japan running news

The Sumitomo Denko corporate team has announced that Takuma Sunaoka has joined its men's long distance program. Sunaoka, 24, is a native of Tokyo. At Saitama's Seibo Gakuen H.S. he didn't make a mark at the national level but ran a respectable 14:14.75 for 5000 m. After entering Josai University he began to improve, and during his third year there he made his collegiate ekiden debut at the National University Men's Ekiden. Placing an excellent 2nd on the 1st leg in that run, he was put on the 1st leg two months later at the Hakone Ekiden, where he ran well for 7th. In December, 2021 at the Edion Distance Challenge he ran 13:19.96 for 5000 m, at the time the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese-born collegiate runner, and attracted attention for his track speed. Sunaoka was recruited by the Konica Minolta corporate team after graduating, and in January this year was 3rd on the New Year Ekiden 1st leg. At the end of March he quit Konica Minolta and started training at Josa...

by Ryo Ota On Jan. 21 Tsuyoshi Ugachi (32, Konica Minolta) returned from the Jan. 19 Aramco Houston Half Marathon in Texas, U.S.A., where he paced Hitomi Niiya (31, Sekisui Kagaku) to the win in a 1:06:38 Japanese national record. Ugachi earned praise for his perfect pacing work, which pushed Niiya to take 48 seconds off the former national record of 1:07:26 set 14 years ago by Kayoko Fukushi (37, Wacoal). "Coach Yokota called me up and said, 'We'd really like it if you'd help her get the Japanese record,'" Ugachi said. "I've known Niiya since high school, so I think my name must have come up not just as someone who could set the pace but as someone who could give her a feeling of security and peace of mind to reduce stress during the race." Ugachi has been known for his pure guts racing since his days at Komazawa University , where he played a big role in its 2008 Hakone Ekiden win. He has spent the last ten years at the famed  Konica...

Two of the most competitive corporate men's regions held their qualifying races for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national championships this weekend. In Saitama, Konica Minolta  recovered from a slow start to take the lead on the 4th of 7 stages at the East Japan Corporate Ekiden with a pair of back-to-back stage record-breaking runs from Gen Hachisuka and Hiroyuki Yamamoto , winning in a course record 3:41:52. 5 of the 7 stages saw new records, with the top 6 teams all breaking the existing overall course record. The last of them, Hitachi Butsuryu , brought fans to their feet on the Third Stage as Keita Shitara , twin brother of half marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda), led the field in his best performance in years, finishing the stage just 1 second slower than Yuta did. #東日本実業団駅伝 #コニカミノルタ pic.twitter.com/TwinhkJPeZ — Mika Tokairin Tri (@tri_chaser) November 3, 2019 Making the New Year Ekiden can mean the difference between continuing as a team or l...

Daichi Kamino age: 26 sponsor: Cell Source graduated from: Chukyo H.S., Aoyama Gakuin University best time inside MGC window: 2:10:18, 18th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon PB: 2:10:18, 18th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 13:56.05 (2018) 10000 m: 28:17.54 (2016) half marathon: 1:01:04 (2017) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) 8th, 2019 Tokyo Marathon, 2:11:05 29th, 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:19:28 DNF, 2018 Berlin Marathon 18th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon, 2:10:18 13th, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:12:50 other major results: 3rd, 2019 Shibetsu Half Marathon, 1:03:46 7th, 2019 Sendai International Half Marathon, 1:03:05 7th, 2018 Ageo City Half Marathon, 1:02:19 17th, 2018 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:02:35 2nd, 2018 New Year Ekiden Seventh Stage (15.5 km), 48:38 3rd, 2017 Ome 30 km Road Race, 1:31:33 5th, 2017 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:01:04 – PB 2nd, 2016 Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler, 46:38 2nd, 2016 Hakone Ekiden Fifth St...

Hiroyuki Yamamoto age: 33 sponsor: Konica Minolta graduated from: Kawaguchi Kita H.S., Toyo University best time inside MGC window: 2:10:33, 10th, 2019 Lake Biwa Marathon PB: 2:09:12, 10th, 2017 Tokyo Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 13:45.43 (2010) 10000 m: 27:55.40 (2015) half marathon: 1:02:43 (2013) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019): 10th, 2019 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:10:33 DNF, 2018 Tokyo Marathon DNS, 2017 New York City Marathon other major results: 6th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Fifth Stage (15.8 km), 46:53 6th, 2018 Great North Run Half Marathon, 1:02:49 5th, 2017 Great North Run Half Marathon, 1:02:03 4th, 2016 New York City Marathon, 2:11:49 3rd, 2015 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:11:48 Yamamoto was a member of Toyo University’s 2009 team that won the Hakone Ekiden for the first time in school history and launched Hakone’s transition into the modern era. A solid meat and potatoes marathoner, Yamamoto has been reliably at the 2:09 to 2:1...

Tomohiro Tanigawa age: 30 sponsor: Konica Minolta graduated from: Kumamoto Kogyo H.S., Takushoku University best time inside MGC window: 2:12:02, 3rd, 2018 Hokkaido Marathon PB: 2:11:39, 2nd, 2015 Nagano Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 13:51.09 (2013) 10000 m: 28:24.31 (2013) half marathon: 1:02:18 (2013) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019): 3rd, 2018 Hokkaido Marathon, 2:12:02 28th, 2018 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:18:33 other major results: 5th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Seventh Stage (15.5 km), 46:28 4th, 2018 East Japan Corporate Ekiden Seventh Stage (12.9 km), 38:12 1st, 2016 Sydney Marathon, 2:12:13 Tanigawa is the only athlete male or female in the MGC Race to have never broken the 2020 Olympics marathon qualifying time standard. He did win the gold label Sydney Marathon in 2016, equivalent to having cleared the standard, but his PB of 2:11:39 from 2015 is just shy of the 2:11:30 time standard. Tanigawa graduated from Takushoku University,...

Konica Minolta team members Hiroyuki Yamamoto and Tomohiro Tanigawa are training on the island of Miyako in preparation for the Marathon Grand Championship (MGC) race, the official qualifying race for the Japanese Tokyo Olympics marathon team. The pair selected Miyako for their base training to get acclimated to the hot and humid conditions expected at the Sept. 15 MGC Race. Yamamoto graduated from Kawaguchi Kita H.S. and Toyo University before joining Konica Minolta. His PBs include 13:45.43 for 5000 m and 2:09:12 for the marathon. Tanigawa went to Kumamoto Kogyo H.S. and Takushoku University, signing on to the Konica Minolta team after his graduation. He has run 13:51.09 for 5000 m and 2:11:39 for the marathon. The two athletes, head coach Daisuke Isomatsu and other staff members have been on the island since May 27. It is their first time training there. Each day's training is split into three workouts, one each in the early and late morning and another in the afternoo...

The Konica Minolta men's corporate team announced on April 26 that star runner Daichi Kamino , 24, will leave the team on April 30 to pursue a career as an independent. As a student at Aoyama Gakuin University Kamino earned the moniker "God of the Mountain" for his stellar performances on the Hakone Ekiden's uphill Fifth Stage. He joined Konica Minolta in April, 2016 following his graduation from Aoyama Gakuin. At this year's Tokyo Marathon he ran a PB of 2:10:18. source article:   http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/20180426-OYT1T50075.html translated by Brett Larner

Having left the Konica Minolta men's corporate team at the end of March this year, Keita Shitara , 25, announced on Sept. 19 that he will join the Hitachi Butsuryu team. The official announcement is scheduled for Sept. 20. As a member of Toyo University Shitara was part of two Hakone Ekiden-winning teams before joining Konica Minolta following his graduation in 2014. His first year at Konica Minolta Shitara ran New Year Ekiden national championships' toughest stage, but since his second year he has experienced a slump. Saying, "I need to change my environment in order to get my head straight and back on track," Shitara chose to leave the team at the end of March, returning to Toyo as his training base. The Hitachi Butsuryu team came into being in April, 2012 as the successor to the Hitachi Cable Marathon Team. It is based in Matsudo, Chiba. Under the leadership of head coach Manabu Kitaguchi, 45, it has grown steadily, placing 10th at this year's New Yea...

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2017/03/29/kiji/20170329s00056000268000c.html translated by Brett Larner On Mar. 29 Konica Minolta announced that Keita Shitara , 25, has quit the corporation's ekiden team and will leave his position with the company effective Mar. 31.  As captain of the Toyo University ekiden team he led Toyo to the overall Hakone Ekiden win before graduating and joining Konica Minolta in 2014.  However, since then he has been troubled by injuries and been unable to produce the kind of results he had hoped for, leading him to inform team management of his intent to leave.  Through a statement issued by the company Shitara commented, "I want to get myself back together in a new environment." Translator's note: Shitara is the twin brother of Yuta Shitara (Team Honda), who turned heads with his 1:01:55 first half debut at February's Tokyo Marathon.  Along with the Asahi Kasei team's Murayama twins and Ichida twins , the Shitaras a...

by Brett Larner The New Year Ekiden is the peak of the year for corporate league men, their national championship race with 37 teams of seven squaring off over a total of 100 km in front of a live TV audience.  At 61 runnings it is still a newcomer compared to the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden and has long struggled to approach Hakone's popularity.  The upswing in talent at the university level over the last few years has brought more fans to the New Year Ekiden as one after another of the biggest Hakone stars have graduated and entered the corporate machine. Last year Toyota scored a second-straight New Year Ekiden title with a very young team that averaged 23 years old.  This year its roster is bolstered by the addition of one of the most popular and talented 2016 graduates, 30 km collegiate national record holder Yuma Hattori , formerly of Toyo University. Hattori will tackle the New Year Ekiden's longest stage, the 22.0 km Fourth Stage, and with much of last year's...

http://www.jomo-news.co.jp/ns/4514557221513282/news.html translated by Brett Larner In a Feb. 17 interview, an official involved with the Takasaki Police Department's investigation of an incident at the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships in which a roadside spectator's dog jumped out into the course causing a runner to fall confirmed that police are preparing to file charges against a 69-year-old male resident of Takasaki on suspicion of violating Gunma prefecture's Animal Welfare and Management ordinance with regard to requirements for keeping pets under control. According to the police official, the incident occurred around 10:00 a.m. on Jan. 1 in the town of Kamiorui roughly 3.6 km into the Second Stage.  Running in the second pack, Paul Kuira (Team Konica Minolta) tripped and fell when a small dog suddenly jumped out into the course directly in front of him.  The owner is suspected of not having had control of the dog at the time...

by Brett Larner photos by @rikujolove 2015 national corporate men's champion Toyota held off all comers to take a second-straight New Year Ekiden national title thanks in part to its second-to-last runner Hideyuki Tanaka and some bad luck for its strongest competition. An expected challenge from the all-Japanese Asahi Kasei superteam never materialized as its 10000 m national record-breaking pair Tetsuya Yoroizaka and Kota Murayama finished 16th and 24th out of 43 on the first two of the 100.0 km New Year Ekiden's seven stages.  In their absence Yoshihiro Wakamatsu of East Japan region runner-up Nissin Shokuhin took the First Stage, 4 seconds ahead of Konica Minolta 's Kazuto Nishiike and another 5 seconds ahead of Toyota's Tsubasa Hayakawa , winner of last year's anchor stage. 【動画】これはひどい。 沿道の観客の犬が飛び出しコニカミノルタのポールクイラ選手転倒 ちゃんとリード持っとけよアホ #ニューイヤー駅伝 #tbs pic.twitter.com/tLoyDfBRXe — アナログちゃん (@anlgc) January 1, 2016 2013 World Cross-Country Cha...

by Brett Larner It’s an interesting and exciting time in Japan’s corporate leagues. Over the last five years there has been an unprecedented explosion of quality and depth at quality on the university scene at the hands of young, innovative coaches, on which more in a JRN feature next month, and its impact is starting to be felt at the more conservative corporate level. Last year’s New Year Ekiden national corporate men’s championships winner Toyota had an average age of 23.2, just out of university, for its 7-man team. First-year pros Shinobu Kubota (Toyota), Suguru Osako (Nissin Shokuhin) and twins Keita Shitara (Konica Minolta) and Yuta Shitara (Honda) were some of the day’s overall big players. This year there has been an even bigger influx of major talent ahead of the New Year Ekiden’s 60th running, with the celebrated Asahi Kasei team’s new star Kota Murayama breaking the 10000 m national record in 27:29.69 and cracking the all-time Japanese top 10 for 5000 m, h...

by Brett Larner Following other regional corporate league ekiden winners Honda (East Japan), Toyota (Chubu), YKK (Hokuriku), Otsuka Seiyaku (Kansai) and Mazda (Chubu), the Asahi Kasei team brought the qualification round for the 60th anniversary New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships to a close with a win by more than a kilometer at Monday's Kyushu Corporate Ekiden. The Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden is the primary reason for the existence of Japan's men's corporate team leagues and a nationally-televised event.  It is also one of the few championship ekidens without a seeded bracket, meaning that every team, even the winner, must run one of the November regional qualifying ekidens to re-qualify the next year.  This has a direct impact on Japanese men's ability to run fall marathons outside Japan. With a huge group of new team members this year Asahi Kasei did what every team should, using its regional qualifier as a way to get its rookies used...

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20150211/ath15021105020001-n1.html translated and edited by Brett Larner With his uphill Fifth Stage course record run putting Aoyama Gakuin University in position for the overall Hakone Ekiden win in January, Hakone's third "God of the Mountain" Daichi Kamino , a third-year, spent part of his rest day at Aoyama Gakuin's training camp at Miyazaki Prefecture Sports Park on Feb. 10 talking to Hakone Ekiden fan Tetsuya Utsumi , 32, of the Yomiuri Giants baseball team who are also training at the Sports Park. After his Hakone course record, another outstanding performance at January's National Men's Ekiden and a 1:01:21 PB at the Feb. 1 Marugame Half Marathon , Kamino is now completely focused on winning the Mar. 1 National University Half Marathon Championships in Tachikawa, Tokyo.  After Aoyama Gakuin's Hakone win Kamino and the rest of the team were busy dealing with Hakone Fever throughout January, but, he said...

by Brett Larner The 2015 New Year Ekiden marked a transition in Japanese distance running as a new wave of heavily talented collegiates including sub-62 half marathoners Shinobu Kubota (Komazawa University to Team Toyota), Suguru Osako (Waseda University to Team Nissin Shokuhin) and twins Keita Shitara (Toyo University to Team Konica Minolta) and Yuta Shitara (Toyo University to Team Honda) made a major impact in their corporate league debuts. Training with Alberto Salazar 's Nike Oregon Project and running for 2012 New Year Ekiden winner Nissin Shokuhin , Osako ran under control through the 12.3 km First Stage before kicking away in the last km to open a 5-second lead, 6 seconds ahead of 2011 winner Toyota and 7 seconds ahead of two-time defending champion Konica Minolta .  2013 World XC Jr. silver medalist Leonard Barsoton (Kenya) took Nissin's lead even further to 11 seconds, soloing a stage-winning 22:39 for the 8.3 km Second Stage.  Sub-27 Kenyan Bedan Karoki ...

by Brett Larner The New Year Ekiden national championship road relay is the raison d'être for Japan's corporate league men, the key race around which the entire year revolves.  37 teams battle it out over 100 km divided into 7 stages with a 6 1/2 hour live nationwide broadcast to millions of fans.  Most of the top corporate men in Japan, both Japanese and African, will be there, and you can follow highlights of the action via @JRNLive . Two-time defending champion Konica Minolta comes in strong.  Stronger than ever, in fact, with a major boost from rookie Keita Shitara , sub-28 and sub-62 while at Toyo University where he won the 2014 Hakone Ekiden's uphill Fifth Stage before graduating this year.  Konica's chances largely rest on the recovery of star Tsuyoshi Ugachi from the Fukuoka International Marathon earlier this month, his third marathon in his first year taking on the distance. Ready to take over from Konica Minolta is 2012 winner Nissin Shokuhin ....

http://www.sankei.com/sports/news/141103/spo1411030028-n1.html translated and edited by Brett Larner At the Nov. 3 East Japan Corporate Ekiden from Saitama to Kumagaya Sports Park Field, Konica Minolta won its third-straight and eighth overall title in the 7-stage, 77.5 km men's race in 3:49:34.  Universal Entertainment likewise won a third-straight title in 6-stage, 42.195 km women's race in 2:18:36. Konica Minolta took the lead on the Second Stage thanks to rookie Keita Shitara , with Fifth Stage winner Hiroyuki Yamamoto opening a major lead.  Nissin Shokuhin was 2nd, with Honda 3rd.  Nanyo City Hall beat the classic Kanebo team for 13th, the last qualifying position for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships. In the women's race, Universal Entertainment anchor Mizuho Nasukawa shook off Daiichi Seimei' s Sakiko Matsumi for the win after the pair started almost even.  Daiichi Seimei took 2nd, with Panasonic 3rd.  The to...

In their last appearance as members of Toyo University 's 2014 Hakone Ekiden-winning team, graduating identical twins Keita Shitara  (27:51.54, 1:01:45, 1st on 2014 Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage) and Yuta Shitara  (27:54.82, 1:01:48, 1st on 2014 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage) threw out the first pitch at the Mar. 28 Seibu Lions - Rakuten Eagles baseball game.  Next month the twins go separate ways, Keita joining 2013 and 2014 New Year Ekiden champion Konica Minolta , with Yuta staying in Saitama with the Honda  corporate team.