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Showing posts with the label Hironori Arai

"I Hope We All Work Together to Achieve Something Special" - Gold Coast Airport Marathon Preview

by Brett Larner
photos by Mari Tanigawa

With a shiny new IAAF gold label to its name, Sunday's Gold Coast Airport Marathon has put together fields worthy of its distinction as the only Australian race to have achieved the honor.  The 2:27:17 women's course record is a definite possibility, the men's 2:10:01 record all but a certainty with most of the top end of the field talking about times that would put them under Rob de Castella's prehistoric 2:09:18 Australian all-comers' record dating back to 1982.  The race will be streamed live worldwide starting at 5:45 a.m. local time with the gun going off at 7:20, giving fans worldwide the chance to catch a potential piece of history.  For the first time, JRN will be part of the broadcast alongside hosts Ian Eckersley and Steve Moneghetti to help cover the stellar Japanese component of the elite field.

The withdrawal of #1-seeded Mulu Seboka (Ethiopia) means Naoko Takahashi's 2:23:14 Australian all-comers' record…
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Gold Coast Airport Marathon Announces Elite Fields - Adihana, Tum and Kamakya Vs. Fujiwara, Kawauchi and Kurosaki

by Brett Larner

For its first edition as an IAAF gold label race, the July 6 Gold Coast Airport Marathon has put together men's and women's elite fields worthy of the distinction, and especially in the men's race with the multiple story lines that make a good race worth watching.  Three 2:06 men, Gebretsadik Abraha Adihana (Ethiopia), Stephen Tum (Kenya) and course record holder Nicholas Manza Kamakya (Kenya) lead the way.  Facing them is defending champion and joint CR-holder Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't).  In the race to ruin the day for Kawauchi are his arch-rival independent Arata Fujiwara (Mika House) and new training partner Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Arata Project), appearing with support from JRN.  Gunning for both Kawauchi and Fujiwara is the pride of the corporate leagues, Hirokatsu Kurosaki of two-time New Year Ekiden national corporate champion Team Konica Minolta.

What more could you want?  The 2:10:01 course record?  Done.  Rob de Castella's 2:09:18 Aust…
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Arai and Tanaka Set Course Records at Kobe Marathon

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/201311/0006503245.shtml

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Over 20,000 people took part in the third edition of the Kobe Marathon on Nov. 17, running on the streets raised from the ruin of the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake. Starting out at a much faster pace than Kobe saw in either of its first two runnings, Hironori Arai (34, Team Chugoku Denryoku) and local veteran Chihiro Tanaka (44, AthleC AC) set new men's and women's course records of 2:17:01 and 2:36:53. For each of them it was their first time to win in Kobe.

Organized by the Hyogo Prefectural Government, the Kobe Civic Government and the Hyogo Prefecture Track and Field Association, the race had "Give Thanks for Friendship" as its official theme to express the city's gratitude for the assistance it received during the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake and to help raise support for survivors of the East Japan Earthquake and the recent major typhoon in the Philippines…
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Fukushi 3rd at Chicago Marathon

by Brett Larner

Fukushi at 26 miles. Photo (c) 2011 Dr. Helmut Winter

Multiple national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) ran a solid performance at her second marathon, running a promising 2:24:38 for 3rd at the 2011 Chicago Marathon.  Fukushi ran the first half of the race shadowing eventual winner Liliya Shobukhova (Russia) at Japanese national record pace but faded after 25 km, slowing dramatically in the final kilometers.  Nevertheless she still finished with the fourth-best time of the year by a Japanese woman and the third-fastest time ever run by a Japanese woman within the United States..  In so doing she also became the 20th Japanese woman to break 2:25 and the 50th to break 2:27.

In post-race comments to Jiji.com Fukushi said, "It was a 2:24, so it was good.  I wanted to take it as far as I could.  I couldn't have done any better.  I was able to move my legs a bit after 30 km.  If I can run more comfortably than this [at the Olympic selection race next year…
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Eight Japanese Runners Lining Up at Chicago Marathon

by Brett Larner

Half-marathon national record holders Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) and Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) at the 2011 Chicago Marathon press conference. 


Photo (c) 2011 Dr. Helmut Winter




Since Toshihiko Seko's 2:08:27 win in 1986 the Chicago Marathon has been kind to Japan's elite marathoners, with four of the five sub-2:10s by Japanese men in the U.S. and three of the five fastest Japanese women's performances in the U.S. run on the Chicago course.  This year sees a large contingent of one woman and seven men lining up to go for strong times ahead of the winter Olympic selection race cycle.

The biggest news is the return to the marathon of multiple women's national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal), her first marathon since her spectacularly failed debut in 2008. Fukushi has had a difficult year, going through both the Christchurch and Tohoku earthquakes and having foot surgery and minor injury troubles in the summer, but this is offset by an …
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Fukushi, Sato, Matsumiya and More to Run Chicago Marathon

by Brett Larner

The Chicago Marathon has updated its elite field listing for this year's running due on Oct. 9.  Notable amond the adds are Japanese half marathon national record holders Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) and Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) and former 30 km world record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta), along with five other Japanese men.  For Fukushi it will be her first attempt at a marathon since her bizzarely suicidal debut at the 2008 Osaka International Women's Marathon.  In the official press release announcing her participation Fukushi was quoted as saying, "At this year's Bank of America Chicago Marathon, I want to challenge the 2:20 mark, and also test my own abilities in the marathon and what the distance involves. Racing in Chicago is the start of my preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games Marathon in London."

Sato will be attempting another comeback after a year and a half away from the distance.  Matsumiya, the top Japa…
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Miyauchi Wins Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon, Fujita Third at Great Scottish Run

by Brett Larner

The Japanese National Corporate Half Marathon Championships have a long-standing relationship with overseas half marathons, the top domestic finishers being named to the Japanese team for the World Half Marathon and the next tier being sent to the Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon and the Great Scottish Run Half Marathon.  This year's Corporate Half was cancelled in the wake of March's natural disasters and the World Half Marathon is likewise not being held, but Japanese athletes turned out as usual at both Rock 'n' Roll and the GSR.

Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera), the top Japanese woman over the half marathon distance in 2010, won Rock 'n' Roll in 1:11:48 after a patient race in which she hung back while Kenyan Jane Kibil battled with Olympian Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) and newcomer Fumiko Hashimoto (Team Shimamura).  Inaugural Gifu Half Marathon winner Mao Kuroda (Team Yutaka Giken) was only 7th in 1:13:37 as Japanese women t…
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Weekend Track Results - Women's 4x100 m Relay National Record

by Brett Larner
 The Japanese track season continued the May 7-8 weekend with the first of three straight weekends of regional corporate championships. The Chugoku Regional Championships held its 5000 m the night of May 7, with Yuko Watanabe (Team Endion) and Hironori Arai (Team Chugoku Denryoku) having surprise wins in 16:08.48 and 13:58.65 over top-ranked woman Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) and Kenyan Joseph Gitau (Team JFE Steel). The rest of the meet including the 10000 m will be held this coming weekend of the 14th-15th.
The Chubu region held its entire championships on the 7th and 8th, meaning many runners doubled at 5000 m and 10000 m in less than 24 hours. Kenyan John Thuo (Team Toyota), who ran a then-world-leading 10000 m last month at the Hyogo Relay Carnival meet, had the best run of the weekend, taking the men's 10000 m in 27:52.86. His teammate Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) was the top Japanese finisher, 5th in 29:10.06 with a 57-second last lap. Kenyan Samuel Ndungu (…
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Aso Wins 51st Himejijo 10 Miler

by Brett Larner

On a cold day when snow blanketed most of the country, Takahiro Aso (Team Aisan Kogyo) ran 47:26 to win the 51st edition of the Himejijo 10-Miler on Feb. 11. Aso outran Meiji University graduate Masamichi Yasuda (Team Aichi Seiko) by 8 seconds to win in the fastest time since course record holder Terukazu Omori's 46:34 at the 2007 race. Continuing with his post-Beijing injury comeback begun two weeks ago at the Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden, 2:08 marathoner Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) ran a credible 47:46 to take 8th just 20 seconds off Aso's winning time.

2011 Himejijo 10-Miler
click here for complete results
1. Takahiro Aso (Team Aisan Kogyo) - 47:26
2. Masamichi Yasuda (Team Aichi Seiko) - 47:34
3. Hironori Arai (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 47:39
4. Yoshiyuki Oseki (Team Aichi Seiko) - 47:42
5. Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 47:43
6. Shinichi Watanabe (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 47:43
7. Takuji Morimoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 47:44
8. Satoshi Osaki (Tea…
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'Kenyans and Japanese Clean Sweep Gold Coast Airport Marathon'

http://www.goldcoastmarathon.com.au/default.asp?PageID=20457

Led by Kaori Yoshida's 2:31:33 victory, Japanese women took four of the top five places in the marathon while Japanese men took seven of the top ten places in the half marathon. Australian Jeff Hunt, whose memorable marathon debut at February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon made that race newsworthy, won the half marathon in 1:03:18, three seconds ahead of countryman Martin Dent. For complete results click here.
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