japan running news

The National Cross-Country Championships were the weekend's most competitive race, but half marathons were the main source of road action. Takumi Obara (Komazawa Univ.) ran the fastest time of the day to win the 41st Inuyama Half Marathon in 1:03:52, outrunning Shoya Kawase (Seigakkan Univ.) by two seconds. Kawase's run was a rare sub-64 from a university man outside the Kanto Region, holding off 3rd placer Shota Ezomori (Waseda Univ.) by four seconds. Honoka Sugiura (Chukyo Univ.) dominated the women's race by nearly a minute to win in 1:13:31. Daiji Kawai (Toenec) won Inuyama's 10 km division in a strong 29:01, with Honoka Wada (Nagano Higashi H.S.) the fastest woman at 33:50. At the 68th Kashima Yutoku Half Marathon , Ryuichi Hashimoto (Juntendo Univ.) won the men's race in 1:04:40, with Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead) taking the women's race in 1:15:01. Hikaru Kumagai (Raffine) ran almost the identical time to Hashimoto to win the 13th Fukaya City...

Along with the National Cross-Country Championships and Tokyo Marathon, the weekend saw competitive half marathons across the country and nearby in South Korea. Yuta Shimoda of four-time Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University turned the fastest time of the weekend with a 1:03:20 win at the Kashima Yutoku Road Race half marathon, beating sometime training partner Aritaka Kajiwara (Hiramatsu Byoin) by 35 seconds. A week after his course record-breaking win at the Kitakyushu Marathon, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) won the local Fukaya City Half Marathon in Saitama in 1:04:26, beating corporate leaguer Rui Watanabe (Shindengen) by 29 seconds. Amateur Tomomi Sawahata (Sawahatters) scored yet another road race win in 1:15:42, the fastest time of the weekend by a Japanese woman. At the 40th anniversary running of the Inuyama Yomiuri Half Marathon , Toyo University first-year Ryoga Asai won in 1:04:44. Eri Watanabe (Aichi Denki) took the women's race i...

by Brett Larner It's another busy weekend in Japan, with at least six big races across the country and one important one overseas.  Saturday kicks off with the second of the two-meet Japanese cross country season as the Fukuoka International Cross Country Meet plays host to Japanese athletes hoping to join the National Team for this year's World Cross Country Championships.  With a total of four foreign athletes led by the Japan-based Jonathan Ndiku (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) in the senior men's 10 km there isn't much of an international component, but bigger Japanese names on the entry lists include #1-ranked collegiate runner Kenta Murayama making his last appearance in the Komazawa University uniform before his graduation next month and United Airlines NYC Half-bound Koki Takada (Waseda University) and Takashi Ichida (Daito Bunka University) in the senior men's 10 km, Chiba International XC runner-up Maki Izumida (Rikkyo Univ.) in the senior women's 6 k...

http://www.saga-s.co.jp/news/saga_sports.0.2638394.article.html http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/aomori/news/20140223-OYT8T00881.htm http://www.komaspo.com/4630 http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/kyoto/news/20140223-OYT8T00902.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner A total of 1700 men and women of all ages ran in the half marathon, 10 km, 3 km and 2 km divisions at the 63rd running of the Kashima Yutoku Half Marathon on Feb. 23.  In the men's open half marathon division, Masaya Taguchi  (Toyo University) took 47 seconds off the course record to win in 1:03:05.  Taguchi was responsible for getting Toyo off to a good start on the First Stage at last month's Hakone Ekiden, playing a big part in the team's win.  Bringing the same intensity to his course record run, he thoroughly dominated the men's half marathon. Olympian and university 5000 m national record holder Kensuke Takezawa  (Team Sumitomo Kaijo) was also in the race.  "He has been an inspir...

by Brett Larner It's yet another busy weekend in Japan with at least four quality events on the calendar. It's not every day that an international championships takes place on Japanese soil, and Saturday's Asian Cross-Country Championships, held in conjunction with the annual Fukuoka International Cross-Country Meet, tops the list in that respect.  Fresh off a bronze medal between two Qataris in the 3000 m at last weekend's Asian Indoor Championships , Tetsuya Yoroizaka  (Team Asahi Kasei) leads the Japanese senior men's team alongside 2013 5000 m national champion Sota Hoshi  (Team Fujitsu), who ran a PB 1:01:18 just last weekend at the National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, and 13:28.79 junior Genki Yagisawa  (Meiji Univ.).  No Qataris are on the entry list, but Bahrain is sending a squad of five Kenyan and Ethiopian-born athletes led by Olympian Bilisuma Shugi  who should provide the main competition.  Also noteworthy is 2013 Southeast A...

62nd Kashima Yutoku Road Race Kashima, Saga, 2/24/13 click here for complete results Men's Half Marathon 1. Kiragu Njuguna (Kenya/Hiramatsu Hospital) - 1:04:00 2. Koji Kaneko (Team Kurosaki Harima) - 1:04:17 3. Yuki Matsumura (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:04:25 4. Shohei Nakayama (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:45 5. Tsubasa Akagi (Team Nishitetsu) - 1:04:50 Women's Half Marathon 1. Mayumi Watanabe (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:14:51 2. Natsumi Nakamura (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:15:59 3. Shiho Suetsugu (Nagasaki Univ) - 1:18:13 Men's 10 km 1. Junji Katakawa (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 29:23 - CR 2. Yuzo Hiratsuka (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 29:50 3. Shuhei Kitsukawa (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 30:13 Women's 10 km 1. Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 33:28 2. Chikako Mori (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 33:51 3. Eri Tayama (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 34:10 4. Eri Utsunomiya (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 34:18 5. Mari Tayama (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 34:25 35th Yomiuri Inuyama Half Marathon Inuyama, Aich...

by Brett Larner Six noteworthy races are on the schedule for this weekend.  First among them is Saturday's Fukuoka International Cross-Country Meet , the second of two chances for Japanese athletes to pick up places on the national team for next month's World Cross-Country Championships.  Highlights of the main races will be shown on TBS beginning at 3:30 p.m., the only cross-country race in Japan with a TV broadcast. All five Japanese men in the top ten in the senior race at the Chiba International Cross-Country Meet return, led by  Keigo Yano ,  Takumi Honda  and  Shota Hattori  of 2013 Hakone Ekiden winners Nittai University .  Top competition for the additional places on the Worlds team includes #1-ranked Japanese collegiate  Suguru Osako  (Waseda Univ.), 27:44.30 man Tetsuya Yoroizaka  (Team Asahi Kasei), Ikuto Yufu and Kenta Murayama of 2012 National University Ekiden champion Komazawa University , Murayama's twin brothe...

by Brett Larner Alongside the Tokyo Marathon, three important half marathons took place on Feb. 26. At the oldest of them, the 61st Kashima Yutoku Road Race , talented amateur Hiroko Yoshitomi  (First Dream AC) had a breakthrough with a 1:12:35 course record in the women's half marathon.  Daito Bunka University first-year Takashi Ichida  had a comfortable 25-second win over Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai runner-up Yusuke Sato  (Nihon Univ.), running 1:04:20 to Sato's 1:04:45 in the men's race.  Hakone champ Toyo University's Koshi Watanabe  was close behind Sato in 3rd in 1:04:48. Pro Keita Baba  (Team Honda) outkicked Ichida's teammate Junji Katakawa  (Daito Bunka Univ.) to win the 6th Fukaya Half Marathon , 1:04:41 to 1:04:46.  Honda runners also took the 3rd and 4th places.   Rina Kurosawa  (Tamagawa Univ.) won the women's race in 1:15:30. The biggest half marathon results of the weekend came at the 34th Yomiuri Inuyama Half Mara...

by Brett Larner With the opening of the Tokyo Marathon expo tomorrow JRN will be focused on coverage of what looks set to be the most exciting edition yet.  Check back starting tomorrow for our race previews and other coverage. But there is other action lined up across Japan this weekend.  First and foremost is Saturday's Fukuoka International Cross-Country Meet.  Fukuoka usually plays the role of one of the two selection races for the Japanese teams for the World Cross-Country Championships, but with no World XC this year only places on the Japanese team's for next month's Asian Cross-Country Championships and April's World University Cross-Country Championships are there for the taking.  The junior races are as always stacked with the best high school talent and the senior women's 6 km promises a great rematch between defending champ Hitomi Niiya  (Sakura AC) and 5000 m national champion Megumi Kinukawa  (Mizuno), but the most interesting race looks s...

by Brett Larner Apart from the Fukuoka International Cross Country Meet and Sunday's epochal Tokyo Marathon, three other significant races took place in Japan on Feb. 27. Tomoyuki Morita (Team Kanebo) took the Kumanichi 30 km road race, winning in 1:32:14 by 18 seconds over Komazawa University's Akinori Iida . No women competed in this year's running. At the 60th running of the venerable Kashima Yutoku Road Race, Hiroaki Koike (Toyo Univ.) won the men's half marathon in a modest 1:05:04, the only runner to break 66. Korean university runner Seung Ho Baek beat Toyo University's Koshi Watanabe by 1 second to win the Inuyama Half Marathon in 1:03:47, while Mao Kuroda lead a near-sweep by Team Yutaka Giken runners in the women's division in a strong 1:12:21. Six women went under 35 minutes and six men under 30 in Inuyama's 10 km. Kumanichi 30 km Kumamoto, 2/27/11 1. Tomoyuki Morita (Team Kanebo) - 1:32:14 2. Akinori Iida (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:32:32 3. Sh...

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20100228-OYT1T00591.htm translated by Brett Larner complete results will be added when available 8674 people from 34 prefectures ran the 32nd Inuyama Half Marathon on Feb. 28. In the men's race Yoshinori Sugimoto (26, Team Aichi Seiko) beat out the tough field of university runners to take his first win in 1:04:07. Hiromitsu Kakuage (19, Komazawa Univ.) was the top university runner, 2nd in 1:04:14. In 3rd was two-time defending Hakone Ekiden winner Toyo University member Shogo Otsu (21). Yukina Saijo (Team Sekisui Kagaku) took her first win in the women's half marathon, running 1:13:06.

by Brett Larner The Tokyo Marathon may be the biggest race happening in Japan on Feb. 28, but three other elite races also fall the same day. The most major of these is the Kumanichi 30 km Road Race in Kumamoto, Kyushu. The world's most competitive race at this distance, Kumanichi was until the last fall the site of the men's 30 km world record. In the field for this year's race are former marathon national record holder Atsushi Fujita (Team Fujitsu), steeplechase national record holder Yoshitaka Iwamizu (Team Fujitsu), 2009 Ome 30 km winner Hirokatsu Kurosaki (Team Konica Minolta), Komazawa University ace Tsuyoshi Ugachi and New Year Ekiden winner Team Nissin Shokuhin member Bene Zama . The elite women's field is limited to three and is led by Chiharu Matsuo (Team Kyudenko). Further north in Aichi, the Inuyama Half Marathon has an interesting matchup between pro and university runners. Three members of 2009 and 2010 Hakone Ekiden winner Toyo University'...

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/090317/oth0903172112013-n1.htm http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/090308/oth0903080801000-n1.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner Yusei Nakao (25, Team Toyota Boshoku) keeps a notebook of his failures. In it is written the memory of his greatest loss, his second attempt at the marathon at last year's Biwako Mainichi Marathon. Running as a general division entrant, Nakao began to develop blisters from his shoes after only 5 km. He thought partway through the race of dropping out but told himself, "If you don't finish then you won't be able to next time either." Slogging his way on through the full 42.195 km, he finished 124th. Nakao keeps the memory alive as a warning to himself. "It's still paying me dividends," he says, marking that day as the true start of his career as a marathon runner. For Nakao, bitterness is as important as sweetness in shaping his life and training as a professional runner. ...