japan running news

The Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden , the National University Women's Ekiden Championships Invitational, took place Dec. 30 in Shizuoka. 22 universities from across the country and two select teams competed for the national title in the midst of cold rain, with Nagoya's  Meijo University  covering the seven-stage, 43.4 km course in 2:23:09 to win for the second year in a row. After a slow start that saw it sitting 3rd halfway through the race, Meijo's fourth runner Yuma Yamamoto ran a course record 13:55 for her 4.4 km stage to cut the defending champs' deficit way down. Meijo's next runner, 2019 World University Championships half marathon silver medalist Rika Kaseda , ran the fastest time for the race's longest stage to move the team up from 3rd to 1st. Sixth runner Narumi Kobayashi likewise won her stage on time to give Meijo a lead it kept all the way through the uphill anchor stage. Meijo's win was both its second-straight and second ever and foll...

In the last major women's ekiden of the season, 2016 National High School Ekiden champion Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. made up for their loss at the 2017 Nationals last month as they outran top corporate and university competition to win the 29th Kitakyushu Invitational Women's Ekiden . 5th on the opening leg, Osaka Kunei moved up to 2nd behind the Toto corporate women's team on the Second Stage thanks to a strong run from third-year Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu . Building on Takamatsu's momentum, third runner Ayaka Murao put Osaka Kunei 7 seconds ahead of Toto, fourth runner Hikari Takeuchi opening up their lead to 34 seconds, and its last two women Ami Taniguchi and Mai Misaki extending that to 48 seconds by race's end. Scored in separate divisions, Osaka Kunei and Toto were each awarded 1st-place trophies, but as the first across the line Osaka Kunei was only the 2nd high school in Kitakyushu's 29-year history to take the top spot overall. Local powe...

by Brett Larner The women's championship ekiden season came to a close at Sunday's Kita-Kyushu Invitational Women's Ekiden in Fukuoka.  Cancelled last year due to heavy snow, Kita-Kyushu pits the country's top high school, university and pro women's teams against each other over a short five-stage, 32.8 km course, the long 11.7 km anchor stage split in two for the high school division. With both divisions running together it was a close race throughout.  Running without star marathoner Eri Hayakawa , the Toto corporate team led almost the entire race.  Its opening pair Hana Omori and Shuru Bulo built a 36-lead over 2016 National High School Ekiden champion and 2015 high school division winner Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S., with its nearest corporate league competition Universal Entertainment almost a minute behind. Universal's third runner Mai Shinozuka cut that down to 19 seconds, Osaka Kunei's Ayako Murao coming even closer at just 8 seconds ...