japan running news

The 37th Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon took place July 21 in hot and sunny conditions. Patrick Kamau (Jobu University) won the men's race in 1:03:42, his third-straight Shibetsu win.. In 2nd place and the top Japanese position was Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) in 1:04:47. Koki Yoshioka (Kyudenko) was 3rd in 1:05:09. In the women's race Kana Kobayashi (Otsuka Seiyaku) won in 1:14:01 by 48 seconds over Yuki Toyoda (Higo Ginko). The top member of Chuo Gakuin's ekiden team, Yoshida ran the competitive Second Stage at this year's Hakone Ekiden. Last year he ran the World University Games half marathon and was the fastest among the Japanese team at 1:02:08 for 4th, helping Japan score the team bronze medal. He has a half marathon PB of 1:00:31 and took 5th in the fast heat at last month's National University Ekiden qualifier. 37th Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon Shibetsu, Hokkaido, 21 July 2024 complete results Men 1. Patrick Kamau (Jobu Univ.) - 1:03:...

Yuka Ando (Wacoal) and Desta Burka (Denso) raced each other to a new Osaka Half Marathon course record, while the men's race saw a very strange apparent DQ of winner Taiyo Iwasaki (JFE Steel). Running with Wacoal male coaching staff member Seiya Morimoto as pacer, Ando set out on pace to go sub-68 with the goal of bettering her 1:08:13 PB from the 2022 National Corporate Half. Burka, who had only run 1:09:31 once in 2021, was right there next to her the entire time as the pace held steady through 15 km. But as Ando started to fade over the next 5 km Burka dropped her and opened a small lead. It looked like the win and CR would be hers, but over the last km Ando fought back and passed her on the track to score the win by 2 seconds in a 1:08:18 CR. "My goal was to beat my PB, but I'm glad I got close," she said post-race. Burka's 1:08:20 was also well under the old CR of 1:09:43 and a PB by over a minute. The men's race saw 42-year-old Mongolian Ser-Od Bat-...

Australia's ASICS Half Marathon and Gold Coast Marathon are almost always big draws for elite-level Japanese runners, offering up better weather than to be found domestically this time of year, a faster course, and international racing experience without the jet lag. Saturday's half marathon has four Japanese women and three Japanese men on the entry list, plus a lot of familiar home-grown faces. Former U.S.A. marathon national record holder Keira D'Amato is the top name in the women's race with a best of 1:07:55. Australians Ellie Pashley and Isobel Batt-Doyle are regulars in Japan, Batt-Doyle having set her 1:09:27 PB at Marugame this year and Pashley having run her marathon best in Nagoya in 2019. D'Amato said at the pre-race press conference that she hopes to take a shot at the American record of 1:06:52, and Batt-Doyle said she would be giving it a PB effort. One step down from them in the 1:10-1:11 range are four Japanese women, Kaede Kawamura , Chiharu Ik...

https://goldcoastmarathon.com.au/2023/06/02/2023-gold-coast-marathon-elite-field-reveal/

Kento Kikutani  (Toyota Boshoku) added a bit of drama to the Vienna City Marathon even before the disqualification of its original winner. 9th at February's record-breaking Lake Biwa Marathon in a PB of 2:07:26, Kikutani was the only one of the four Japanese men in Vienna to go with the lead pack. He stayed with them well into the second half before dropping off, but as the lead quartet slowed to set up for the last kick he came back, just making contact with the back of the group before the move came. Kikutani went into fourth, but with less than 2 km to go he suddenly stopped, walked, and then appeared to stretch out a cramp of other issue.  He dropped back to 5th by the time he made it across the line in 2:10:37, still good enough for the fastest time by a Japanese man overseas since Kenta Murayama 's 2:08:56 at the 2019 Berlin Marathon. It was a promising start to the post-Tokyo 2020 continuum. When initial winner Derara Hurisa  (Ethiopia) was disqualified for ...