japan running news

The 27th National Junior High School Ekiden took place Dec. 15 in Saga's Kibogaoka Bunka Park. Aichi prefecture's Mutsumikita J.H.S. won the five-stage, 12.0 km girls' race in 41:43, while Tochigi prefecture's Ichigai J.H.S. took the six-stage, 18.0 km boys' race in 57:23. For both schools it was the first time to win the national title. With a stage-winning run from their third runner the Mutsumikita girls moved up from 4th to 1st, holding steady over the last two stages to take the win. Nanao J.H.S.  of Ishikawa prefecture was 25 seconds behind in 2nd, with Fukuoka's  Asakawa J.H.S. 3rd. The Ichigai boys ran a steady race to hold the top position throughout. Anchor Ginga Yokota started with the lead and just held off a tough challenge from Chiba's Abiko J.H.S. , who came in just 9 seconds behind him for 2nd. Last year's national champion Katsura J.H.S. of Kyoto was 3rd. source article: https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/2...

The 26th National Junior High School Ekiden took place Dec. 16 in Shiga's Hikarigaoka Bunka Park. Kyoto's Katsura J.H.S. girls ran 41:34 to win the five-stage, 12.0 km girls' race, becoming the first team ever to win the national title five years in a row. The Katsura J.H.S. boys ran a 56:33 course record to win the six-stage, 18.0 km boys' race, becoming the first team from Kyoto to win the boys' title and making Katsura the first school in event history to take both the boys' and girls' titles. The champion teams from each of Japan's 47 prefectures took part, with hosts Shiga fielding two teams to make in a field of 48 teams in both the boys' and girls' races. In the girls' race Katsura's Koko Kamada took the lead late on the First Stage, and after that the team held that position until the Fifth Stage. The Shizuoka J.H.S. team nearly caught anchor Momoka Sano, but Sano was able to fight them off to win by a margin of just 3 seco...

The 25th National Junior High School Ekiden Championships took place Dec. 17 in Shiga's Kibogaoka Bunka Park. In the five-stage, 12 km girls' race, Kyoto's Katsura J.H.S. became the first school in history to win four national titles. Katsura fell behind on the First Stage, but moving up to the top position on the Second Stage it held the lead for the rest of the way to win in 41:21. Chiba's Hakusan J.H.S. won the six-stage, 18.0 km boys' race, breaking the course record with a time of 57:03. Hakusan's lead runner Ken Nojima won the First Stage, giving the team a lead it never relinquished. Despite injury concerns about his left leg, Nojima ran decisively on the ekiden's most competitive stage. "I knew it was important to hand over the tasuki in 1st," Nojima said. "Everything went according to plan." Anchor Kaiki Oyazato was enthusiastic as he said, "Being the one to break the tape as we met our goal of winning was the best!...

On June 3 the Kyoto Athletics Association held a ceremony at Kyoto's Nishi Kyogoku Field to unveil a new stone monument commemorating the 100th anniversary of the ekiden. Led by Association chair Setsuko Tanaka , roughly 30 dignitaries took part. In April this year another monument was erected at Shinjo Ohashi, the starting point of Japan's first-ever ekiden in 1917. To help "spread the good word about the first century of the ekiden to as many people as possible," the Association chose to place a second monument at Nishi Kyogoku Field, the start and finish points for the National High School Ekiden Championships. The new monument is of the same design, material and size as the one at Sanjo Ohashi, made of granite and measuring 1.8 m tall by 1.2 m wide. While the Sanjo Ohashi monument is engraved with "starting point," the new monument reads "Nishi Kyogoku Field, Kyoto," letting fans get different selfies at each. Tanaka commented "We wi...

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/201612/0009761574.shtml translated and edited by Brett Larner The 24th National Junior High School Ekiden Championships took place Dec. 18 at Kibogaoka Cultural Park in Yasu, Shiga.  Hyogo's Hirano J.H.S. won its first national title in the six stage, 18 km boys' race in 57:31. Katsura J.H.S. of Kyoto won the five stage, 12 km girls' race in 41:01 to become just the second school in history to win three-straight titles, beating rival Arai J.H.S. of Hyogo by 56 seconds. In the boys' race Hirano did not get off to a great start in the first half.  Its fourth runner Kentaro Kishimoto  began in 10th place 24 seconds behind the leader, but passing 9 people over the 3 km stage he put Hirano ahead by 3 seconds.  Fifth runner Masaya Tamai dropped back to 2nd, 2 seconds behind the leader, but Hirano's anchor Yuta Kamikariya turned it around to take the win by 4 seconds.   Ryoke J.H.S. of Kanagawa was 2nd, with Ehime's N...

http://mainichi.jp/articles/20151215/ddl/k10/050/142000c http://www.jomo-news.co.jp/ns/2714501114405686/news.html http://www.jomo-news.co.jp/ns/8814501067456492/news.html translated and edited by Brett Larner The 23rd National Junior High School Ekiden Championships took place Dec. 13 at the Seminar Park Cross Country Course in Yamaguchi.  48 boys' and girls' teams competed, the prefectural champion school from each of Japan's 47 prefectures plus a second team from hosts Yamaguchi prefecture. Maebashi Fujimi J.H.S. of Gunma prefecture scored its first-ever win in the six-stage, 18.0 km boys' race in 56:37, beating rivals Ohtawara J.H.S. of Tochigi prefecture by 15 seconds.  Following Nakanojo J.H.S. in 1998 and 2000 and Yoshioka J.H.S. in 2009 Maebashi Fujimi became just the fourth school from Gunma to win the national title.  Captain Daiki Arai , 3rd year, said, "I'm so happy it's like a dream.  In long distance running it's really easy to...