japan running news

by Brett Larner Saitama-based William Malel (Team Honda) gave defending Olympic gold medalist Mo Farah (Great Britain) a run for it in Saturday's Prefontaine Classic men's 10000 m, kicking over the last 250 or so meters before Farah caught him in the final 50 m.  Malel finished less than a second behind Farah in 26:54.66, a new PB that, given the injured status of Bedan Karoki (Team DeNA), surely puts Malel into consideration for the Rio team.  Interestingly enough, Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia), who won the 2011 Daegu World Championships 10000 m over Farah with a mighty kick while running for the Honda team, was close behind in a new PB of 26:58.75 for 5th. Japan-based Kenyans Leonard Barsoton (Team Nissin Shokuhin) and James Mwangi (Team NTN) took 12th and 13th, both in the 27:30 range.  Japan's Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) wasn't up to the night's task, losing touch with the leaders after the first 1000 m and dropping out early in the second half.  One...

by Brett Larner With the highlight of the first day of competition at the 2013 World Championships from the Japanese perspective having been Kayoko Fukushi 's bronze medal in the women's marathon , five other events also saw Japanese athletes in the ranks.  In the men's 10000 m, all-time Japanese #5 Tsuyoshi Ugachi  (Team Konica Minolta) brought a season best 27:50.79 to take 15th, with #1-ranked collegiate Suguru Osako  (Waseda Univ.) faltering in the late going and dropping to 21st in 28:19.50.  #3 Yuki Sato  (Team Nissin Shokuhin) was a surprise DNF after falling off the pace early.  Japanese-trained Africans took three of the top six places including two medals, with former Honda athlete Ibrahim Jeilan  (Ethiopia) missing a defense of his world title half a second behind rival Mohamed Farah  (GBR) in 27:22.23 and Kyudenko runner Paul Tanui  (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) a step behind for bronze in 27:22.61.  Tokyo-based Bedan Karoki ...

http://www.nation.co.ke/sports/Karoki+vows+to+bring+home+10000m+gold/-/1090/1460864/-/399su1/-/index.html Japan-trained Bitan Karoki  (Team S&B) attended Hiroshima's Sera H.S. before joining the S&B corporate team.  He is based in Saitama near 2011 10000 m world champion Ibrahim Jeilan 's training base at Honda.

by Brett Larner Japan wastes no time getting the 2012 racing season off to a start, with the New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships kicking off this Sunday, Jan. 1 at 8:30 a.m.  With 100 km split into seven stages broadcast live to a nationwide TV audience the New Year Ekiden is one of Japan's biggest and most popular races, featuring the best Japanese pro runners and Japan-resident Africans, including 10000 m world champion Ibrahim Jeilan  (Team Honda), World XC silver medalist Paul Tanui  (Team Kyudenko) and Fukuoka International Marathon winner Josphat Ndambiri  (Team Komori Corp.).  Overseas viewers up for the task should be able to catch TBS' broadcast live via Keyhole TV , with English-language splits and commentary coming to you live @JRNLive starting at 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 31 on the west coast of North America, 6:30 p.m. on the east coast, or 11:30 p.m. in London.  If JRNLive maxes out commentary will continue @JRNHeadlines . 201...

JRN's most-read articles of 2011 by month: January Waseda over Toyo as both break Hakone Ekiden course record. -  Jan. 3 Blood testing for better performance - learning from Hakone and pro baseball.   - Jan. 8 February Study finds to become world-class, don't work too hard in junior high.   - Feb. 5 World's first two-legged robot-only marathon set for Feb. 24.   - Feb. 16 Jason Lehmkuhle wins Ome 30 km road race - first American win since 1983.   - Feb. 20 World Championships silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki 2:23:56 Yokohama win. -  Feb. 20 Mekonnen wins Tokyo Marathon, amateur Kawauchi 3rd in 2:08:37. - Feb. 27 Japanese Federation and corporate league feel stinging impact of Kawauchi's run. - Feb. 28 "The Rocky of the marathon world" - Saitama Governor praises Kawauchi.  - Feb. 28 March What to do when the dream comes true?  Federation officials push management role as Kawauchi Fever sweeps Japan.   - Mar. 3 Wilson Kipsang ...

by Brett Larner This Sunday kicks off the busiest part of the year on the Japanese racing calendar, the national championship ekiden season.  At all levels from junior high school to the jitsugyodan corporate league, the national championship ekiden road relays are the main event for Japanese distance runners and the most dramatic racing of the year, with all but the National Junior High School Ekiden Championships broadcast live nationwide to large-scale audiences and viewable overseas through the miracle of Keyhole TV .  A quick guide to the most important of them: Dec. 18:   National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships , Sendai - 6 stages, 42.195 km The decision was already made to move the National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships to Sendai well before March's disasters, and this weekend's race will be the first major event held in the city since then.  In memory of the victims of the disasters the corporate league expanded the field this year to a...

by Brett Larner The East Japan regional qualifiers for December's National Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden Championships and the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships take place Nov. 3 in Saitama.  Both the women's and men's races feature some of the top talent in Japan, including World Championships women's marathon runners Yukiko Akaba  (Team Hokuren), Azusa Nojiri  (Team Daiichi Seimei) and Yoshimi Ozaki  (Team Daiichi Seimei) and track aces Kasumi Nishihara  (Team Yamada Denki),  Yuki Sato  (Team Nissin Shokuhin) and Tsuyoshi Ugachi  (Team Konica Minolta).  Particularly noteworthy in the men's race is the return to ekiden action of Daegu World Championships 10000 m world champion Ibrahim Jeilan  (Team Honda), who will face Kenyan rivals Clement Langat  (Team Subaru),  Josephat Ndambiri (Team Komori Corp.), Jonathan Ndiku  (Team Hitachi Cable) and  Gideon Ngatuny  (Team Nissin Shokuhin). ...

by Brett Larner As road season got underway, three track time trials and one regional high school meet across Japan on Oct. 1 saw competitive action. Sato leading the Otani twins in Hiroshima. Photo by rikubaka. Click for complete photo album. At the Chugoku Jitsugyodan Time Trials meet in Hiroshima, half-marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato  (Team Chugoku Denryoku) ran his final tuneup for next weekend's Chicago Marathon, leading the 5000 m A-heat the entire way before being outkicked.  Sato finished 3rd in 14:05.76 with Masaki Sekido  (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) taking the win in 13:59.27.   Kenta Otani  (Team JFE Steel) was 2nd in a PB of 14:04.13 with his identical twin brother Keita Otani  (Team JFE Steel) 5th in 14:07.54.  Daegu World Championships marathoner Mai Ito  (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) returned to action with an easy win in the women's 5000 m in 16:24.07.   Hiroki Ishida  (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) took the...

http://bit.ly/oLKCLB The article above lists the gold and silver medalists at the All-Africa Games 10000 m as Ebrahim Gashu  of Ethiopia and Bernard Muchiri  of Kenya.   According to the ARRS' competition rankings , these athletes are in fact Japan-based World Champion Ibrahim Jeilan Gashu  (Team Honda) and Bitan Karoki Muchiri  (Team S&B).  Both runners train in Saitama prefecture.  Ibrahim is cited as having won in 28:18.22, with Karoki just behind in 28:19.32.  Awaiting confirmation of official results. Update: Ibrahim's coach Kiyoshi Akimoto  just confirmed to JRN that Ibrahim did in fact win. Update: Unofficial results .  These results list Karoki as 7th and Kenyan  Kenneth Kipkemboi  having taken silver, but that seems likely to be an accidental name reversal.

10000 m world champion Ibrahim Jeilan with Honda teammates. Photo by Takashi Horiguchi - click to enlarge. In a tense and turbulent World Championships 10000 m full of turnover at the head of the pack, Saitama-based 2006 World Jr. 10000 m and 2008 World Jr. XC champion Ibrahim Jeilan  (Ethiopia/Team Honda) pulled off a darkhorse win by running down world leader Mo Farah  (Great Britain) in the home stretch to take his first senior world title.  In so doing he achieved the historic feat of becoming the first man to beat world record holder Kenenisa Bekele  (Ethiopia) over the 10000 m distance.  Jeilan's coach at Honda,  Kiyoshi Akimoto , told JRN shortly after the race, "This result belongs to both Jeilan and the rest of the coaching staff.  He has taken the Japanese lifestyle and training methodology to heart deeply and is truly a superb athlete." Jeilan also beat Japan-based Kenyans Martin Mathathi  (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), the 2007 World...

http://bit.ly/mVAo9k The Japanese runners mentioned in the article are Megumi Kinukawa  (Team Mizuno), Yuki Sato  (Team Nissin Shokuhin) and Kazuya Watanabe  (Team Shikoku Denryoku).  At May's Golden Games in Nobeoka 5000 m Watanabe outkicked Sato, Ethiopian Alemu Desta  (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Kenyans Edward Waweru  (Team NTN), Gideon Ngatuny  (Team Nissin Shokuhin),  Paul Kuira  (Team Konica Minolta) and Patrick Mwaka  (Team Aisan Kogyo) to win in 13:23.15.   Click here for video .

by Brett Larner The first meet of the 2011 Hokuren Distance Challenge series took place June 19 in Kitami, Hokkaido. With cooler than usual temperatures 2006 world 10000 m junior champion and 2008 world junior XC champion Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) delivered the biggest result of the evening, a solo 27:09.02 nearly a minute ahead of runner-up Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK). Jeilan's time was the third-fastest of the year by an Ethiopian, putting him into consideration for the Ethiopian team for August's Daegu World Championships. In 5th, third-year Yuki Maeda (Waseda Univ.), whose excellent run on the first day of this year's Hakone Ekiden was instrumental in keeping Waseda in contention for the win, became the latest Waseda runner to break 29 minutes as he clocked a PB of 28:54.34. Ten men on the roster of Waseda's 2010-2011 squad held PBs under 29 minutes. In the women's 5000 m, 2011 East Japan Corporate T&F 10000 m champion Hiroko Shoi (Team ...

by Brett Larner The corporate regional spring track championships wrapped up this weekend with the East Japan Jitsugyodan T&F Championships in hot, humid and windy Kumagaya, Saitama. The big news at the meet came in the women's 5000 m, where 10000 m junior national record holder Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno) emerged from nearly four years of illness and injury to take her first competitive win in memory, running 15:37.50 to beat Kenyan Felista Wanjugu (Team Univ. Ent.) and World Championships marathon team leader Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei). Although still short of a World Championships B-standard, Kinukawa's run was her first time under 15:40 in almost four years and a large step in the right direction ahead of next month's National T&F Championships. After the race Kinukawa, who was a star at Sendai Ikuei H.S. at the same time as the late Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya), told journalist Tatsuo Terada , "I didn't think I was ready to run like this. ...

Jeilan outkicks Tanui and Ndambiri for the Shizuoka 5000 m win. Click here for more photos. by Brett Larner 2006 World Jr. 10000 m and 2008 World XC Jr. champion Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) outkicked 2011 World XC runner-up Paul Tanui and 10000 m Japanese all-comers record holder Josephat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) for the win in the 2011 Shizuoka International Track and Field Meet 5000 m on May 3 at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium. Jeilan sat back in the all-Kenyan lead pack until late the race, responding to a charge from Tanui over the last lap and kicking hard in the last 100 m to take the win a week after a disappointing 10000 m performance at the Hyogo Relay Carnival. Jeilan's time was less than 1 second off his 5-year-old PB and is the second-fastest in the world so far this year, putting him in contention for the Ethiopian team for August's World Championships. Despite losing out in the last sprint, Tanui set a new PB. 4th placer Edward Waweru (Ke...

by Brett Larner After most of its spring road season was cancelled in the wake of the Mar. 11 disasters to strike its northeastern region, a sign came that Japan's running community has started to get back on its feet in the form of the release of the entry lists for the first major domestic track meet of the season, the Apr. 9 Kanaguri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu. The A-heats of the men's and women's 5000 m promise much of the best action. In the men's 5000 m, along with Josephat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.), Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) and a host of other top Japan-based African talent, two runners will receive special focus. Hakone Ekiden star Ryuji Kashiwabara (Toyo Univ.) kicks off his senior year with the stress of his home prefecture Fukushima being the site of Japan's ongoing nuclear troubles. Having run 28:23 for 10000 m last fall as a high school student in earthquake and tsunami-hit Senda...

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2011011000281 translated by Brett Larner In the 62nd and final edition of the seven-stage, 99.9 km Asahi Ekiden from Fukuoka to Kita-Kyushu, Team Kyudenko took its third win and first in five years, clocking 4:50:58. New Year Ekiden 4th placers Team Yasukawa Denki were 2nd, while Team Asahi Kasei finished 3rd. Defending champion Team Honda was only 4th. Kyudenko's Paul Tanui put the team ahead on the First Stage, and all the way to anchor Mao Fukuyama Kyudenko's runners finished in the top three on stage time, keeping the team in 1st by a margin of 50 seconds over Yasukawa Denki. Translator's note: The majority of Team Yasukawa Denki actually outperformed Team Kyudenko, with more Yasukawa Denki runners taking 1st or 2nd on their stage than Kyudenko runners. Yasukawa Denki was within four seconds of Kyudenko at the end of the Third Stage, but, reinforcing that you are only as strong as your weakest link, a poor performance on the F...

by Brett Larner 100 km came down to a lean at the tape as Team Toyota won its first-ever New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championship title in a thrilling sprint finish over 2009 champion Team Fujitsu and 2010 champion Team Nissin Shokuhin . With an unusual number of teams losing key players to injury Toyota's chances looked good pre-race as it held the largest number of sub-28 10000 m, the fruition of several years under the leadership of head coach Toshinobu Sato who had previously turned Team Konica Minolta into one of the country's best. After two good opening stages Third Stage runner Yusuke Takabayashi set a new stage record of 38:02 for the 13.6 km course to put Toyota into the lead, and it remained in the top pack of four throughout the next three stages. Toyota anchor Takeshi Kumamoto started in 3rd and, when quickly overtaken by defending Seventh Stage winner Hiroyuki Ono of defending champion Nissin Shokuhin, latched on to close the small gap...

by Brett Larner photos by Daniel Seite #2 Kasumi Nishihara, #1 Hikari Yoshimoto and #3 Mai Ishibashi, all of Bukkyo University, with a large lead on the field in women's 5000 m Heat 24. Bukkyo University captain and 2010 National University 5000 m champion Kasumi Nishihara , fresh from a key stage win at last month's International Chiba Ekiden, did it again Dec. 5 at the 213th Nittai University Time Trials meet. Nishihara clocked her second 5000 m PB of the year, 15:25.50, to continue her climb through the ranks of Japanese women's distance running. Her teammate Mai Ishibashi was not far behind, 2nd in 15:35.38, while the team's ace, 10000 m national university record holder Hikari Yoshimoto , finished in 16:04.55 after collapsing while running between Nishihara and Ishibashi in the earlier stages of the race. Ibrahim Jeilan, #30, leads the pack in the men's 5000 m Heat 35. In the men's A-heat, past World XC jr. champion Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) ou...

by Brett Larner The Fukuoka International Marathon is not all that is happening in Japan this weekend. Across Kyushu the Kumamoto Kosa 10 Miler , annually the world's most competitive race at that distance, has a fantastic matchup of a large share of the top young talent to make the pro ranks in the last two years, all tuning up for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national championships. 10 mile junior world record holder Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) is unquestionably the favorite as he continues his build toward an impending marathon debut, but the domestic field includes the likes of Tomoya Onishi (Team Asahi Kasei), Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei), Masato Kihara (Team Kanebo), Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu), Ryuji Ono (Team Asahi Kasei) and Yuki Iwai (Team Asahi Kasei), sub-28 minute 10000 m men one and all. If Ono is back to full health after a year lost to injury Asahi Kasei's prospects for the New Year Ekiden will be very promising indeed even without ...

by Brett Larner Just a week after running one of the fastest 10000 m of the year, 2008 World XC Jr. Champion Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) ran a solid 13:21.29 to win the men's 5000 m A-heat at the Saitama Prefecture Time Trials on Oct. 2. It was a completely solo performance as second-placer Makoto Iwase (SDF Academy) was over a minute behind in 14:23.73. Despite neither being a PB, Jeilan's two solid efforts show he is adapting to life and training in Japan and will be a major factor in the upcoming jitsugyodan ekiden season. In other results from the meet, Atsushi Yamazaki (Team Subaru) led three under 29 minutes in the men's 10000 m A-heat, while Josai University runners Hiromi Katakai and Miki Yamada went 1-2 in the women's 5000 m A-heat. 2010 Saitama Prefecture Time Trials click here for complete results Men's 10000 m A-Heat 1. Atsushi Yamazaki (Team Subaru) - 28:52.06 2. Keita Baba (Team Honda) - 28:55.16 3. Hiroaki Sano (Team Honda) - 28:57.75 Me...