japan running news

By Brett Larner Sunday was a break in the elite Japanese marathon calendar, but there were at least seven quality amateur marathons across the country, two with over 10,000 finishers ranking them among the world’s largest full marathons . Winning times were as fast as 2:20:32 for men and 2:38:51 for women, with one race featuring a rare European winner. A nationwide breakdown of the Feb. 19 marathons: Kyoto Marathon , Kyoto Total finishers: 15,714 Men: 1. Kosuke Murasashi 2:20:32 Women: 1.Yuria Ikuno 2:45:15 Kumamoto Castle Marathon , Kumamoto Total finishers: 10,944 Men: 1. Haruki Okayama 2:22:45 Women: Chigusa Yoshimatsu 2:56:20 Kochi Ryoma Marathon ,  Kochi Total finishers:  9,589 Men:  1. Daisuke Ikemoto 2:28:06 Women:  1. Chiho Matoba 2:58:51 Kitakyushu Marathon , Fukuoka Total finishers: 9,434 Men: 1. Shuji Tsukamoto 2:22:31 Women: 1. Marie Imada 2:38:51 Okinawa Marathon ,  Okinawa Total finishers:  8,303 Men: ...

by Brett Larner Four regions across Japan held their qualifying races on Sunday for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships.  In the Chugoku region, Team Chugoku Denryoku  suffered a scare in its pursuit of a 17th-straight win, trailing trailing Team Mazda  until the sixth of the ekiden's seven stage before advacing to earn its place in Maebashi on New Year's Day.  Ideal conditions helped runners set new records on five of the ekiden's seven stages, led by a scintillating 19:41 record on the 7.2 km Second Stage by Ethiopian Ayele Abayneh  (Team Mazda), who outran Team JFE ace Kenyan Charles Ndirangu  by nine seconds.  Four teams in all from the Chugoku region qualified. Six teams made the grade in the Kansai Region, where Team Sagawa Express  won despite the absence of London Olympics marathoner Ryo Yamamoto .   Team Osaka Gas had a close victory over the Osaka Police Department team to pick up the last qualify...