japan running news

Kenyans Elisha Rotich and Jackline Chelal made it a Kenyan double at the Kobe Marathon , Rotich outrunning American Ethan Shuley by 28 seconds for the win in 2:11:02 and Chelal with an almost 2-minute lead in 2:28:25. The men's race started off with a lead group of 11, going through 10 km in 30:10 and halfway in 1:03:38. Wearing a mass-participation bib and starting 6 seconds back from the elites, Shuley, whose previous best was a 2:18:13 in Nagano this past April and who has only 2 other races on his World Athletics profile in the last 10 years, both indoor 3000 m, improbably led through 25 km in 1:15:19, 2:07:07 pace, before losing touch. Ethiopian Abay Alemu surged into the lead, only to get run down by Rotich just after 30 km and ultimately dropping out. Rotich slowed after moving into the top spot but held his margin over Shuley to win 2:11:02 to 2:11:30. Hiromasa Kumahashi (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) was 3rd in 2:11:45, closing on Shuley fast but running out of ground before ...

Held alongside the Osaka International Women's Marathon , its companion Osaka Half Marathon has grown from a mass-participation mixed gender event to now feature as one of Japan's top post-ekiden season half marathons. Not being a national team selection event for the World Half Marathon Championships it doesn't get many of the big names, who mostly line up a week later in Marugame, but the fields are definitely not bad. On the women's side, last year's winner Reia Iwade (Under Armour), the fastest female Japanese marathoner of 2019, is back as the only woman in the race to have broken 70 minutes. But she has serious competition from Yuka Hori (Panasonic), only 1:11:05 at the 2018 National Corporate Half but fresh off a 31:38.63 PB for 10000 m earlier this month. 10000 m collegiate national record holder Hikari Yoshimoto (Daihatsu) should also be one of the bigger threats to Iwade after a brilliant anchor run at last month's National Corporate Women'...

Bolder Boulder 10 km Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A., 5/27/19 complete results Women - Individual 1. Hiwot Yemer (Ethiopia) - 32:49 2. Meseret Tola (Ethiopia) - 32:55 3. Aliphine Tuliamuk (U.S.A.) - 33:00 4. Margearet Muriuki (Kenya) - 33:21 5. Rahma Chota (Ethiopia) - 33:29 ----- 7. Kayoko Fukushi (Japan) - 33:56 9. Yuka Ando (Japan) - 34:19 21. Kotomi Tsubokura (Japan) - 36:37 Women - Team 1. Ethiopia - 8 2. U.S.A. Red - 24 3. Kenya - 29 4. Japan - 37 5. U.S.A. White - 40 Men - Individual 1. Bernard Ngeno (Kenya) - 28:29 2. Terela Delesa (Ethiopia) - 28:58 3. Joseph Panga (Tanzania) - 29:03 4. Tsegay Tuernay (Eritrea) - 29:09 5. Gabriel Geay (Tanzania) - 29:13 ----- 26. Atsumi Ashiwa (Japan) - 31:29 27. Masaya Taguchi (Japan) - 31:52 34. Shohei Tomita (Japan) - 32:43 Men - Team 1. Ethiopia - 20 2. Tanzania - 22 3. Eritrea - 29 4. Bahrain - 31 5. U.S.A. Red - 33 ----- 10. Japan - 87 © 2019 Brett Larner, all ...

Yuka Suzuki (Daito Bunka Univ.) won a close pack race to take the 2019 National University Women's Half Marathon title, outkicking Rika Kaseda (Meijo Univ.) by 2 seconds for the win in 1:11:27. With a relatively slow start the lead pack of nearly 20 gradually picked up its pace, splitting faster for every successive 5 km until only Suzuki, Kaseda, Yuka Tagawa (Matsuyama Univ.) and Yukina Ueda (Tsukuba Univ.)were left together at 20 km. With three spots at stake on the Japanese national team for this summer's World University Games one of them had to lose, and as Suzuki and Kaseda pulled away over the last km the third spot came down to another duel. Tagami proved to have the better finish, taking 3rd in 1:11:35 to Ueda's 1:11:38. Defending World University Games half marathon gold medalist Yuki Munehisa (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) was a DNF, dropping out after 10 km as the pace increased. Run as part of the Matsue Ladies Half Marathon, the race also included corporate l...

For the second year in a row Japan-based Kenyan Jeremiah Thuku Karemi (Toyota Kyushu) broke the course record at Kumamoto's Okukuma Half Marathon . Coached by 1992 Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita , Karemi took 27 seconds off his winning time last year to win by over a minute in 1:01:21. Joel Mwaura (Kurosaki Harima) was a distant 2nd in 1:02:40, with Karemi's teammate Yuki Oshikawa (Toyota Kyushu) taking the top Japanese spot at 3rd in 1:03:13. Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't) was 9th in 1:04:04 a week after running the Ibusuki Nanohana Marathon. In the women's race, Anna Matsuda (Kyocera), coached by former men's half  marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato , took 26 seconds off the course record to win in 1:13:10. Not far off, Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal) was a clear 2nd in 1:03:27 with Maki Saito (Higo Ginko) improving on her 10th-place finish last year to take 3rd in 1:14:46. Also Sunday, up in Tokyo the Akabane Ha...

Kenyan Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta) outran teammate Tomohiro Tanigawa and defending champ Tsubasa Hayakawa (Toyota) to win the 32nd Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon in the midst of hot and sunny conditions. All three went under the previous course record, with Kuira getting away in the final kilometer to win in 1:03:10. Hayakawa was next in 1:03:15, with Tanigawa just back in 1:03:18. In the women's half marathon Kotomi Tsubokura won by over 30 seconds in 1:15:42. Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) won the women's 10 km in 34:08, beating Rio Olympian Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku) by 8 seconds. Newcomer Junna Suzuki (Iwatani Sangyo) was 3rd a step behind Ito in 34:17. 32nd Shibetsu Half Marathon Shibetsu, Hokkaido, 7/22/18 Men 1. Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta) - 1:03:10 - CR 2. Tsubasa Hayakawa (Toyota) - 1:03:15 3. Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta) - 1:03:18 4. Ryo Matsumoto (Toyota) - 1:03:44 5. Kenta Iinuma (SGH Group) - 1:04:21 Women 1. Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal) - 1...