japan running news

Japan had not one but two top-level men's marathons happening at the same time today. Conditions were a little too windy at the rescendent Fukuoka International Marathon to produce the kind of times organizers were hoping for, but there was still a great race up front. Almost dead-even on 3:00/km pace the entire way despite a building headwind from around 11 km to 18 km and again from 25 km to 32 km, and a strong tailwind from 32 km to the track finish, by 35 km a lead pack of 30 dwindled down to just 2021 winner Michael Githae (Suzuki), debuting teammate Vincent Raimoi (Suzuki), 40-year-old double world champ Abel Kirui (Kenya) and Ethiopian Israeli Maru Teferi . Teferi didn't really break it apart as much as he held steadier than everyone else. From 30 to 35 km he clocked 15:01 and from 35 to 40 km 14:59, while the other three slowed to the 15:17~15:23 range on the way to 40 km. Teferi kept that pace all the way to the end, winning in a PB 2:06:43 that broke his own Israe...

Things are in kind of a strange situation this December when it comes to Japanese marathons. When the Fukuoka International Marathon announced it was shutting down after last year's 75th race the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon two weeks later was quick to move to Fukuoka's traditional first-Sunday-of-December date for 2022. When the announcement came of Fukuoka's return it was like a game of musical chairs, with both races trying to cram into the same day. As a result you've got a pretty serious split when it comes to domestic entries. Fukuoka has its traditional small international field to justify its name, veteran Abel Kirui (Kenya) facing off against a trio of 2:06 men, past winners Yemane Tsegaye (Ethiopia) and Michael Githae (Kenya/Suzuki), Marugame Half winner Brett Robinson (Australia), the debuting sub-60 half marathoner Vincent Raimoi (Kenya/Suzuki) and more. The domestic field has three men at 2:08 and six at 2:09, Daiji Kawai (Toenec) leading the way with a ...

Former Hakone Ekiden uphill specialist and 2024 Olympic marathon trials qualifier Daichi Kamino , 28, revealed on his Youtube channel on Feb. 8 that he has suffered a stress fracture of his ribs. Kamino said that during training on Feb. 5 he felt sudden pain in his back. When the pain didn't go away after taking a day off, he went to the hospital on the 7th and was found to have sustained a fractured rib. "It's not a major fracture, so it should take too long to heal," Kamino said, indicating that he will take two weeks fully off and may not be able to run for up to a month. He said that doctors told him that his characteristic arm swing may have caused the fracture by repetitively compressing his chest cavity. "My first priority is to get healed," he said. "It's important to keep doing what training I can while injured, but to keep it to what I can do safely without overdoing it." Translator's note: Kamino was 2nd at the Dec. 19 Hofu Yomi...

The National High School Ekiden Championships were the weekend's main event, but across Japan there were at least three other high-level road races. And one abroad. Benefitting from the Taiwanese government's early steps to get control of the COVID-19 situation and its population's responsibility in sticking to the protocols, the Taipei Marathon achieved what no other large-scale race could: a full-sized mass-participation field with 9,000 marathoners and 19,000 half-marathoners, and an international elite field, all within the 2020 calendar year. Not a reduced field, not a micro race, but a big city marathon the way we used to know them.  International athletes had to undergo a two-week quarantine in their hotel rooms, which organizers had fitted out with treadmills, but while most of them including Japan's Hiroko Baino  (Memolead) reported negative effects from the treadmill running on their performances there was still a new men's course record of 2:09:18 from...

It's the last big racing weekend of the year in Japan, with three big road races at home and one marathon abroad featuring a familiar face under a new name. Biggest of the big is the National High School Ekiden Sunday in Kyoto. Despite rapidly rising COVID-19 numbers across the country organizers have managed to pull off staging the race, which brings together five-runner girls' teams and seven-runner boys' teams from the top high school in each of Japan's 47 prefectures. The whole thing is broadcast live nationwide commercial-free on NHK , with the girls' race broadcast starting at 10:05 and the boys' at 12:15. JRN will also be covering it on @JRNLive . We'll tweet live stream info as it becomes available. With weather conditions looking good serious shots at the course records are expected in both races. In the girls' race, a half marathon distance in five stages, Kagoshima's Kamimura Gakuen H.S.  is the favorite, running 1:06:04 in its prefectur...