japan running news

The East Asia Half Marathon Championships took place Mar. 29 in Yangzhou, China. Taiga Hirayama won the men's gold medal in 1:02:50 by a margin of 49 seconds over 2nd place. A native of Tochigi, Hirayama graduated from Utsunomiya H.S. and Tsukuba University before joining the Konica Minolta corporate team in 2024. He won the Jan. 25 Osaka Half Marathon in a PB of 1:00:50, then came back 2 weeks later to win the National Corporate Half Marathon in another PB of 1:00:44 on Feb. 8. Kokoro Nakachi (Sysmex) was 4th in the women's race in 1:12:46. First held in 2023, this was the second time the East Asia Half Marathon Championships have been held. Japanese athletes took the men's and women's silver medals at the previous edition, but Hirayama's win was Japan's first gold. source article: https://www.rikujyokyogi.co.jp/archives/203306 translated by Brett Larner

With heavy snow hitting most of the country the National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km in Yamaguchi almost dodged a bullet. Almost. It was -2˚ and windy at the start, but with sunny skies it wasn't too bad. The men went out 15 minutes ahead of the women on sub-61 pace with a massive pack trailing early leader Daisuke Shimojo (ND Software). At times snow was in the air, but even right up to the end the sun was still breaking through. From a few km out a lead trio coalesced of last year's winner Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx), Kenyan Boniface Mulwa (ND Software) and Taiga Hirayama (Konica Minolta), CR-breaking winner at the Osaka Half Marathon 2 weeks ago. Ichiyama made a break for it with 500 m to go, but on the track at the end Muluwa reeled him back it. Entering the home straight Hirayama threw down and passed them both, bettering his Osaka time by 6 seconds to win in 1:00:44. Muluwa was next in 1:00:45, with Ichiyama, in training for the Tokyo Marathon in 3 weeks, 3rd in...

  In parallel with the Osaka International Women's Marathon , Sunday's Osaka Half Marathon had some big names come out on top in both the women's and men's races. Last year Yuka Ando outran Ethiopian Desta Burka by 2 seconds to set a CR of 1:08:18. Running with a personal male pacers this time Ando went out to better that, on track for 1:08:00 at 5 km and dipping into sub-68 territory over the next 5 km. But after that she started to fade, and especially from 20 km to the finish at least a half dozen other women split faster. Still, she was far enough out front to take the win in 1:08:57, with corporate leaguers Sakiho Tsutsui and Mizuki Nishimura taking 2nd and 3rd in 1:09:29 and 1:09:49. Osaka also served as the Kansai Region collegiate half marathon championships, and the winner of this season's Morinomiyako Ekiden and Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden , Kyoto's Ritsumeikan University , came out strong. The back half of its Mt. Fuji national title-winning li...

The last big dynasty school in Japanese women's university ekiden racing, Ritsumeikan University put an end to Meijo University 's 6-year streak at the Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national championships with a course record-breaking win that put them back on top for the first time since 2017. Running for the National University Select Team , the talented Haruka Ogawa from Rikkyo University led early with a 12:42 CR on the 4.1 km 1st leg. Miu Saito from last year's runner-up Nittai University went to the front on the 2nd leg, but from there on out it was a close race between Nittai and 2023 3rd and 4th-placer Daito Bunka University and Ritsumeikan University . Each team took a turn leading, Ritsumeikan with back-to-back wins on the 3rd and 4th legs by 1st-year duo Momoka Moriyasu and Yumi Yamamoto , and DBU with a great stage win by collegiate 5000 m record holder Sarah Wanjiru . But Ritsumeikan was just too strong over the last two stages, 6th runner Fuka Fukunaga ...

Six-time defending national champion Meijo University came to Sunday's Morinomiyako Ekiden national university women's championships with the weakest team since before its reign started in 2017, but with a flawless team performance that saw all six women on the team make top 4 on their stage Meijo beat the odds to go home with a record-breaking 7th-straight national title. Previous dynasty Ritsumeikan University came out hard with stage wins on the first two legs of the 38.0 km race, but a win on the 5.8 km Third Stage by Meijo 2nd-year Asuka Ishimatsu on her 20th birthday turned a 6-second deficit to Ritsumeikan into a 31-second lead. That closed to 15 seconds by the end of the Fifth Stage, but another stage win from anchor Nanase Tanimoto was enough to give Meijo the win by 52 seconds. 2nd eight times in the last 10 years, Daito Bunka University landed there again thanks to a stage win on the 9.2 km Fifth Stage by Sarah Wanjiru and a wicked kick over the last 100 m on ...