japan running news

The last big women's race of championship ekiden season, the Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden saw 8 corporate teams square off against 19 of the top high school teams in the country over a 27.2 km race. For corporate leaguers that was divided into 5 legs, with the final leg, 10.4 km, split into two legs for the high school teams. Kairi Ikeno put National High School Ekiden 8th-placer Suma Gakuen H.S. out front on the 5.3 km First Stage, missing the CR by 2 seconds in 16:51. Only 17th at the Queens Ekiden corporate national championships, Kyocera was 5 seconds out front by the end of the 3.8 km Second Stage, but that didn't last long when Yume Yabutani ran a 12:35 CR on the 3.9 km Third Stage to put National High School Ekiden runner-up Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. in the overall lead by 23 seconds. That lead stayed exactly the same over the 3.8 km Fourth Stage, while from behind Denso , which had failed to qualify for the Queens Ekiden, closed to 15 seconds b...

31 corporate women's teams were in Fukuoka this weekend to go for the 16 remaining spots at November's Queens Ekiden, the corporate women's national championship race. 19-year-old China Nakagawa was a revelation on the opening leg as she took down the leadoff runners from the bigger teams to put Hitachi out front, but on the next stage steepler Manami Nishiyama put Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo out front with a stage-winning 10:57 for 3.6 km. A brilliant run from Nanaka Izawa (Starts) on the first of the race's two long stages interrupted Mitsui Sumitomo's lead, but when Mitsui Sumitomo's Tabitha Njeri outkicked Starts' Esther Wambui it was all Mitsui the rest of the way. Stage-winning runs from last two runners Wakana Kabasawa and Anna Matsuda were enough to give Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo the win in 2:15:53, 48 seconds under the old course record set by Shiseido in 2021 when Kabasawa was a member of that team. Starts ended up a distant 2nd in 2:18:04, with Ten...

At Sunday's Kitakyushu Invitational Women's Ekiden , 27.2 km in 6 legs for the high school division and 5 legs for the corporate team division, last year's overall winner Kamimura Gakuen H.S. did it again, breaking the finish tape ahead of the top corporate team. Head coach Tetsuzo Arikawa commented, "The athletes really grew in ability over this last year." The key play came on the 3.8 km Fourth Stage, where 3rd-year Rina Kurogami ran aggressively after starting 11 seconds behind Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. "I didn't push too hard on the climbs and just built up momentum on the downhills," she said. Just past 2 km into the stage she passed Ritsumeikan Uji for the lead, going on take 8 seconds off the CR she had set on the same stage 2 years ago. 2nd-year Rin Setoguchi had responsibility for the longest stage of the race, the 5.9 km Fifth Stage. "I just told myself that I could make up the 21 seconds to the corporate division leader, and ran like ...

Sunday is the Princess Ekiden , the official qualifying race for November's Queens Ekiden, the season-ending national championship race for corporate women's teams. The top 8 placers at last year's Queens Ekiden, Sekisui Kagaku , Japan Post , Panasonic , Shiseido , Daihatsu , Daiichi Seimei , Tenmaya and Iwatani Sangyo , auto-qualified for 2024, leaving the rest of the league's teams to line up in Fukuoka at the Princess Ekiden in hopes of joining them. 30 teams will compete for 16 places at the Queens Ekiden, each with a team of 6 running a total of 42.195 km. TBS is broadcasting the race live starting at 11:50, with streaming on Youtube. 16th at Queens last year, Kyudenko has scratched from Sunday's race due to athlete injuries preventing them from having enough people ready to run. 22nd at Queens, Yamada Holdings is also out because it couldn't field 6 runners, one reason being the transfer of one of its star runners, Sakiho Tsutsui , to Universal Entertai...

The 2023 National High School Ekiden champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. girls ended their season with another win, taking 1st at the 35th Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden Sunday in Fukuoka. Running against corporate league competition like 2023 Queens Ekiden winner Sekisui Kagaku and high school Nationals 3rd and 4th placers Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. and Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. , Kamimura Gakuen got off to a slow start when leading runner Rina Kurokami was only 13th on her stage and 24 seconds off the lead. But having delivered Kamimura Gakuen the national title last month with an incredible anchor stage run, its second runner Caroline Kariba showed again that she's a budding international-level talent, chopping 18 seconds off the 3.8 km Second Stage CR, an amazing 47 seconds fastest than the previous record by a high school athlete. That was enough to put Kamimura Gakuen out front by 18 seconds over the Kyocera corporate team and 42 seconds ahead of Kunei Joshi Gakuin. Its...

The Princess Ekiden , the official qualifying race for November's Queens Ekiden national corporate women's championships, happens Sunday in rural Fukuoka. 31 teams of 6 women will be racing 42.195 km in pursuit of 16 places at Queens alongside the top tier of podium placers from last year's national championships. TBS will be streaming the race live on Youtube starting at 12:10 p.m., and if you've got a VPN you should be all set. Live results will be posted here . There's a general sense that Japanese women aren't where they used to be, but counter to that trend are a lot of new women's ekiden teams trying to get off the ground. Along with some of the long-established powers like past national champions Universal Entertainment , Tenmaya and Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo , there are relatively young teams like Nitori , Senko and Tokyo Metro trying to qualify for the first time, and newcomers like Bears Camellia making their debuts. Next year expect to see at leas...

On Oct. 25 the Kyocera women's corporate team issued a statement on its website about anchor Mei Shirai 's injury at the Oct. 23 Princess Ekiden national championships qualifier. With just 1 km to go Shirai fractured her left femur and was unable to finish the race. At the time she was running 15th, inside the top 16 and in position for Kyocera to qualify for Nationals, but when she suffered the fracture and fell Kyocera was eliminated from the team standings. "Shirai had no particular problems before the race and went to the starting line without worries," the statement read. "This incident came out of nowhere, but it shows that the team management's monitoring of the fine details of her condition was inadequate. We apologize for having worried race officials and fans. As a team we will give Shirai our complete support in making a comeback, and we will work and move together toward new goals. We ask all of you for your continued support." source artic...

The Princess Ekiden , the official qualifying race for the Nov. 27 National Corporate Women's Ekiden, happened Sunday in Munakata, Fukuoka, 31 teams racing 42.195 km in 6 stages to pick up one of the 16 places available at Nationals. It was an unusually dynamic ekiden; except for Fourth Stage winner Teresiah Muthoni (Daiso), every woman who ran the fastest time on her stage did it while taking the overall lead, and 4 of those 5 were from different teams. Up front, Panasonic anchor Sora Shinozakura pulled off a brilliant last-second come-from-behind win to take 1st in 2:18:06. Panasonic was never out of the top 4, 2nd runner Nanami Watanabe taking the lead before the team dropped back again. Shinozakura started the 6.695 km anchor leg in 3rd, 24 seconds behind leader Momoka Hanafusa of the Kyudenko team, and steadily cut down the distance to 1st. It looked like she might run out of road before she got there, but with a hard surge from 400 m out she flew past Hanafusa to take t...

Sunday is the first big women's ekiden of the season, the Princess Ekiden in Sendai, the qualifying race for November's National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships. The top 8 teams from last year's Nationals are already qualified, and at the Princess Ekiden another 16 will join them. 31 teams will be competing over 42.195 km in 6 stages, with the race broadcast live by TBS starting at 11:50 local time. Streaming will happen on Youtube, live results will be here , and JRN will be covering it live @JRNLive . Up near the front third of the field , the teams that made Nationals last year, the top 12 or so teams look pretty secure for qualifying. 11th at Nationals last year, Edion is looking especially strong with track Olympian Kaede Hagitani , 2:21:42 marathoner Ai Hosoda and new transfer from the Denso team Mikuni Yada , a 15:19.67/31:34.39 runner, on its entry list. Daiichi Seimei also has two solid new recruits from Daito Bunka University , Yuka Suzuki and Na...

Beijing Olympic marathoner and former team member Atsushi Sato , 43, has been named head coach of the Chugoku Denryoku  men's corporate team as of the beginning of this month. Coming back to the team after 8 years, Sato is a strong choice to succeed Yasushi Sakaguchi  and return it to its previous position as a leading producer of top-level athletes. "I'm very happy to be a part of helping the team I belonged to develop," Sato said. "I want it to evolve and grow, not just make a comeback." Sato is a native of Fukushima. A graduate of Aizu H.S.  and Waseda University , he joined Chugoku Denryoku in 2001. With his main focus on the marathon he ran 2:07:13 at the 2007 Fukuoka International Marathon , at the time the 4th-fastest ever by a Japanese man. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics he finished in last place in 76th, but a year later he came back and made 6th at the 2009 Berlin World Championships . He retired following the 2013 Fukuoka International Marathon , ...

The qualifying race for the Nov. 22 National Corporate Women's Ekiden took place Oct. 18 in Munakata, Fukuoka , with Sekisui Kagaku winning the six-stage, 42.195 km race for the second year in a row in 2:17:03 and the top fourteen teams qualifying. Two-time national champion Daiichi Seimei 's 21-year qualification streak was broken as it finished 15th. As the first national-level road race to take place since the start of the coronavirus crisis, teams were asked not to have their cheering squads along the course and other COVID countermeasures were put in place. On the ekiden's 7.0 km opening stage, Kako Okada , an athlete with the Kyocera team, collapsed less than 100 m from the first exchange zone and was unable to continue. Okada went into full-body convulsions and on-site medical staff called an ambulance. Hearing the news from the First Stage supervisor, the race's chief referee quickly made the decision to officially stop Okada. Two years ago another athlete su...

On Sept. 6 it was learned that Kyocera women's corporate team head coach Atsushi Sato , 42 had submitted his resignation from his position and the company on Aug. 31. In an interview with the Fukushima Minyu newspaper Sato commented, "I couldn't produce the results that the company was looking for. The team was improving bit by bit, so it's very unfortunate." His assistant coach and wife Miho Sato has also left the Kyocera organization. The couple's future plans are undecided. A graduate of Aizu H.S. and Waseda University and the former half marathon national record holder, Atsushi became head coach at Kyocera in April, 2014. Miho, the women's 800 m national record holder, joined at the same time to form a highly anticipated coaching duo with Olympic experience on both sides. Starting with only two members, the pair built a quality roster that included 2019 Doha World Championships 10000 m runner Minami Yamanouch i and the top Japanese finisher at the...

by Shoko Egawa Egawa is an investigate journalist who made her name doing early work on the Aum death cult. Here she looks at the situation surrounding 2005 Helsinki World Championships marathon team member Yumiko Hara , who blamed a string of arrests for shoplifting on an eating disorder she claims to have developed as a result of the psychological trauma of the strict dietary and weight restrictions her corporate league coach put upon her. "The weight restrictions were severe, way beyond what any other team did, and it was especially hard to take because I was the only they were being applied to. At meals the head coach told me, 'Eat this. Don't eat this.' I was weighed repeatedly throughout the day to the point that I was afraid to drink water because I thought my weight would increase by the amount of the water." Earlier this summer former marathon national team member Yumiko Hara underwent questioning under Maebashi District Court Ota Branch judge Ma...

Accused of shoplifting 380 yen [~$3.50 USD] worth of candy from a supermarket in Ota, Gunma in February while under probation in another shoplifting case, former World Championships marathoner Yumiko Hara , 36, now a restaurant worker, underwent questioning in her second trial at Maebashi District Ota Branch Court under judge Masaya Okuyama . Crying as she spoke, Hara confessed to having shoplifted as an elementary school student. She said that as an athlete she had developed an eating disorder due to the strict weight restrictions and had resorted to stealing food. Even after retiring, she said, "I would throw up food after eating it." "I was always hungry, always felt thirsty," Hara said of her time as an athlete. "They put severe restrictions on my weight that went way beyond what any other university or corporate team would do." She said that after joining the corporate leagues her coach would take her wallet away from her at training camps so t...

Back in 2010 JRN spotted 17-year-old high school student Minami Yamanouchi at a local 14 km road race in northern Ibaraki, where she beat the high school boys' course record by more than four minutes. At the time we wrote , "If Yamanouchi keeps running post-high school and lands at the right team, university or pro, we may have been lucky to see the first appearance of a future great." Now 25 and coached by former half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato at the Kyocera corporate team, in the last few weeks Yamanouchi has really come into her own. Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) took the top Japanese spot at 4th overall in the 5000 m at the April 28 Oda Memorial Meet in Hiroshima, one of the top-level track meets in Japan. A former amateur runner, she only joined the corporate leagues last August. Seeing her progress in less than a year of serious training, her coach Atsushi Sato , the 6th placer in the 2009 World Championships marathon, called her "exce...

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20140202-00000067-jij-spo http://373news.com/modules/pickup/index.php?storyid=54493 translated and edited by Brett Larner Having retired in December, 2009 World Championships marathon 6th-placer and half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato  (35, Team Chugoku Denryoku) announced Feb. 2 that he will become head coach of the Kyocera  corporate women's team this spring.  Sato is the all-time fourth-fastest Japanese marathoner, with a best of 2:07:13, and ran the 2008 Beijing Olympics marathon.  He retired last year following December's Fukuoka International Marathon.  For some time he has been on leave from the Chugoku Denryoku company, training and working to develop local athletics in his native Fukushima.  Previous Kyocera head coach Yasunori Niihara  passed away on Dec. 20 due to an illness. Also announced was that Sato's wife, 800 m national record holder and Olympian Miho Sato , will join the team's s...

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/flash/KFullFlash20100215133.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Two-time World Championships marathoner Yumiko Hara, 28, announced on Feb. 15 that in April she will be joining Team Universal Entertainment where she will be coached by Yoshio Koide (Sakura AC). Hara won the 2005 Nagoya International Women's Marathon in her debut, going on to finish 6th in the Helsinki World Championships marathon. She also ran in the 2007 Osaka World Championships marathon. She quit Team Kyocera in March last year, and, unsuccesful in securing a place with another team, returned home to her native Tochigi Prefecture. Now looking to revive her career, Hara stakes her future on Koide's guidance and is hopeful that the new training environment will help her to return to peak level.

http://www.jiji.com/jc/zc?k=200903/2009032700863 translated by Brett Larner Team Kyocera announced on Mar. 27 that following the departure of head coach Kunio Omori at the end of the month Yasunori Niihara (53), currently of Team Oki, will take over as the team's head coach. Niihara is a native of Kagoshima Prefecture and graduated from Juntendo University. He served as head coach of Team YKK and elsewhere before being hired by Team Oki in 2008. Team Oki will disband at the end of March, freeing up the team's aces, identical twin sisters Hiroko and Yoko Miyauchi to follow Niihara to Team Kyocera where they will replace departing runners Yumiko Hara and Kiyomi Ogawa.

http://www.sankei-kansai.com/2009/03/26/20090326-007928.php http://www.47news.jp/CN/200903/CN2009032601001091.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Kunio Omori, 64, head coach of women's jitsugyodan powerhouse Team Kyocera, announced on Mar. 26 that he is leaving the team at the end of the month along with 2005 and 2007 World Championships marathoner Yumiko Hara and 2009 Nagoya International Women's Marathon 5th place finisher Kiyomi Ogawa. The trio's future plans are as yet uncertain, but they intend to look for a new sponsor and to continue on in athletics. Omori has been head coach of Team Kyocera since 1998, coaching team member Miho Sato (nee Sugimori) to the women's 800 m national record and on to the Athens Olympics. Prior to that he was head coach of Saitama Sakae High School where he lead the women's team to three straight National High School Ekiden Championship titles beginning in 1995. Omori commented, "After eleven years as head of Team Kyo...

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/090120/oth0901201727016-n1.htm translated by Brett Larner March, 2008 Having finished 4th at the Nagoya International Women's Marathon and missed out on her chance to make the Beijing Olympic team, Yumiko Hara (Team Kyocera) goes home to her parents' home in Tochigi prefecture to recuperate. She thinks about what races she should target next season. She holds coach Kunio Omori's year-long training schedule and with a steady hand begins to write in her goals. January, 2009 "Last year I couldn't take a single step forward and it was a disappointment to a lot of people," says Hara. "I want to restore everyone's faith in me the only way I can, so I decided to run Osaka." A year ago Hara had signed up for Osaka as the defending champion to reserve her spot on the Beijing Olympic team. Feeling weak and drained, she withdrew shortly before the race and slid her target to Nagoya. Even that was too much. The Osaka co...