japan running news

by Brett Larner The bulk of the regional university championship track meets took place the weekend of May 14-15, including Tokyo's highly competitive Kanto Regional University T&F Championships. The most noteworthy result of the weekend, however, came at the small Chugoku-Shikoku Regionals, where first-year Aya Takayanagi (Matsuyama Univ.) set a new national junior and national collegiate record in the women's 3000 mSC. Takayanagi, coached by Keiichi Murai , the husband of two-time World Championships marathon medalist Reiko Tosa , ran 10:21.41 to set the pair of new marks, and excellent start to her university career. The Kanto region is the site of the toughest men's racing in Japan, and the 10000 m is always the highlight of the meet. This year did not disappoint as junior Tsubasa Hayakawa (Tokai Univ.) overcame strong winds to beat defending champion Benjamin Gandu (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) for the win in a PB of 28:41.26 in the Div. 1 race. Hayakawa ran a patient...

by Brett Larner Thanks in part to a big run from 2010 national university 5000 m champion Hiroki Mitsuoka on the 15.1 km Seventh Stage, Kyoto Sangyo University took its first-ever win Nov. 20 in the Biwako University Ekiden , western Japan's counterpart to January's Hakone Ekiden. Kyoto Sangyo defeated perpetual winner Ritsumeikan University by over 2 1/2 minutes, joining Bukkyo University's women's team in ending the Ritsumeikan stranglehold on western Japan men's and women's distance running. 2010 Biwako University Ekiden - Top Results click here for complete results Stage Best Performances First Stage (11.1 km) - Tetsuya Kimura (Osaka Keizai Univ.) - 33:12 Second Stage (7.3 km) - Kenji Nakamura (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 21:48 Third Stage (11.0 km) - Jackson Kwarai (Tanzania/Nara Sangyo Univ.) - 33:11 Fourth Stage (9.6 km) - Kiragu Njuguna (Kenya/Daiichi Kogyo Univ.) - 27:50 Fifth Stage (9.0 km) - Daiki Maruno (Daiichi Kogyo Univ.) - 27:50 Sixth Stage (12.8 k...

by Brett Larner On the first day of the 2010 National University Track and Field Championships Kenyan Benjamin Gando (Nihon Univ.) added a national 10000 m title to his 10000 m win at May's Kanto Regional University Championships. With the fastest PB in the field by over 10 seconds there was little doubt that Gando would go on to exactly the type of runaway victory he scored, winning in 28:26.72 by a margin of nearly 20 seconds. It was left to teammates Akinobu Murasawa and Tsubasa Hayakawa of Tokai University and 2009 Ageo City Half Marathon winner Shota Hiraga (Waseda Univ.) to battle it out in a chase pack. Despite being one of three athletes over the course of the day to stumble at the same point on the track, possibly due to an obstruction which meet officials were examining immediately after the men's 10000 m, Murasawa took the runner-up spot with Hayakawa 3rd. Tanzanian Jackson Kwarai (Nara Sangyo Univ.) shook things up by overtaking Hiraga for 4th, the only runner ...

by Brett Larner While the Tokyo-centered Kanto Region is the undisputed center of Japanese university men's distance running thanks to the prestigious Hakone Ekiden, the Kansai Region features two of the top women's schools, the unbeatable national champion Ritsumeikan University and its perennial rival Bukkyo University. This year's Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships was spread out over three weekends, giving distance athletes the possibility of competing in multiple events from 1500 m to half marathon. The country's top university woman, Ritsumeikan fourth-year Kazue Kojima, scored a matter-of-fact win in the 10000 m on May 8, beating 2008 national university 10000 m champion and second-year teammate Michi Numata by nearly 40 seconds with a 32:55.64 clocking. The real show, however, came in the women's 5000 m on May 16. Bukkyo third-year Kasumi Nishihara, fresh from an impressive 32:29.59 PB win against Numata and a host of professional and un...

http://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/article.php?mid=P2009043000234&genre=L1&area=K00 translated by Brett Larner On the first day of western Japan's Kansai University Track and Field Championships in Osaka on Apr. 30, Division I runner Tomoya Nishino (Ritsumeikan Univ.) scored his first win in the half marathon. Nishino covered the loop course around Osaka's Nagai Park in 1:06:47 to take the win, with 2nd place finisher Yoshiki Sekitani (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) 19 seconds back in 1:07:06. The 3rd and 4th place finishers were also from Ritsumeikan University, with six of the top eight runners hailing from Kyoto-based schools. Division II Tanzanian exchange student Jackson Kwarai (Nara Sangyo Univ.) was the first finisher overall in 1:06:26. Kwarai was the pivotal figure in the race, with a lead group of five or six taking shape around him. When he sped up at 15 km the other runners dropped off one by one, but Nishino tried to hang on with all his might. Many of the same athletes w...

by Brett Larner Buoyed by its finishes as the top-placing western Japan university at October's Izumo Ekiden and the National University Ekiden Championships earlier this month, #3-ranked Daiichi Kogyo University upset defending champion Ritsumeikan University at the Nov. 15 Biwako University Ekiden (alternate site here ), western Japan's equivalent to eastern Japan's Hakone Ekiden. 22 teams competed in the 8-stage, 84.3 km championship. Ritsumeikan, which has not finished out of the top 2 since 2001, when it was 3rd, could never close the gap on Daiichi Kogyo's runners after trailing its rival by 6 seconds on the 11.1 km 1st stage. Nara Sangyo University Tanzanian Jackson Kwarai scored the stage best of 33:07 on the opening leg, with Daiichi Kogyo's Shoto Atsuchi 3 seconds behind and Ritsumeikan's Takuya Kawakami another 6 seconds back. Despite running only 1 of its 2 Kenyans and missing ace Ryohei Nakano, Daiichi Kogyo took stage best titles on 4 of the rem...