japan running news

Yamada Denki assistant coach Hirokazu Miyauchi, Ayumi Nakayama, Honda assistant coach Yosuke Osawa, 1960 Olympic marathoner and former Canadian national record holder Gord Dickson, Maki Suzawa and Minoru Okuda. Part five in a series of republished interviews. Speaking of his experience in Japan not long after winning the Beijing Olympics marathon, Kenyan  Samuel Wanjiru said, "Japanese people are conservative and don't like change." Well, sometimes things do change. In response to an invitation from race organizers interested in diversifying their elite field, the Honda and Yamada Denki corporate teams agreed to send three young runners to the 2010 Toronto Waterfront Marathon, two of them for their marathon debuts, with support from JRN.  Minoru Okuda (25, Honda) was a Hakone Ekiden star at Chuo University. Ayumi Nakayama (25, Yamada Denki) has four marathons, a best of 2:28:51 and bad luck with weather to her name. Just 22, Maki Suzawa (Yamada Denki) won the 2...

all photos (c) 2010 Brett Larner all rights reserved The start. Minoru Okuda (Team Honda) Ayumi Nakayama (Team Yamada Denki) Maki Suzawa (Team Yamada Denki) The team award ceremony. 2010 Toronto Waterfront Marathon click here for complete results Men 1. Kenneth Mungara (KEN) - 2:07:58 - PB, CR 2. Jafred Chirchir (KEN) - 2:08:10 ( CR ) 3. Daniel Rono (KEN) - 2:08:15 ( CR ) 4. Nixon Machichim (KEN) - 2:08:22 ( CR ) ----- 16. Minoru Okuda (Team Honda) - 2:18:53 - debut Women 1. Sharon Cherop (KEN) - 2:22:43 - PB, CR 2. Tirfi Tsegaye (ETH) - 2:22:44 - PB ( CR ) 3. Merima Mohammed (ETH) - 2:23:06 - PB ( CR ) 4. Koren Yal (ETH) - 2:24:33 - PB ( CR ) ----- 9. Ayumi Nakayama (Team Yamada Denki) - 2:38:26 13. Maki Suzawa (Team Yamada Denki) - 2:42:08 - debut Maki Suzawa and Ayumi Nakayama where all Japanese people must go before they die.

by Brett Larner This weekend marks the real beginning of the fall marathon season. With no major domestic women's marathon on the fall calendar and a relatively wide window in which to qualify for next summer's World Championships, a larger than usual number of Japanese marathoners are lining up overseas. First and foremost, 2010 Tokyo Marathon winner Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda) will be running tomorrow's Berlin Marathon as he aims to fulfill his post-Tokyo promise of delivering Japan its fourth 2:06. Fujiwara holds the Japanese collegiate and debut marathon records thanks to his 2:08:12 run at the 2003 Biwako Mainichi Marathon. For the next six years he suffered a continuous series of overtraining-induced injuries, but his Tokyo win signals that he is back to full capactiy. Fujiwara's coaches Kiyoshi Akimoto and Yosuke Osawa told JRN that he plans to go through halfway in 1:03:15 and then if all goes well to take a shot at the Japanese national record of 2:06:16....

JRN will be on location at the 2010 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon this week. Apologies in advance for any interruptions to regularly-scheduled service.

by Brett Larner Top results from part four of this year's Hokuren Distance Challenge series, held July 10 in Kushiro, Hokkaido. 2010 Hokuren Distance Challenge Kushiro Meet Results click here for complete results Men's 10000 m 1. Shunsuke Nomura (Team Osaka Gas) - 29:27.53 2. Jee Young-Joon (S. Korea) - 29:33.97 3. Kim Min (S. Korea) - 29:36.21 Women's 5000 m 1. Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) - 16:20.25 2. Tomo Morimoto (Team Tenmaya) - 16:36.82 3. Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya) - 16:55.89 Men's 5000 m 1. Gideon Ngatuny (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 13:28.69 2. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 13:52.65 3. Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) - 13:55.82 4. Tomoya Onishi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 13:57.78 5. Daisuke Shimizu (Team Kanebo) - 14:00.99 6. Tomoyuki Morita (Team Kanebo) - 14:03.66 7. Masato Kihara (Team Kanebo) - 14:04.13 8. Samuel Kariuki (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) - 14:04.74 9. Yuki Iwai (Team Asahi Kasei) - 14:06.51 10. Noriaki Takahashi (Team S&B) - 14:09...

by Brett Larner One month to the day from Arata Fujiwara's course-record win at the Ottawa Marathon, the organizers of the Sept. 26 Toronto Waterfront Marathon have announced that they will invite four Japanese athletes to this year's race as part of their International Team Challenge team competition. The Japanese contingent, the first in the history of the event, will consist of Yamada Denki women's team runners Ayumi Nakayama and Maki Suzawa and Honda men's team athletes Takashi Horiguchi and Minoru Okuda . Race director Alan Brookes commented, "This is the first time we'll have had elite Japanese athletes on our flat, fast course. We're delighted to welcome Team Japan, a strong team from one of the great marathon-running nations, to Toronto Waterfront for the first time, and expect them to do very well against teams from around the world." Nakayama holds a PB of 2:28:50 from the 2008 Osaka International Ladies Marathon. Freezing rain at this ye...

by Brett Larner As in past years, Rikuren selected top male and female finishers from this year's Jitsugyodan Half Marathon corporate championships to run in the 2009 Great Scottish Run half marathon in Glasgow, Scotland on Sept. 6. Leading the way with a 3rd place finish in the women's race was 2008 Shanghai Half Marathon winner Megumi Seike (Team Sysmex). 2009 Miyazaki Women's Half Marathon winner Maki Suzawa (Team Kyocera) was 5th in 1:18:24. Caroline Cheptonui Kilel of Kenya took the women's race in a solid 1:09:03. In February Kilel took the stage best honors on the third leg of the final Yokohama International Women's Ekiden before crashing in March's Nagoya International Women's Marathon. A sizeable Japanese contingent in the men's race also took four of the top ten spots, with Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) the best Japanese man in 5th. Former Team Honda ace Hailu Mekonnen of Ethiopia was the runner-up in 1:01:29, ten seconds behind ...

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/news/20090107k0000m050022000c.html http://www.47news.jp/CN/200901/CN2009010601000557.html translated and edited by Brett Larner On Jan. 6, 20 year old Maki Suzawa (Team Kyocera) won the 29th Yamazaki Women's Road Race half marathon, breaking her PB by 1:07 to take her first victory in 1:11:22. 46 elite women ran the course from the Prefectural Office building in Miyazaki city along Kusunamiki Street to the Miyazaki Prefectural Sports Park . With 200 m to go Suzawa broke from the lead pack of four to win a sprint finish. Madoka Ogi (Team Juhachi Ginko) and Ruth Wanjiru (Second Wind AC), both in training for the Jan. 25 Osaka International Women's Marathon, were 2nd and 3rd, with Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Oki) coming in 4th. Yukari Soh, daughter of marathon great Takeshi Soh, who now coaches her at Team Asahi Kasei, was 10th in her half marathon debut. Temperatures at the start were 15 degrees with 43% humidity and northerly winds at 0.7 m/s. 20...

http://www.kahoku.co.jp/news/2008/11/2008112401000237.htm http://www.kahoku.co.jp/news/2008/11/2008112401000231.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner Running in cool, rainy conditions on Nov. 24, Julia Mumbi of Team Aruze won the Kobe All-Japan Women's Half Marathon for the 2nd straight year, covering the course stretching from the HAT Kobe Center to Kobe Harborland in a time of 1:09:45. Team Toyota Jidoshoki's Akane Wakita was 12 seconds behind in 2nd place, with Team Kyocera's Maki Suzawa a distant 3rd in her half marathon debut. Right from the start it was a match race between Mumbi and Wakita, but when Mumbi attacked at 15 km she was easily able to pull away for the win. Somewhat overshadowing Mumbi's victory was the surprise appearance of Athens Olympics marathon gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) as a guest runner in the 10 km race, her first public run since withdrawing from the Beijing Olympics marathon with an injury. Noguchi was scheduled to appear...

by Brett Larner The organizing committee of the 2008 Kobe National Women’s Half Marathon has announced this year’s field of elite and invited athletes. The list includes a mix of current top runners, veterans, and a crew of debut half marathoners from Team Kyocera. Kenyan Julia Mombi will be at the top of the class as none of the Japanese runners approach her recent times. Mombi’s only foreign competition, Brit Mara Yamauchi, is running the Tokyo International Women’s Marathon eight days before Kobe and is doubtlessly appearing only in a special guest capacity. Japanese runners Yumiko Hara, Mari Ozaki and Akemi Ozaki, all primarily running as marathoners these days, have the potential for a good day performance in which they stay with Mombi. Akane Wakita is on an improvement curve in recent years and may well be the best hope for a domestic breakthrough performance. The 2008 Kobe National Women’s Half Marathon takes place on Nov. 24 at 9:30 a.m. 2008 Kobe National Women’s Half Marathon...