japan running news

Kenyan Razini Lemeteki (Takushoku Univ.) and relative unknown Nanami Aoki (Iwatani Sangyo) took the top spots in hot and sunny conditions at the Shibetsu Half Marathon in Hokkaido. With Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) doing early frontrunning in the men's race only to fade to a 20th-place finish in 1:06:40 Lemeteki had little competition for the win in 1:03:25. 2017 Shibetsu winner  Tsubasa Hayakawa (Toyota) was the top Japanese man at 2nd in 1:03:42, beating MGC Race Olympic marathon trials qualifiers Daichi Kamino (New Balance) and Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku) - by 4 seconds and 11 seconds. Other MGC Race qualifiers Masato Imai (Toyota Jidoshokki), Yuji Iwata (MHPS) and Ryo Kiname (MHPS) all struggled, none of them breaking 66 minutes. Aoki won the women's race easily in 1:15:12 by almost a minute over Mai Nagaoka (Sysmex). MGC Race qualifiers Reia Iwade (Under Armour) and Keiko Nogami (Juhachi Ginko) were listed to start but apparently did not run. 33rd S...

In its fourth edition the Saitama International Marathon has taken a step up in quality thanks mostly to a move from mid-November to mid-December. Its previous timing meant that no top-level corporate league women could take part due to scheduling conflicts with the National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships, but with Saitama now coming afterward there's a noticeable increase in the quantity of domestic talent. The international field is fronted by current Ethiopian Workneh Debele , 2:19:53 in Dubai earlier this year, and former Ethiopian S hitaye Habtegebrel of Bahrain, winner of this year's Hamburg Marathon in 2:24:51 and last year's Saitama runner-up. 20-year-old Dalila Gosa of Bahrain and Celia Sullohern of Australia add numbers to the sub-2:30 contingent, with Sylvia Jebiwot Kibet the lone Kenyan in the field. The home crew will be looking to key off the internationals to pull them through Saitama's challenging course full of rolling hills and t...

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...

In preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the JAAF will hold a 10-day women's marathon training camp in Chitose, Hokkaido from July 27 to August 5. It is the first time for the city of Chitose to host a JAAF training camp since it was selected as the site for the Japanese national team's pre-Tokyo Olympics base. Six athletes including 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympian Mai Ito will take part, with the program scheduled to include running classes with local amateur runners. The six athletes identified as high-level in the marathon and long distance and invited to participate in the program are Ito, Yuka Ando , Hanami Sekine , Yukari Abe , Mao Ichiyama and Miyuki Uehara . Along with them, a staff of sixteen support personnel will also take part. Conceived of as a simulation of the Tokyo Olympics, the camp takes place at the same time and for the same number of days as it will two years from now before the main event. The athletes will train at Aoba Field, on the 3.6 km Aoba Par...

On Jan. 16 the organizers of the Feb. 18 Kumamoto-jo Marathon announced the elite field of 21 women and men for the 62nd running of the accompanying Kanaguri Kinen Kumanichi 30 km Road Race. Rio de Janeiro Olympics women's marathoner Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku), 2012 Kumanichi men's champion Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Konica Minolta) 2018 Hakone Ekiden MVP Keisuke Hayashi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) top the entry lists. Seven corporate league men are on the entry list, which features Ugachi's teammate Gen Hachisuka (Konica Minolta), 28:15 10000 m runner Masato Terauchi (Aichi Seiko) and 2012 runner-up Y uki Oshikawa (Toyota Kyushu). Along with eight university men will also be in the race including two of the runners responsible for Toyo Univesity 's 2018 Hakone Ekiden Day One win, Shuji Yamamoto and Akira Aizawa , and local Kyushu Gakuin H.S. graduate Shota Nakagawa (Nittai Univ.). The women's field consists of six athletes including Ito. 2016 runner-up Mami Onuki (Sysm...

The Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon is always one of Japan's deepest races of the year on the men's side, its 2012 running setting a world record for the most men under 64 minutes in a single half marathon in history. On the women's side the field is always smaller but still home to the 1:07:26 Japanese national record set by Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) back in 2006. Edna Kiplagat (Kenya), Sara Hall (U.S.A.) and Betsy Saina (Kenya) lead the women's international field, two-time defending champ Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) giving Marugame a miss this year. Fresh off a 1:09:14 PB at last month's Sanyo Ladies Half, Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) leads a trio of Japanese women with recent sub-1:10 times, something that has become a puzzling rarity lately. Fukushi is also back, her recent best of 1:12:04 a long way from her best days. Speaking of which, world record holder Zersenay Tadese (Eritrea) will be looking to break 60 minutes for the first time since 2015...

by Brett Larner The race to make the Japanese team for August's London World Championships continues Sunday at the Osaka International Women's Marathon .  Snakebitten in recent years by the presence of Eastern European women associated with disgraced Russian agent Andrey Baranov , Osaka has noticeably toned down its international component this year.  Rio Olympian Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) leads the field, her 2:24:42 best the fastest time of any woman in the race over the last three years and nearly a minute ahead of Ethiopian-born Shitaye Habtegebrel (Bahrain).  2012 Osaka winner Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya) and last year's Gold Coast Airport Marathon course record-breaker Misato Horie (Team Noritz) make up Ito's main front end competition, where they will have to break 2:22:30 and be the top Japanese woman to be guaranteed a spot on the London team. That's not an impossible task.  Last year Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) did it, winning outright in 2...

by Brett Larner 山陽女子ロードレース大会　ハーフマラソンの部　優勝　小原怜選手（天満屋）　１時間１０分０４秒 pic.twitter.com/TcCK4fVuTz — M.Kawaguchi (@rikujolove) December 23, 2016 Japan's Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) and Kenyan Rosemary Wanjiru (Team Starts) went it alone to win the 35th anniversary Sanyo Ladies' Road Race half marathon and 10 km divisions with strong negative split runs. After a slow 17:00 first 5 km in the half Ohara got to work, covering the next 5 km in 16:24 and opening a 16-second lead over a pack of nine led by Rio Olympics marathoner Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku).  From there she never faltered, her pace holding steady all the way to a 1:10:03 win.  38 seconds behind, Misaki Kato (Team Kyudenko) took 2nd in 1:10:42 with relative newcomer Ayaka Fujimoto (Team Kyocera) 3rd in 1:11:20.  Ito faded to 5th in 1:11:39 just ahead of London Olympics marathoner Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya).  Invited Australians Eloise Wellings and Cassie Fien were both DNFs, Fien dropping out befo...

by Brett Larner Rio Olympics marathoner Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) leads the elite field of domestic hopefuls for the 2017 World Championships team at the Jan. 29 Osaka International Women's Marathon .  On the home front she faces London Olympian Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya), the last two Gold Coast Airport Marathon winners Misato Horie (Team Noritz) and Risa Takenaka (Team Shiseido), and the debuting Hanae Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei), a training partner of Ito's Rio teammate Tomomi Tanaka . Ethiopian-born Shitaye Habtegebrel (Bahrain) presents the toughest international competition to Ito with a PB just under a minute slower than Ito's 2:24:42 best.   Iwona Lewandowska (Poland), Muluhabt Tsega (Ethiopia), Serena Burla (U.S.A.), Cassie Fien (Australia), Ling-Ling Jin (China) and Munkhzaya Bayartsogt (Mongolia) round out the international contingent. Further down the field, Japan's current top three amateur women Yoshiko Sakamoto (YWC), Yumiko Kin...

http://www.sanyonews.jp/article/459054 translated by Brett Larner 327 women are set to run the 35th anniversary Sanyo Ladies Road Race Dec. 23 in Okayama.  117 are entered in the Yuko Arimori Cup Half Marathon, with 210 entered in the Kinue Hitomi Cup 10 km.  Top-level domestic and international athletes including some who ran in this summer's Rio de Janeiro Olympics are set to bring fireworks to the streets of Okayama. The half marathon is led by Rio marathoner Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) and features last year's runner-up local Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) and 2015 World Championships team member Risa Shigetomo  (Team Tenmaya). Misaki Kato (Team Kyudenko), who ran brilliantly at last month's National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships, and Reia Iwade (Team Noritz), who set the junior national record of 1:09:45 in Sanyo in 2013, are also on the list.  Rio 5000 m 9th-placer Eloise Wellings and 2016 World Half Marathon Championships team member Cassie Fi...

by Brett Larner After biding her time throughout the race, two-time Nagoya Women's Marathon winner Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) made the move that decided the medal winners in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics women's marathon.  Having lost to Mare Dibaba (Ethiopia) in a sprint finish at last year's Beijing World Championships, Kirwa went for a long surge that shook it down to a race between her, Dibaba and London Marathon winner Jemima Sumgong (Kenya).  Kirwa read Dibaba right, getting away from her in the long straight to the finish, but Sumgong read them both better.  4th in Beijing, Sumgong made a last push to score Kenya's first-ever women's marathon gold.  The three medalists came through 26 seconds apart, Sumgong's 2:24:04 the third-fastest winning time in the Olympic women's marathon's nine-race history. Another 17 seconds back, Tirfi Tsegaye (Ethiopia) held off second-half agente provocatrice Volha Mazuronak (Belarus) by one second for 4th, Mazuronak...

http://www.nikkansports.com/olympic/rio2016/athletics/news/1688993.html translated by Brett Larner The three women of Japan's Rio de Janeiro Olympics marathon squad held a press conference at their training base at Princeton University in New Jersey on Aug. 3 local time, Aug. 4 Japan time. Kayoko Fukushi (34, Team Wacoal) arrived at the training base on Aug. 1 after training at altitude in Boulder, Colorado for the last month.  After experiencing pain in the fifth metatarsal on her right foot in June she cancelled plans to run in a tuneup half marathon, but, she said with a weary laugh, "Coach had me running plenty in Boulder.  I put in a truckload of training." Mai Ito (32, Team Otsuka Seiyaku) said, "I've run 11 marathons so far, and for all of them I prepared seriously.  This time is no different.  I think I'm ready." Tomomi Tanaka (28, Team Daiichi Seimei), looked relaxed from start to finish as she talked about her race plan, saying, ...

http://dd.hokkaido-np.co.jp/sports/sports/marathon/1-0296687.html http://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye2828867.html http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/s/article/2016072401001248.html http://dd.hokkaido-np.co.jp/sports/sports/marathon/1-0296700.html translated and edited by Brett Larner The 30th anniversary Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon   was held July 24 in Shibestu, Hokkaido.  Top-level Japanese athletes and amateur runners alike braved blazing sunshine to give it their best on the JAAF-certified course.  A total of 2136 runners including a large number of corporate league runners from Toyota and the Kansai region took part.  Special guest runners included ski jumper Sara Takanashi and the winner of the first Shibetsu Half women's race, Eriko Asai . In the men's half marathon, Kokushikan University assistant coach James Mwangi won by a second over  Yuki Oshikawa (Team Toyota Kyushu) in a course record 1:03:22.  Rio de Janeiro Olympics men's ma...

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2016/07/15/kiji/K20160715012969550.html http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2016/07/15/kiji/K20160715012969530.html http://www.nikkansports.com/olympic/rio2016/athletics/news/1679246.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Japan's Rio de Janeiro marathon teams face a tough challenge in the Olympic races, the women's race scheduled for Aug. 14 and the men's race for the final day of the Games, 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 21 Japan time. For the men, top eight looks like a realistic goal.  Among the three, Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei), Hisanori Kitajima (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Suehiro Ishikawa (Team Honda), Sasaki has the fastest PB at 2:08:56.  In comparison, Kenyan Olympic team member Eliud Kipchoge won April's London Marathon in an all-time #2 time of 2:03:05.  The gap in ability between the Africans and the Japanese men is enormous. Among the women, a three-time Olympian on the track, Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) is...

by Brett Larner Hot and windy across the country, it was a busy weekend on the corporate circuit with four regions holding their spring track championships, a high-level time trial meet and one decent result overseas. Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Team Universal Entertainment) turned in the fastest women’s 10000 m of the weekend, running 32:04.11 to win the East Japan corporate region. Hisami Ishii (Team Yamada Denki) was next across the line, just missing the Rio standard in 32:16.60 but scoring the fastest Japanese time in the four corporate meets. Already on the Rio team in the marathon, Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) won the Kansai region women’s 10000 m in 33:02.94. The fastest women’s 5000 m also came in East Japan as Rosemary Wanjiru (Kenya/Team Starts) took the A-heat in 15:23.10. 4th-placer Sayaka Kuwahara (Team Sekisui Kagaku), returning from a solid 2:25:09 marathon debut in Nagoya in March, ran 15:44.99, topping the 15:46.40 time of Kansai region winner Mizuki Matsuda ...

by Brett Larner The JAAF announced the Japanese women's and men's marathon team lineups for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics at a press conference on Mar. 17 streamed live worldwide.  Surprisingly there were no surprises, no controversial calls, the athletes chosen for the team the most likely based on the complicated selection criteria. The women's team includes 2016 Osaka Women's winner Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal), 2016 Nagoya Women's runner-up Tomomi Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) and 2015 World Championships 7th-placer Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku).  The men's team is made up of 2015 Fukuoka 3rd-placer Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei), 2015 Lake Biwa runner-up Hisanori Kitajima (Team Yasukawa Denki) and 4th-placer Suehiro Ishikawa (Team Honda).  No alternates were named in the event, likely given recent history, that any of the team members does not make the starting line, and no one was named to the team from two of the selection races, last year...

by Brett Larner Japan's qualification process for the Rio Olympics marathon wrapped up with a bang at yesterday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , with Tomomi Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) getting payback for being left off of last year's Beijing World Championships team in favor of a runner from the Tenmaya corporate team by beating Tenmaya's Rei Ohara by one second in 2:23:19 to take what is almost definitely the last place on the Rio team.  Last week JRN detailed the situation regarding the Rio men's team candidates .  The women's situation looks more clear-cut but it's worth a quick review to see who the most likely names are for Thursday's Olympic team lineup announcement.  Click any race for detailed results. Beijing World Championships Women's Marathon, Aug. 30 7. Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:29:48 13. Sairi Maeda (Daihatsu) - 2:31:46 14. Risa Shigetomo (Tenmaya) - 2:32:37 Under the JAAF's selection criteria this time around the only ch...

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20160303-00000083-spnannex-spo an editorial by Ryosuke Sugimoto translated by Brett Larner It's official, Kayoko Fukushi has backed out of her plans to run the Nagoya Women's Marathon.  As a result there's not much doubt that the Rio de Janeiro Olympic women's marathon team will be made up of Mai Ito for placing 7th in the Beijing World Championships, Fukushi for breaking the JAAF's 2:22:30 Olympic qualifying standard when she won the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2:22:17, and the top Japanese finisher in Nagoya. The storm has pretty much passed for women's selection, but what about the men?  Among the entries for the final men's selection race, this weekend's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, is civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi .  No men qualified for Rio in Beijing, so essentially the top three Japanese finishers in the three domestic selection races will be chosen.  At December's Fukuoka Intern...

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20160212-OHT1T50034.html translated and edited by Brett Larner On Feb. 11 it was learned that Kaori Yoshida (34, Runners Pulse), the top Japanese woman at 2nd overall in the first Rio Olympics domestic selection race at last November's Saitama International Women's Marathon , has entered the final Rio selection race, the Mar. 13 Nagoya Women's Marathon.  Also entered is Kayoko Fukushi (33, Wacoal), who ran 2:22:17 to break the JAAF-mandated sub-2:22:30 Olympic standard and win the second Rio selection race, January's Osaka International Women's Marathon .  With both already in contention for the Rio team the pair's entries creates a highly unusual situation at the final selection race. The final selection race for the Olympic women's marathon team looks set to become a one-shot battle.  Appearing as part of a radio event in Tokyo on the 11th, Yoshida said, "I've been planning all along to run either Tokyo or...

by Brett Larner The National Corporate Half Marathon Championships are Japan's premier half, producing more quality times over its 43-year history than any other half marathon worldwide.  This year's 44th running on Feb. 14 counts as the final men's and women's selection race for the 2016 World Half Marathon Championships team and has fields as good as ever lined up.  The men's field includes last year's course record-breaking top two Charles Ndirangu (Team JFE Steel) and Macharia Ndirangu (Team Aichi Seiko), 2014 3rd-placer Sota Hoshi (Team Fujitsu), 2013 runner-up Johana Maina (Team Fujitsu) and 2012 winner Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota), along with Rio Olympics marathon team contender Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) and fellow 2:08 marathoners Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Team NTN). The women's field is split between the half marathon and 10 km distances again this year, making for two smaller but equally comp...