japan running news

Hakone Ekiden organizers KGRR have announced details for the qualifying half marathon for next year's 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The Yosenkai qualifying race will be held Oct. 17 in Tachikawa, Tokyo. The combined times of the 10 fastest finishers from each participating team will be used for team scoring, with the 10 fastest teams going on the the main event next January and top-placing individuals from teams that do not qualify being names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team. One change from previous years is that the number of runners each school can enter has been increased from 14 to 16. Teams will still only be allowed to have from 10 to 12 athletes on the starting line, but the move gives coaches greater flexibility in making the final decision on their starting rosters. No changes have been made to the qualifying times of 34:00 for 10000 m or 1:13:00 for the half marathon, and the new earlier starting time of 8:30 a.m. introduced last year in an effort to mitigate ...

With the best half marathon credentials in the field of 42 Kanto Region university teams, 11 runners with half marathon bests under 64 minutes, Chuo Gakuin University took the top spot at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai half marathon, the official qualifying race for January's 102nd Hakone Ekiden. With a 1:00:45 best Hiro Konda let the way for CGU as the top Japanese finisher in the race, running 1:02:04 for 7th overall. Taisei Ichikawa was next at 18th in 1:02:16 and Kotaro Osabe next in 1:02:57 for 38th, and CGU's other 7 scoring members all came through with a good run to give CGU the win in a combined time of 10:32:23, a 10-man average of 1:03:14.30. That was a bit on the slow side given the excellent conditions which were thanks in part to the race starting an hour earlier this year. An all-African lead group took it out hard, splitting 14:25 and 28:43 at 5 km and 10 km. The projected finish time was 1:00:35 at that point, in range of the best Japanese athletes in the filed...

January's Hakone Ekiden has a big impact on the shape of the fall season for Japanese collegiate men. The top 10 teams at Hakone run this past Monday's Izumo Ekiden , where 6 runners per team run an average of 7.5 km. 11th-place and lower run Saturday's Yosenkai, the half marathon used to fill the 10 remaining slots in the Hakone field and the lineup of the select team made up of top-placing individuals from universities that don't qualify as a team. The 42 teams at the Yosenkai can run up to 12 people, with the times of their first 10 finishers adding up to a team score and the 10 fastest teams going on to the big show. At Izumo a lot of the top teams were down on track times this season . At the Yosenkai it's really noticeable how much the level has come up. In 2023 only 2 teams, Daito Bunka University and Tokyo Kokusai University , had a 10-runner 10000 m average under 29 minutes. Last year there were 3, Chuo University , Tokai University and TKU again. This ...

In a quest to make its first Hakone Ekiden, Shibaura Kogyo University announced this week that former Surugadai University head coach Kazuyoshi Tokumoto , 45, and former Reitaku University head coach Tatsuya Yamakawa , 40, will take over as head and assistant coach starting in April. In a statement issued by the university Tokumoto commented, "I'm pleased to have been named head coach of Shibaura Kogyo University's track and field team. When they came to feel me I could feel their passion about achieving their dream of becoming the first science and technology university to compete in the Hakone Ekiden. I was happy to accept because I felt that this was an environment in which I could grow too. It's my responsibility to help them become the 45th university ever to compete in Hakone. I hope that you'll enjoy Act II of the Tokumoto Show and cheer us on as Shibaura Kogyo heads down the road to Hakone." Yamakawa's comments read, "I arrived early in Feb...

After having led Surugadai University to its first-ever Hakone Ekiden appearances in 2022 and 2024, Kazuyoshi Tokumoto , 45, announced on Jan. 12 that he is stepping down as head coach. A star Hakone runner during his days at Hosei University , Tokumoto took over as head coach at Surugadai in 2012. In his 10th season in 2021-22 Surugadai made the qualifying bracket at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race, earning the right to make its debut at Hakone 2022. That was followed up with a second appearance in 2024. Assistant coach Nobuhiro Goto , 42, will take over from Tokumoto in the head coach's role. According to a source, Tokumoto had already informed the athletes, their parents and other involved parties of his decision to leave the program prior to making the public announcement. The announcement makes Surugadai the 4th Hakone contender school to replace its head coach for the 2025-26 season, following Asia University , Reitaku University and Meiji University . Others are...

Waseda University's Tomonori Yamaguchi , Hosei University's Rei Matsunaga and Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito are part of the men's field for the Mar. 17 United Airlines NYC Half announced today by the New York Road Runners. Yamaguchi and Matsunaga were the top two Japanese collegiate finishers at November's Ageo City Half Marathon , Yamaguchi running 1:01:16 for 3rd overall and Matsunaga 1:01:56 for 4th to score invitations to NYC. Since then Yamaguchi has run particularly well, placing 4th on the Hakone Ekiden's highly competitive 23.1 km Second Stage where he ran the equivalent of a 1:00:45 half marathon, and running a 28:17.87 PB for 10000 m. Ito is also a sub-62 half marathoner, running 1:01:50 at last year's Marugame Half Marathon and setting a 28:37.34 PB for 10000 m in the same January race as Yamaguchi. All three have raced in other parts of Asia and both Yamaguchi and Ito in Europe, but for all of them it will be their first time racing i...

The Chuo Hatsujo corporate team has announced on its social media that Kengo Yajima is leaving its team. Born in 1996, Yajima is 27 years old. At Chiba's Shiritsu Funabashi H.S. he made the National High School Championships 5000 m and ran the Third Stage at the National High School Ekiden, contributing to Funabashi's 6th place finish. At Hosei University he ran both the Izumo Ekiden and Hakone Ekiden, anchoring Hosei at Hakone his 3rd year to bring them in for 6th overall. Joining Chuo Hatsujo in 2019, he ran 5000 m and 10000 m PBs of 14:15.09 and 29:12.15. He ran the New Year Ekiden national championships twice, placing 29th on the Fifth Stage in 2020 and 27th on the Seventh Stage in 2021. Most notably, he ran as a guide runner for blind corporate league athlete Shinya Wada , helping Wada break the marathon national record and medal on the track in the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics. "The last four years on the team have been a great and valuable experience," Yajima sa...

  Entry lists are out for what's going to be the biggest road race in history, the 100th edition of the Hakone Ekiden . Over the next few weeks we'll be writing on the history, present, and future of Hakone, and more detailed previews of the 2024 race. But as a quick preview, below are the complete 16-runner entry lists for the 23 Tokyo-area university men's teams in the race. Of these, ten from each school will actually run, five roughly a half marathon distance each on Jan. 2 from central Tokyo to the shores of Lake Ashi near Mt. Fuji, and five doing the reverse on the 3rd. On first look, the overall level is through the roof, even by Hakone standards. 13 of the 23 teams have a ten-man average under 14 minutes for 5000 m. Three of those have an average under 13:45. 20 of the 23 teams have a ten-man average under 29 minutes for 10000 m, and again three of those average under 28:30. Eight of the 23 teams average under 1:03 for the half marathon, with two under 1:02:30. Sev...

Streaming of the MARCH Taikosen 2023 track meet, a 10000 m time trial meet in Machida, Tokyo between Hakone Ekiden-bound Meiji University , Aoyama Gakuin University , Rikkyo University , Chuo University and Hosei University . The meet features "scholarship" money for top-placing individuals and teams, and for fast times. Streaming starts at 15:20 local time Wednesday local time, with the first of the meet's four heats going off at 16:00. Entry lists are here . © 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Stellar conditions and a solid fields meant times were going to be fast at the Ageo City Half Marathon , and in both the women's and men's races the front end took full advantage of the day. In the midst of the super-deep men's field Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh , the top Mongolian in this summer's Budapest World Championships marathon and in last month's Hangzhou Asian Games marathon, ran steady and strong, splitting 33:29 at 10 km, 1:10:38 pace, before pushing the 2nd half. Khishigsaikhan crossed the finish line 1:10:32, 1:22 under the old course record, 3:35 ahead of 2nd-place Kana Kobayashi , and a massive 4:16 off the Mongolian women's national record. Khishigsaikhan is currently training in Japan and ran Ageo in prep for next month's Taipei City Marathon, where she was 3rd last year. The men's race went out hard, with Kenyan Brian Kipyegon (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.), NR holder Yusuke Ogura (Yakult) and the ambitious Rei Matsunaga (Hosei) leading the ...

  Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai half marathon was the official qualifying race for January's 100th edition of t he world's biggest and best road race , and with it the 23-team field is set. Led by defending champion Komazawa University , the top 10 at the 2023 Hakone Ekiden auto-qualified for the 100th on Jan. 2-3, 2024. The other 13 teams came from the Yosenkai, led by Daito Bunka University , 3 more than usual in honor of the 100th running but absent the usual select team made up of top-placing individuals at the Yosenkai from schools that didn't make the cut as a team. The complete field: Komazawa University 58th appearance, 58th-straight appearance, 8 wins most recent win: 2023 Chuo University 97th appearance, 7th-straight appearance, 14 wins most recent win: 1996 Aoyama Gakuin University 29th appearance, 16th-straight appearance, 6 wins most recent win: 2022 Koku Gakuin University 17th appearance, 8th-straight appearance, best placing: 3rd (2020) Juntendo Univ...

Results at the 99th Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2 and 3 this year showed that the high level seen over the last few years hasn't slowed down at all. Eleven university teams cleared 11:00:00 for the complete 10-leg, 217.1 km course, tying last year's record numbers . Before 2020, when ten teams did it, there had never been more than three in a single edition. Winner Komazawa University 's time was the 3rd-fastest ever, with runner-up Chuo University running the 5th-fastest ever and 3rd-placer Aoyama Gakuin University the 9th-fastest. Komazawa and Chuo were both in the all-time top ten for both the Day One and Day Two segments, with overall 7th-placer Hosei University the 10th-fastest ever for Day Two. Both Komazawa and Chuo went under the 3:00/km barrier for average pace over the entire course, which includes a stage that climbs to 874 m elevation and another that drops back down. At the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships, where teams run 100....

The Hakone Ekiden is almost here. The 99th running of Japan’s biggest sporting event happens Jan. 2-3, 21 collegiate relay teams of ten men running around a half marathon distance each from downtown Tokyo to Lake Ashi in the mountains near Mt. Fuji and back. All of it and more is broadcast live domestically starting at 7:00 a.m. by Nihon TV to tens of millions of fans and streamed on their Hakone site  starting at 7:50, with domestic streaming of both Day One and Day Two  also on TVer. There’s no official international streaming, but get yourself a VPN or subscribe to one of the online services that makes it possible to watch Japanese TV and you’re in. JRN will cover the entire race both days again this year on @JRNLive , so buy us a coffee and help make it possible . With course record wins at the season’s first two major ekidens, Izumo and Nationals , Komazawa University is the heavy favorite. The triple crown of major university ekiden wins is just about the only thing...

Earlier this week the KGRR released the entry lists for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden 's 99th running. We'll do a more detailed preview closer to the race, but a few quick takeaways: Not including the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team, each of the 20 universities in the race entered 16 names, of which 10 will actually start the race. 13 teams have 10-man 5000 m PB averages under 14 minutes, 15 teams have 10-man 10000 m PB averages under 29 minutes, and 4 teams have 10-man half marathon averages under 1:03. With the average stage length at Hakone being just over a half marathon it's hard to see any team outside the 4 with 62-minute half averages being in it for the win, but the massive number of 28-minute 10000 m teams shows where the focus has been during the pandemic, and low-ranked teams like Daito Bunka University , Nittai University and Tokyo Kokusai University that have good track credentials without half marathon marks to match should do better than what it ...

2020 Hakone Ekiden 3rd-placer Koku Gakuin University , 4th-place Teikyo University and 15th-place Hosei University held a joint 20 km time trial in Chiba on Nov. 14. Toyo University star fourth-year Kazuya Nishiyama also took part, winning in 58:53. Teikyo fourth-year Sora Masuda was next in 59:35, with Hosei second-year Yuki Kawakami 3rd in 59:37. Before and after the time trial each team operated independently as a team, taking appropriate measures against coronavirus infection. The time trial itself let runners from each school push each other and gave a real sense of actual competition. Afterward Teikyo head coach Takayuki Nakano , 57, commented, "Just because you've done the training it doesn't mean there will be a race. We have to remember to be grateful for the opportunities we have. And that we're all friends." Saitama's Ageo City Half Marathon, one of the most important races in the buildup to the Hakone Ekiden, was originally scheduled for No...