japan running news

by Brett Larner

For the second-straight year, Kenyan Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) pulled off the 1500 m - 10000 m double on the first weekend of the Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships, May 18-19 in Tokyo's National Stadium.  Despite high winds in Saturday's Division I 1500 m final, Omwamba went out hard with a 55-second opening lap, holding on alone to take a full 4 seconds off the meet record with a new best of 3:39.16.  Runner-up Hiroki Matsueda (Juntendo Univ.) was more than 10 seconds behind, narrowly beating Kazuki Miyake (Chuo Univ.) for 2nd with both cracking 3:50.  Division II winner Masaki Toda (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) also got under 3:50 with the fastest Japanese time of the day, 3:49.52.

A day later, Omwamba won again against a tough field in the Division I 10000 m.  Facing Nihon University's new Kenyan ace Daniel Kitonyi, 2013 Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage winner Shota Hattori (Nittai Univ.), Meiji University star Shuho Dairokuno and, fresh…

by Brett Larner

Correction: Although Kenta Murayama is 19, his 1:01:19 will apparently not be considered a new Asian Jr. record as age is calculated on Dec. 31 of the year of competition for the purposes of junior records.

After a record-setting edition last year the Marugame Half Marathon was back with exciting races in both the men's and women's divisions.  London Olympics marathon gold medalist and defending Marugame women's winner Tiki Gelana (Ethiopia) went out alone with a 15:52 opening split, but the fastest woman in the race, Kim Smith (New Zealand), patiently reeled her back in and by 15 km had a stride-length lead.  At 20 km they were virutally side-by-side, but Gelana still had the kick to put Smith away.  Gelana crossed the finish line 7 seconds ahead of Smith in 1:08:53, just off her best but good enough for a second-straight Marugame title.  3rd-place Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku) broke from the Japanese chase pack at 15 km to break 70 minutes for the fir…