Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label Hirotaka Tamura

Hakone Ekiden Ace Tamura Brothers Receive Flowers From Pre-Schoolers

http://www.toonippo.co.jp/news_too/nto2012/20120106135906.asp?fsn=eb33f76037153e93cde084f7e7644d6f

The Tamura brothers at Noheji Pre-School on Jan. 5. Click photo to enlarge.

translated by Brett Larner

Having run in the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden, the Tamura brothers Yusuke (4th yr., Josai University) and Hirotaka (2nd yr., Nihon University), both natives of Noheji, Aomori and graduates of Aomori Yamada H.S., visited Noheji Pre-School, which they both attended, on Jan. 5 to thank the school's children and their teachers for their support and encouragement.

In the Hakone Ekiden, Yusuke, the captain of Josai University's ekiden team, ran the uphill Fifth Stage for the third straight year, finishing 7th on time.  Running the First Stage for the Kanto Region Select Team, Hirotaka performed well, finishing 9th.  The brothers returned to their parents' home in Noheji on Jan. 4.  Visiting their old pre-school, they brought candy as presents for the children.  Roughly 100 pre-schoolers …
Post a Comment
Read more

World Champs 7th Placer Horibata, Nihon Univ. Star Sophomore Tamura Declare for Lake Biwa Olympic Marathon Qualifier

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/track/news/20111124k0000m050053000c.html
http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/event/sports/news/20111123-OHT1T00269.htm

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Following a stage win to lead Team Asahi Kasei to a course record win at the Nov. 23 Kyushu Corporate Ekiden Championships, Daegu World Championships marathoner Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Asahi Kasei) announced that he has committed to run March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the final domestic selection race for the Japanese men's marathon team for next year's London Olympic Games.  Horibata was the top Japanese finisher in Daegu, a strong 7th place overall, but, he said, "Right now my chances [of making the Olympic team off that performance] are pretty slim.  I've got to be active in getting my spot."

Also on Nov. 23, Nihon University ace sophomore Hirotaka Tamura, 19, revealed that he will be shooting for a place on the Olympic marathon team at Lake Biwa.  Tamura, winner of thi…
Post a Comment
Read more

Komazawa Back on Top With Ninth National University Ekiden Championships Title

by Brett Larner

It's you, baby. Shinobu Kubota brings Komazawa University home to its 9th national title in 17 years. Click photo for video highlights of the race.

After a few shaky seasons Komazawa University head coach Hiroaki Oyagi reconfirmed his position as Japan's most successful university coach with his ninth National University Men's Ekiden Championships title on Nov. 6, the 17th major ekiden win in his 17 years at Komazawa.  Responding to Izumo Ekiden winner Toyo University and defending champion Waseda University's unprecedented 10 sub-29 men lineups last season, Oyagi has built a squad this year which features 11 men with sub-14 5000 m PBs, sub-29 10000 m PBs, or both, five of them with 10000 m times under 28:33.  Toyo did its best to match Komazawa's challenge and almost pulled it off but could not quite cope with Komazawa's superior speed on the shorter of the ekiden's stages.  Despite Oyagi throwing a curveball by only running six of his big…
1 comment
Read more

Jobu University Surprises With Hakone Ekiden Qualifier Win

by Brett Larner
photos by Daniel Seite



One of three current teams coached by members of Waseda University's record-setting mid-90's team, Jobu University pulled off a surprise win at this year's Hakone Ekiden Qualifier, a 20 km road race in and around Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park that determines the second tier of teams to join the ten already seeded for January's main event.  The youngest team in the field, under head coach Katsuhiko Hanada Jobu has developed a heavy emphasis on overall quality and team running rather than relying on individual aces, a trait that served has served it well in the past and was again the key to its success this year.  Ranked only 5th coming into the race Jobu ran consistently, outside the top ten for the first half, 5th at 15 km, and on top by the end.  It was one of only two schools to put two runners into the top ten, one of them courtesy of a very nice run from first-year Shun Sato.  By contrast, top-ranked Josai University, coached b…
Post a Comment
Read more

James Rungaru Solo 27:22.53 at Nittai Time Trials

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 this month, Yuki Kaw…
Post a Comment
Read more

Fujimoto Wins 2nd-Straight Kanto Regionals 5000 m

by Brett Larner

Emerging from nowhere to win last year's Kanto Regional University T&F Championships men's 5000 m with the memorable words, "I feel like I woke up in someone else's life," Taku Fujimoto (Kokushikan Univ.) did it again, winning a three-way sprint finish against #1-ranked university man Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) and Asian half-marathon jr. area record holder Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.) to take his second-straight Kanto 5000 m title on May 22 at Tokyo's National Stadium. Expected competition from rivals Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Meiji Univ.) and Benjamin Gandu (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) never materialized as Murasawa, who missed a World Championships 10000 m qualifying mark by less than a second at last month's Hyogo Relays, was relentless in pushing the pace through humidity and wind. Osako and Fujimoto, both of whom broke 3:48 for the first time last weekend in the Kanto Regionals 1500 m, sat on his shoulders, steadily applying the pressure. Mu…
Post a Comment
Read more

World Cross-Country Championships - Japanese Results

by Brett Larner
Despite nearly half its team hailing from earthquake and tsunami-hit areas, the Japanese squad was missing only two members of its senior men's team at the 2011 World Cross-Country Championships in Punta Umbria, Spain. The junior women were the stars of the day, taking a team bronze medal thanks in part to 12th and 13th place finishes from ace Katsuki Suga (Kojokan H.S.) and Tomoka Kimura (Chikuyo Joshi Gakuen H.S.). Hailing from the hard-hit city of Sendai, Natsuki Yoshida (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) was last on the team but still turned in a credible performance all things considered, 34th in 21:00. Her team medal will no doubt be a boost to the spirits of those back in Sendai dealing with the post-tsunami devastation.
The senior women's and junior men's teams both placed 7th, the top individual performance on either team being a 26th-place run by women's team leader Hitomi Niiya (Team Toyota Jidoshoki), whose home base of Sakura, Chiba was badly shaken in l…
Post a Comment
Read more

Shades of Seko - Kensuke Takezawa Outkicks Atsushi Sato for Win, Murasawa Over Kashiwabara at National Interprefectural Ekiden

by Brett Larner

click here to read detailed race commentary on JRNLive

Kensuke Takezawa (Hyogo) outkicks Atsushi Sato (Fukushima) for the win. Click photo for video highlights.

Waseda University graduate and first-year Team S&B elite Kensuke Takezawa (Hyogo Pref.) ran in the image of his coach and mentor Toshihiko Seko, closely tailing half marathon national record holder and fellow Waseda alum Atsushi Sato (Fukushima Pref.) throughout the 13 km anchor leg of the seven stage, 48 km 2010 National Interprefectural Men's Ekiden in Hiroshima on Jan. 24. With 280 m to go Takezawa dispatched Sato with a blazing kick, bringing Hyogo home in 2:20:02 to deliver Hyogo its first National Interprefectural Ekiden win in 3 years and robbing Fukushima of its first-ever National win. "I had a pretty bad year last year," said Takezawa after the race, "so it's nice to get this one off to a good start."

Two-time defending champion and course record holder Nagano Prefecture wa…
Post a Comment
Read more

Chiba International Cross-Country Meet: Kobayashi, Iwamizu, Hiroyama and More Headline

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/news/20090204k0000m050050000c.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Rikuren has announced the lineup for the Chiba International Cross Country Meet to take place Feb. 15. As a selection race for the Japanese national team for this year's Jordan World Cross Country Championships in March, the Chiba XC Meet has attracted a range of top athletes looking to represent their nation.

The men's 12000 m race includes 3000 m steeplechase Olympian Yoshitaka Iwamizu (Team Fujitsu), 2009 Interprefectural Ekiden 7th stage winner Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku), two-time Olympic marathoner Jon Brown (Canada/U.K.) and 2009 Shibuya New Ekiden 1st stage winner Jason Lawrence (New Zealand).

The women's 6000 m race features Beijing Olympics 5000 m runner Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki), 2007 World Championships 6th place finisher Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC), and veteran Harumi Hiroyama (Team Shiseido).

In the junior men's 8000 m race, t…
1 comment
Read more

Senior Japanese Teams Have Weak Showing at World XC (updated)

by Brett Larner

update: Reader Rich T. sent these photos he took at the World XC Championships last weekend. Thank you.Rich's complete set of photos can be found here.


The Japanese junior women's team trails the Kenyan and Ethiopian teams.

The senior Japanese men's and women's teams had poor showings at Sunday's World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland, while the two junior teams fared more respectably.

The senior men's team finished 13th of 15 teams, beating only the teams from Canada and Botswana. Team aces Makoto Tobimatsu and Satoru Kitamura both had bad runs, finishing 4th and 6th on the team of 8 in 106th and 121st place respectively. The most experienced XC runner on the team, Yoshitaka Iwamizu, showed that experience matters as he led the team with his 89th place finish. The talented university runner Yuki Sato made up for his lackluster performances in the Chiba and Fukuoka qualification races by finishing 2nd on the team in 94th place. Ful…
3 comments
Read more