japan running news

Shunsuke Shikama (Logisteed) and Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) won the Sendai International Half Marathon Sunday in Sendai, Shikama in 1:01:31 and Njeri in 1:09:20. Mizuki Nishimura (Tenmaya) was the top Japanese woman at 2nd overall. The men's race went through 5 km in 14:34 and 10 km in 29:22. Shikama ran alongside top competition including Shoki Yamaguchi (Soka Univ.), who has been running well in half marathons this season, and Tokyo World Championships marathon team member Naoki Koyama (Honda). On a course with many small ups and downs, Shikama attacked on a downhill just after 15 km, quickly breaking free of the lead group of 7. 13 seconds up by 20 km, Shikama covered the last 1.0975 km in 3:06 to seal his first Sendai title. A graduate of Juntendo University , Shikama is in his 4th season with Logisteed. At the 2024 National Corporate Half Marathon he ran 1:00:41, and at last year's East Japan Corporate Ekiden he won the Third Stage. In his marathon d...

Following last weekend's East Japan and Kyushu Region corporate ekidens , qualification for the New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championship wrapped up Sunday with 3 other qualifying races covering 4 corporate regions. As in East Japan and Kyushu, one extra slot per region was available in honor of the New Year Ekiden's 70th running to the top team finishing outside the designated number of qualifying spots in that region as long as the they finished within 10 minutes of the last team in the regular qualifying bracket. In the combined Chubu and Hokuriku Region race, Toyota Boshoku took over the lead on the 3rd leg and never looked back, leading the 6 qualifying teams by 57 seconds in 3:54:00 for the 7-leg, 80.5 km course. Just over 2 minutes back from 6th finisher NTN , the Toenec team scored the special qualification slot in 4:00:35 for 7th. Perennial top Hokuriku placer YKK had a relatively narrow win over Sekino Kosan 4:00:12 to 4:01:00, both teams going on t...