on teammate Taku Miya…