japan running news

This was maybe the most entertaining marathon in years. After rocking the 2nd leg at last year's Hakone Ekiden Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) ran an incredible 1:01:01 CR for the 21.9 km New Year Ekiden 2nd leg last month, equivalent to a 58:47 half marathon. That predicted a 2:03:27 marathon if he ever ran one, and when Yoshida announced he was debuting at this year's Osaka Marathon he wasted no time in saying it'd be a shot at the 2:04:55 NR. Things went out fast enough with a 14:50 split through 5 km, 2:05:11 pace, but Yoshida just couldn't hold back and took off at 8 km. He clearly DGAF about what was probably going to happen as his projected finish kept getting faster, 2:04:41, 2:04:15, 2:03:51, 2:03:40, edging closer and closer to what his New Year time predicted, but not helped along by the fact that he missed 4 out of his first 5 drink bottles. People laughed, and then cheered him on. 30 km was the first time he slowed, his finish projection dropping to 2:03:53, an...

With 3 weeks to go the elite fields for the Feb. 22 Osaka Marathon are out. Given Osaka's history as the elite men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon the women's field is small, with only one entrant, Sinhala Kureshi , having broken 2:21 with her 2:19:53 in Hamburg last spring. Afera Godfay , Mare Dibaba and Rose Chelimo have all run 2:21 to 2:22 in recent races, and Esther Chemtai is an interesting debut off a 1:08:09 at last fall's Cardiff Half. Kaede Kawamura is the highest-level Japanese woman in the field with a 2:25:44 in Osaka 2 years ago. Last year's men's champ and CR breaker Yihunilign Adane is back, his main competition being fellow Ethiopians Bute Gemechu , Mulugeta Asefa Uma and South Africa's Elroy Gelant . 4th last year in 2:05:58, Kyohei Hosoya leads the front of the super deep Japanese field along with Ichitaka Yamashita , Kenta Sonota , Kiyoto Hirabayashi , Yuhei Urano , Yusuke Nishiyama and Daisuke Doi . But where Osaka excels is in deb...

by Brett Larner In a sight already familiar from the women's 5000 m heats and 10000 m final, the Japanese women ran up front together through most of the Beijing World Championships women's marathon, the slow early pace and low-hanging fruit of the JAAF's promise of a place on the Rio Olympic team to the first of them to make the top 8 combining to ensure they stayed near the front until things really got moving.  Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) was the first Japanese woman to go to the lead, joined in short order by domestic favorite Sairi Maeda (Team Daihatsu) and the controversial Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya).  Apart from periodic surges at water stations by Mare Dibaba and other members of the Ethiopian team the Japanese trio led until well into the second half tailed all the while by rival Hye-Song Kim (North Korea). Shigetomo, again followed by Kim, made the first real effort to get the pace moving faster after halfway, killing off the European members of the ...

2011 New York City Half Marathon - Women click here for complete results 1. Caroline Rotich (Kenya) - 1:08:52 2. Edna Kiplagat (Kenya) - 1:09:00 3. Kara Goucher (U.S.A.) - 1:09:03 ----- 21. Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC) - 1:14:59 2011 Los Angeles Marathon - Women click here for complete results 1. Buzunesh Deba (Ethiopia) - 2:26:34 2. Amy Hastings (U.S.A.) - 2:27:03 3. Mare Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 2:30:25 ----- 9. Eri Okubo (Second Wind AC) - 2:42:48

by Brett Larner The 2010 Rome Marathon elite field. The 16th Rome Marathon takes place this Sunday, Mar. 21. In the 50th anniversary year of 1960 Rome Olympics, the Rome Marathon has formed a partnership with the Tokyo Marathon, site of the 1964 Olympics, to work together to promote cooperative bids from each city for the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games. A handful of elite Japanese runners will join the Rome field this year for the first time, two as invited elites and three as special guests in honor of the Rome-Tokyo cooperative relationship. As the 50th anniversary of the legendary barefoot win by Ethiopian great Abebe Bikila in the 1960 Olympics, Rome organizers have offered a unique bonus: if either the men's or women's leader in this year's race runs the final 300 m over cobblestones barefoot they will receive a 5000 euro bonus and 20 seconds off their finish time to compensate for the time spent stopping and taking off their shoes. The men's race features a solid f...