japan running news

by Brett Larner Complete video of Marugame in eight parts.  Follow links in video above for rest of race. Japan's highest-level winter half marathon, the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon took a little bit of a hit this year at the hands of the World Half Marathon Championships.  With the World Half moved to March, the National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, held the third weekend of March, were bumped back a month to Feb. 16, just two weeks after Marugame.  With both the men's and women's races at the Corporate Championships counting toward World Half selection but only the men's race in Marugame counting many corporate league runners gave Marugame a miss this year, especially on the women's side.  It's no surprise, then, that only one corporate runner finished in the top four in either the men's or women's races. Suzuki Hamamatsu AC , a former corporate team that quit the league a few years ago to let its runners focus on thin...

by Brett Larner Another busy weekend is on the way, with the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon and Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon leading at least five elite road races nationwide. Despite a padding of aging veterans and the withdrawal yesterday of two A-list athletes, Beppu-Oita still sports what may be the best field in its 63-year history, from a domestic standpoint at least as good as what Tokyo has put together this year.  The fastest Japanese marathoner of 2013 with a 2:08:00 in Tokyo and a vocal critic of Beppu-Oita course record holder  Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't), Kazuhiro Maeda  (Team Kyudenko) is back in Beppu for the first time since 2011 looking to eclipse the 2:08:15 record Kawauchi set last year.  His best competition comes form Mongolian national record holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir , a high-volume marathoner who beat Kawauchi to win the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon in 2:09:00 seven weeks ago.  If things go well and Bat-Ochir is full...

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20140114-OHT1T00116.htm http://sankei.jp.msn.com/region/news/140115/kgw14011502170000-n1.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner On Jan. 14 the organizers of the Feb. 2 Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon announced the 35 men and 12 women making up the domestic and overseas elite fields for the event's 68th running.  London Olympics marathoner Arata Fujiwara  (Miki House), 2012 National Corporate Half Marathon champion Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota), Hakone Ekiden Seventh Stage winner Hazuma Hattori  of Hakone champion Toyo University , 2013 Izumo Ekiden and National University Ekiden stage record setter Kenta Murayama  (Komazawa Univ.) and last month's Fukuoka International Marathon winner Martin Mathathi (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) top the domestic list for the men's race.  This year's race is a selection event for the men's team for March's World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen, meaning man...

49th San Silvestre Vallecana - Top Results Madrid, Spain, 12/31/13 click here for complete results Men 1. Leonard Komon (Kenya) - 28:02 2. Ayad Lamdassem (Spain) - 29:05 3. Roberto Alaiz (Spain) - 29:08 4. Javier Guerra Polo (Spain) - 29:10 5. Arturo Casado (Spain) - 29:23 ----- 13. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 29:52 Women 1. Linet Masai (Kenya) - 31:33 2. Malika Asahssah (Morocco) - 31:57 3. Rita Jeptoo (Kenya) - 31:59 4. Magdalane Masai (Kenya) - 32:36 5. Jessica Augusto (Portugal) - 32:58

http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/fourth-japanese-marathon-victory-for-mayorova

by Brett Larner The organizers of the Nov. 17 Yokohama International Women's Marathon have released this year's elite field and it is looking pretty okay.  2012 Nagoya Women's Marathon winner Albina Mayorova  (Russia) is back in Japan for more and leads the way among the internationals with her 2:23:52 best from Nagoya, joined at the 2:24 level by Yamanashi Gakuin graduate and longtime Hokuren corporate team member  Philes Ongori  (Kenya) and Jessica Augusto  (Portugal).  Top Japanese elite Remi Nakazato  (Team Daihatsu) with a best of 2:24:28 is something of a question mark after bailing on last month's Berlin Marathon. Should she falter, #3-ranked domestic woman Mizuho Nasukawa  (Team Univ. Ent.), the top Japanese woman last year in an anaemic performance that saw her left off the Moscow World Championships team in favor of an empty seat, is the best bet to pick up the reins.   Azusa Nojiri  (Hiratsuka Lease) and Eri Okubo  (M...