japan running news

A big group of Japanese men ran the Berlin Half Marathon on Mar. 29. The top finisher among them, Hikaru Tsujihara (Koku Gakuin Univ.) ran 1:00:33 for 11th, the 8th-fastest time ever by a Japanese-born collegiate runner. The time improved his PB of 1:00:51 from last year's Marugame Half by 18 seconds. Tsujihara went on from that performance to set a CR on last October's Izumo Ekiden 4th leg, then was 9th on the 2nd leg at the National University Ekiden and 4th on the Hakone Ekiden 's 4th leg. Tsujihara's KGU teammate Yuta Asano was 12th in 1:01:12, a PB by 15 seconds over his time at this year's Marugame. Hikaru Ogawara (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was 20th in 1:01:30, another PB by 44 seconds ahead of his time in Marugame last year. Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Logisteed) was 32nd in 1:02:51, Kosei Atomura (Koku Gakuin Univ.) 39th in 1:03:16, Aito Sato (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) 42nd in 1:03:40, and Itsuki Takaishi (Koku Gakuin Univ.) 43rd in 1:04:03. Japanese-born Collegiate...

  The Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon aside, a quick roundup of results from this past weekend: At the Nittai University Time Trials , aka the Nittaidai Challenge Games, Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) led a great men's 10000 m A-heat in 27:20.05, with the top six men all going under 27:28. James Mutuku (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) was the only other collegiate runner among them at 3rd in 27:23.09, with 2:06 marathoner Hidekazu Hijikata (Asahi Kasei) the top Japanese finisher at 8th in 28:23.27. Mutuku's YGU teammate Brian Kipyegon won the 5000 m A-heat in 13:30.88, James Karuri (Aomori Yamada H.S.) next in 13:33.67 and Kaisei Okada (Chuo Univ.) 3rd in 13:48.44. Soya Katayama (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) had the fastest 1500 m with a 3:46.19 to win the A-heat. In the women's races at Nittai, Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) was the only one to clear 16 minutes in the 5000 m A-heat, running 15:27.12 for the win. Lucy Nduta (Aomori Yamada H.S.) was likewise the only one u...

It was the first really busy weekend of outdoor season in Japan, with the first quality results coming at the season's first Setagaya Time Trials in Tokyo. Collegiate 10000 m record holder Amos Bett (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) ran 27:48.00 for the win in the men's 10000 m fast heat, with Takuya Hanyu (Toyota Boshoku) going under 28 minutes for the second time in his career with in 27:49.78 for 2nd. The winner of last month's National University Half Marathon,  Rui Aoki (Koku Gakuin Univ.) ran a PB 28:02.00 for 3rd, barely beating Richard Etir (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) by 0.26. In the men's 5000 m A-heat, photo finish specialist Edwin Kisalsak (Fujisan no Meisui) did it again, both he and Duncan Maina (Senshu Univ.) clocking 13:38.82 in the men's 5000 m fast heat but Kisalsak getting the win by 0.005 in 13:38.815 to Maina's 13:38.820. Five Koku Gakuin University runners went under 14 minutes led by Kosei Atomura in 13:47.46, with Aoi Ito making a partial comebac...