japan running news

Ikuto Yufu was one of the stars of Komazawa University 's strongest lineup ever, helping lead the team to top 3 finishes in 11 of the 12 Big Three University Ekidens he ran his 4 years at Komazawa including 3-straight National University Ekiden Championships titles from 2011 to 2013 and overall course records at both Nationals and the Izumo Ekiden. He was undefeated on the Nationals Third Stage, winning it all 4 years and breaking its stage record twice. He showed exceptional range outside the ekiden, winning the National University Track and Field Championships 1500 m title in 2013 and setting Komazawa records for 1500 m, 5000 m, and 10000 m. In his final university race JRN took Yufu to the 2014 NYC Half , where he outkicked the great Meb Keflezighi to finish 9th in 1:02:51. After graduating in 2014 he joined the Fujitsu corporate team but immediately began to have Achilles tendon trouble. His first two corporate league seasons were mostly a wash, one brief bright spot ...

Wearing bib #21 on his 21st birthday, 2017 World University Games half marathon gold medalist Kei Katanishi (Komazawa University) turned in the best-ever Japanese collegiate placing at the United Airlines NYC Half , taking 7th in 1:03:05 just 26 seconds off the win. Katanishi and his Komazawa teammate Shogo Ise earned invites to the NYC Half by taking the top two Japanese collegiate spots at last November's Ageo City Half Marathon. Off the tougher new New York course both Katanishi and Ise ran in the lead group for the first two-thirds of the race, Ise near the front and Katanishi biding his time at the back of the pack. When the first real move came on the uphill approaching Times Square Katanishi was quick to reposition himself into the top three just off the shoulder of leader Dathan Ritzenhein (U.S.A.), staying in the action and looking smooth through the first set of Central Park hills. "I just took the early part easy and watched the others and what was going on,...

With just over two weeks to go the organizers of the Feb. 4 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon have released their elite field for this year's race. With its history as an elite men-only race Beppu-Oita's women's field is still tiny given its status as an IAAF silver label race, but this year promises a good race between two local 2:32 women, 2016 winner Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead) and Yuka Takemoto (Canon AC Kyushu), that should see the 2:39:57 course record fall. Defending champ Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) also returns with a 2:38:43 PB from last fall that puts her range of the course record as well. The men's race is heavier-duty, with a spot in the MGC Race Tokyo Olympic Trials available to the top Japanese man under 2:11:00 and to up to five others if they clear 2:10. Hayato Sonoda (Kurosaki Harima) and Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) are the only Japanese men in the field to have run those kinds of times in the last couple of years, and with support from 2:09~...

In a year that saw him deliver one of the most memorable debut marathons in history, a half marathon national record, 10000 m and marathon PBs and more, Yuta Shitara (Honda) ended 2017 on a high note, beating three-time defending champion Jeremiah Thuku Karemi (Toyota Kyushu) to win the 42nd Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler . Shitara, Karemi, London World Championships marathoner Hiroto Inoue (MHPS), Ethiopian Abayneh Degu (Yasukawa Denki) and track ace Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) ran together in a lead group through the early going, but Shitara was just too much for the others to handle. Shitara broke the tape in 45:58, only the fourth Japanese man to ever clear 45 minutes. Karemi was well under last year's winning time but nowhere close to catching Shitara, finishing 2nd in 46:10 and Inoue only 2 seconds behind him. With many corporate and university teams using Kosa to tune up for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden and Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden, it regularly produces the deepest 10 mile r...

by Brett Larner This time of year there are multiple high-level races in Japan every weekend, this one being no exception.  Sunday's Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon is one of the main developmental races for Japanese men, the place where future Olympic marathoners including  Hisanori Kitajima , Kentaro Nakamoto , Shinji Kawajima and Shigeru Soh  made their marathon debuts. Last year's winner Ryoichi Matsuo (Team Asahi Kasei) returns to face debuting 1:01:25 half marathoner Shota Hattori (Team Honda) and teammates Kenta Matsumoto and Kenta Matsubara (Team Toyota), training partners of Minato Oishi whose successful debut at last Sunday's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon saw him land 4th in 2:10:39. In parallel to Nobeoka, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) will run his first marathon of 2017 at the Ehime Marathon .  Kawauchi's goal is to run 2:13, three minutes under the current Ehime course record.  His main competition is Waseda University fourth-year ...

Yuta Shitara, Kento Otsu and Coach Sakai at the 2012 NYC Half Sunday's United Airlines NYC Half marked the fifth year that the NYRR has invited the top two Japanese university finishers from November's Ageo City Half Marathon to run against top international competition in New York, a concept JRN proposed in 2011 and continues to help oversee.  For decades Japan's corporate leagues have sent runners to races like Philadelphia, San Diego and Virginia Beach, but relative to their pro elders the eight university men who have run a total of ten times in New York so far have represented themselves well with consistently serious and fast performances on a course with a challenging first half. Otsu, Bernard Lagat and Kenta Murayama in 2013 The ten fastest times ever run in the United States by Japanese corporate league runners to date: 1:02:28 - Yasuaki Yamamoto (Tokyo Metro) - Philadelphia 1999 1:02:50 - Yoshinori Oda (Toyota) - Virginia Beach 2007 1:02:59 - Y...

by Brett Larner Strong winds made for tough conditions and slow times at most of the weekend's main races.  The newly-formatted X-Run Chiba , a retooling of the longstanding Chiba International Cross-Country Meet, saw Yusuke Nishiyama (Komazawa Univ.) emerge on top of the day's longest race, the university men's 12 km.  Nishiyama outkicked Kenta Ueda , son of Yamanashi Gakuin University head coach Masahito Ueda , by 5 seconds to take the win in 37:48.  Maki Izumida (Rikkyo Univ.) had an even closer win in the university women's 6 km, running 20:54 to beat Ai Hosoda (Nittai Univ.) by just 3 seconds.  Rodgers Chumo Kwemoi (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) won the men's 8 km by nearly a minute in 25:05, Yuki Kanehira (Team Sysmex) joining him at the top of the women's 8 km podium in 29:04.  With the junior high school races now serving as the National Junior High School Cross-Country Championships Maebashi Fujimi J.H.S. easily dominated, taking both the boys' and...

by Brett Larner I was asked to give a speech at the welcoming reception the night before this year’s Ageo City Half Marathon about the JRN-arranged invite for the top two Japanese university finishers in Ageo to run March’s NYC Half Marathon. Guests in the audience included Ageo mayor Minoru Shimamura , KGRR chairman and Hakone Ekiden race director Yoshiyuki Aoba , Waseda University head coach Yasuyuki Watanabe and other Hakone university teams’ head coaches, and 1999 World Championships marathon silver medalist Ari Ichihashi . I decided not to prepare anything and just freestyle it. This is a translation of what I can remember saying. Good evening everybody. If you ever have to give a speech in a foreign language I would advise against drinking sake beforehand. The words don’t come out right. I’m not that strong with honorific language, so if I say things in a rude way I apologize in advance. That is not my intention. To begin with, congratulations to Mayor Shimamura and e...

by Brett Larner 2013 National University 1500 m champion  Ikuto Yufu (Komazawa University) and 2013 Ageo City Half Marathon winner Takashi Ichida (Daito Bunka University) made their U.S. half marathon debuts at this 2014 NYC Half Marathon, invited through a partnership between Ageo and the NYC Half.  Running in frigid, windy conditions, both Yufu and Ichida sat in the second pack through much of the race, gradually increasing the pace and splitting 15:18, 14:50 and 14:45 for the first three 5 km splits as the course came out of Central Park's hills and picked up a tailwind. As the race got going in the final 5 km Ichida, hoping to break 62 minutes for the first time, fell behind, but in the final race of his collegiate career Yufu ran head-to-head with 2014 U.S.A. half marathon champion Meb Keflezighi  and American Jacob Riley  until the final corner at 21 km when he kicked away to take 9th in 1:02:50.  Yufu's time was just four seconds off his best ...

update: The NYRR posted its own story on Takashi Ichida (Daito Bunka Univ.) and Ikuto Yufu (Komazawa Univ.) this morning.   Click here to read it . by Brett Larner November's Ageo City Half Marathon has been in an arms race with March's National University Men's Half Marathon Championships for the last few years, both races riding a swell in Japanese university men's distance running to battle for the title of world's deepest half marathon.   Two weeks ago the National University Half became the first race to break the 200 sub-66 barrier , but competition up front in Ageo remains thicker with a sub-62 course record and nearly twice as many men going sub-63 as at the National University Half. Driving the race up front in Ageo this time was, for the third year in a row, the chance for the two top Japanese collegiates to run the NYC Half Marathon in a relationship set up between the two races by JRN. Two years ago Yuta Shitara  and Kento Otsu of Hakone Ekid...

by Brett Larner With Japan's fiscal and academic year wrapping up at the end of March the majority of the country's corporate runners are in a holding pattern until track season gets underway in April.  Collegiate runners dominate what's left of the season, with Sunday's National University Women's Half Marathon Championships, held in conjunction with the Matsue Ladies' Half Marathon and 10 km , marking the last major domestic race of the season. Winning times at the National Championships have been in the 71-minute range the last few years.  The lack of a World University Games this year could bring down that leading edge, but if the record-setting depth at last week's National University Men's Half Marathon Championships was any indication the women's race should still be deeply competitive. 2013 Ageo City Half Marathon winner Takashi Ichida  (Daito Bunka University) and 2013 National University Track and Field Championships 1500 m winner Ikut...

http://www.nyrr.org/newsroom/press-release/2014-nyc-half-to-feature-molly-huddle-and-geoffrey-mutai-and-international-fields-for-march-16-race 2013 Ageo City Half Marathon winner  Takashi Ichida  (1:02:36, Daito Bunka University) and four-time National University Ekiden stage winner Ikuto Yufu  (1:02:46, Komazawa University) are running the NYC Half Marathon with support from JRN after placing in Ageo last November. 8th NYC Half Marathon Elite Field New York, NY, 3/16/14 Men Geoffrey Mutai (Kenya) - 58:58 (Ras Al Khaimah 2013) Mo Farah (U.K.) - 1:00:10a (Great North Run 2013) Stephen Sambu (Kenya) - 1:00:41 (Boston 2013) Meb Keflezighi (U.S.A.) - 1:01:00 (Rock 'n' Roll San Jose 2009) Wesley Korir (Kenya) - 1:01:19 (New York 2012) Juan Luis Barrios (Mexico) - 1:01:21 (New York 2013) Kevin Chelimo (Kenya) - 1:01:21 (New York 2012) Luke Puskedra (U.S.A.) - 1:01:36 (Houston 2012) Matt Tegenkamp (U.S.A.) - 58:30 (New Haven 20 km 2012) Jason Hartmann (U.S.A.) -...

by Brett Larner Earlier this week I posted an evaluation of marathoner  Yuki Kawauchi 's 2013 season which included the observation that if Kawauchi, a self-coached runner who works full-time in a high school administration office, is capable by himself of producing a better record for the year than all Americans combined then it would suggest that there may be problems with the U.S. marathon system given strong American performances all the way up the half marathon.  In their Week That Was roundup, American site Letsrun.com dismissed this as "harsh," and rather than addressing it, chose to publish an editorial titled " The Japanese Still Suck at the 1500 m " which included the statement: How can it be that an entire country as advanced and developed as Japan, a country capable of producing seven sub 2:10 performers (including 4 sub 2:09) in 2013, can only produce a 1500 best time of 3:42.79 for the whole country? They should be ashamed. Putting aside f...

text and photos by Brett Larner videos courtesy of Ekiden News On a busy weekend featuring at least seven major events across the country, Japan's biggest race of the weekend took place northwest of Tokyo in Saitama.  With perfect conditions for its 26th running, the Ageo City Half Marathon , consistently one of the world's deepest halves as a consequence of being the unofficial tryout race for Japan's biggest sporting event, the Jan. 2-3 university men's Hakone Ekiden, saw a dramatic race with five men battling to the line to make history.   In a relationship set up by JRN, two invitations to run March's New York City Half Marathon were up for grabs for the first two Japanese collegiate finishers, and, having seen the effect on last year's Ageo winner Kenta Murayama  (Komazawa Univ.) who returned from finishing 10th in New York in 2013 to set course records at both the Izumo Ekiden and National University Ekiden Championships, the field responded en mass...

by Brett Larner Komazawa University 　rode the momentum of its course record win at last month's Izumo Ekiden to score its third-straight and eleventh total national title Nov. 3 at the 45th National University Men's Ekiden Championships .  2013 national university half marathon champion Shogo Nakamura  blew things open on the 14.6 km First Stage by opening a gap of over 30 seconds that never closed.  Five of Komazawa's eight runners scored stage bests to seal the deal, anchor and captain Shinobu Kubota  falling just short of breaking last year's overall course record of 5:12:43 for the full 106.8 km distance as he crossed the line in 5:13:09. By far the star of the show was Komazawa junior Kenta Murayama .  Let's say that again. Kenta Murayama .  Remember that name.   Kenta Murayama .  After crushing Japanese domestic 10000 m record holder Tsuyoshi Ugachi 's stage record at Izumo last month, Murayama did the inconceivable and ran 39:24 to t...

by Brett Larner In the absence of Kanto Region champion Enock Omwamba  (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.), Nihon University's Daniel Muiva Kitonyi  broke through to take the 5000 m and 10000 m double over two of Japan's best collegiate runners Sept. 6 and 7 at Tokyo's National Stadium.  In Friday's 10000 m he easily outdistanced the field to solo a 28:17.31 for the win, with 1:01:19 half marathoner Kenta Murayama  (Komazawa Univ.) outkicking Hideto Yamanaka  of 2013 Hakone Ekiden champions Nittai University for 2nd in 28:43.89.  A day later and Kitonyi was back to win the 5000 m in 13:46.19 over #1-ranked Suguru Osako  (Waseda Univ.), fresh back from racing in Europe earlier this week.  Having won the 1500 m last year Kitonyi opted not to go for the triple, leaving the door open for Murayama's teammate Ikuto Yufu  (Komazawa Univ.) to take the national title in 3:46.29 by a margin of nearly two seconds. In the women's distance events, Mai Tsud...