japan running news

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20170104-00000029-sph-spo translated and edited by Brett Larner Having run the inaugural Hakone Ekiden in 1920, Keio University announced this week that it is promoting assistant coach Kosaku Hoshina , 32, to the position of head coach.  A graduate of Nittai University and former Nissin Shokuhin corporate runner, Hoshina will lead the team in a bid to make a fully-fledged return to Hakone for the first time since the 70th running in 1994. Although its team is currently weak with just a 28th-place finish at October's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race, Keio's prominent brand-name value may help it become a rival to three-time Hakone winner Aoyama Gakuin University . The Keio University track and field team was founded in 1917.  Along with Waseda University, Meiji University and Tokyo Koto Shihan College, in 1920 it was one of the four universities that ran the Hakone Ekiden's first edition. Known as one of the "Original H...

http://www.kahoku.co.jp/tohokunews/201404/20140415_14014.html translated by Brett Larner On Apr. 14 the Sendai International Half Marathon released the names of the invited athletes for the event's 24th running on May 11.  Civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi (27, Saitama Pref. Gov't) leads the field, with former Hakone Ekiden uphill star Ryuji Kashiwabara  (24, Team Fujitsu), a native of Iwaki, Fukushima and graduate of Toyo University, representing the corporate leagues in his Sendai debut. Kawauchi is targeting a medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and at the start of this month was selected as an inaugural member of the National Marathon Team.  In March, 2013 he ran his PB of 2:08:14 for 4th at the Seoul International Marathon. His achievements this year include a 2:10:14 course record win at the Kumamoto-jo Marathon in February. Other invited athletes include London Olympian Arata Fujiwara  (32, Miki House) and mama runner Mari Ozaki  (38, Tea...

by Brett Larner The first race of the year kicks off just hours into the first day: the Japanese corporate men's national championship New Year Ekiden . 100 km split into seven stages, the New Year Ekiden is broadcast live nationwide. Now in its 54th year, it has become the main focus of the year for professional Japanese men, with October and November's regional qualifying ekidens taking the place of a fall marathon and, this year, the drive to promote team sponsors pushing the New Year Ekiden ahead of the great Fukuoka International Marathon. Questionable as this may be, the New Year Ekiden is where you see the peak performances happening. On the ekiden's longest leg, the 22.3 km Fourth Stage on the current course, top men such as Keita Akiba (Team Komori Corp.), Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) and Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu) have run times equivalent to a sub-hour half marathon, well ahead of the official national record. You rarely see the big Japanese n...

by Brett Larner Nov. 21 was a busy morning at Oda Field, central Tokyo's main public track. Alongside the high school and amateur clubs which had gathered for morning practice, 2009 double 1500 m and 5000 m Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) ran a solo workout of 400 m repeats to tune up for Monday's International Chiba Ekiden with one of his coaches in attendance. As he ran, members of Team Nissin Shokuhin began to assemble for a group workout. Nissin won the East Japan Corporate Ekiden Championships earlier this month. With a young roster including Gideon Ngatuny, Yuki Sato, Satoru Kitamura and Bene Zama they are the heavy favorites to win the 2010 New Year Ekiden national championships. Their full team including coaches was present at Oda Field, but several members were apparently injured. Ngatuny, originally slated for the International Chiba Ekiden but then left off the entry list, spent the entire workout sitting on the retaining wall and pouring drinks for the other team memb...

http://www.kahoku.co.jp/news/2009/04/20090415t14022.htm http://www.sendaihalf.com/jp/document/2009news0414a3.pdf translated and edited by Brett Larner The 19th edition of the Sendai International Half Marathon takes place May 10. Headlining the women's and men's fields are Beijing 5000 m and 10000 m Olympian Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) and 2004 Athens Olympics men's marathon 6th place finisher Toshinari Suwa (Team Nissin Shokuhin). Akaba made her marathon debut this year at the Osaka International Women's Marathon, finishing 2nd overall. This will be her fourth time running Sendai. Suwa was 7th in the 2007 Osaka World Championships marathon and continues to be one of the strongest of Japan's marathon men. In the women's race, last year's runner-up Julia Mombi (Team Aruze) and 3rd place finisher and Sendai native Yuko Machida (Team Nihon ChemiCon) will return. Joining them are 2009 Osaka Half Marathon winner Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC) and former world...

by Brett Larner Toyo University's Ryuji Kashiwabara, who caught the national eye with an epic new stage record on the 5th leg of January's Hakone Ekiden, begins his second year of university competition this Sunday at the 5th Kanto Private School Five University Track and Field Meet at Daito Bunka University. Kashiwabara will be one of four students in the final event of the day, the 3000 m Premium Race, where he will face professional runners from four teams along with three of his university rivals. The strongest contenders for the win on paper are Josai University's Yuta Takahashi and Team Chugoku Denryoku's Yasuhiro Tago, but Takahashi was a DNS at the recent World Cross Country Championships and his fitness may be in question. The Premium Race will also feature as pacemakers two of the best African runners in Japan, Team Komori Corp.'s Josephat Ndambiri and Team Nissin Shokuhin's Gideon Ngatuny. JRN will be on hand to cover the meet. The Premium Race 3000 ...

by Brett Larner Two weeks after running a course record 1:00:11 to win the Nagoya Half Marathon in his debut at the distance, Team Nissin Shokuhin's Masai Kenyan ringer Gideon Ngatuny won Kyushu's elite Kumamoto Kosa 10 Mile Road Race, clocking 45:15 and beating runner-up Hailu Mekonnen of Team Honda by 44 seconds. Teammates Samuel Ndungu and Jacob Wajuki of Team Aichi Steel came in together in 46:32 to round out the top positions. Curiously, Kumamoto Kosa organizers scored the four African runners, all of whom are based in Japan and run professionally for Japanese teams, in a separate 'International Division' with a one-minute head start over the 'General Division,' which was made up exclusively of professional Japanese runners including many of the African runners' nominal teammates. Although the International Division ran first and the 'winner' of the General Division, Ngatuny's fellow Nissin runner Kosaku Hoshina, clocked only 46:40, slower t...

http://mainichi.jp/select/today/news/20081103k0000e050015000c.html http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/081103/spg0811031730009-n1.htm http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2008110300180 http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2008/11/04/04.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Last year's runner-up Team Honda took the win at the 49th East Japan Jitsugyodan Ekiden in Saitama Prefecture on Nov. 3, covering the new 7-stage 77.5 km course in 3:44:53. It was Honda's first win in 15 years and its 3rd win in the history of the event. The team, along with other top finishers, qualified for the Jan. 1 All-Japan Jitsugyodan Ekiden Championships, also known as the New Year Ekiden, in Gunma Prefecture. Team Honda's Ethiopian ace Yakob Jarso, who finished 4th in the Beijing Olympics 3000 m steeplechase in an Ethiopian national record, passed 6 people on the 9.5 km 3rd stage to put Honda into 2nd place. Takashi Horiguchi took the lead on the 4th stage, and after 5th leg runner Seigo I...