japan running news

Ekiden week rolls on with the first major race of 2021 worldwide, the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships. Asahi Kasei  is going for a fifth-straight national title, something they've managed twice before with six-packs of wins in 1978-1983 and 1990-1995. And really, who's going to stop them?  In September Asahi Kasei took delivery of the world's largest low-pressure altitude training facility so that they didn't have to deal with traveling to get to altitude, and just look at the results. At the National Championships earlier this month they had five guys under 28 minutes for 10000 m including a 27:18.75 national record from rookie Akira Aizawa , and a sixth man, Shuho Dairokuno , across the line in 28:01.29. And both of their Kenyan runners Robert Mwei  and Benuel Mogeni  are sub-28. And they have other guys like Hiroshi Ichida  who aren't quite up to that level but always deliver come ekiden day.  Asahi Kasei broke the New Y...

The regional qualifier for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national championships, the Chugoku Corporate Men's Ekiden took place Nov. 10. Eight teams competed for the four places at the New Year Ekiden up for grabs. Aiming for a fifth-straight win, the Mazda team led from the start. On the Second Stage Chudenko overtook them for the top position, holding on to the lead through the Third and Fourth Stages. But with a stage record-breaking run on the Fifth Stage Mazda's Masatoshi Teranishi succeeded in turning the team's fortunes around, putting it in position for a first-ever fifth-straight Chugoku title and leading it on to the New Year Ekiden. Chudenko, Chugoku Denryoku and JFE Steel all likewise qualified. 58th Chugoku Jitsugyodan Ekiden Sera, Hiroshima, 11/10/19 8 teams, 7 stages, 80.8 km complete results Team Results  - top 4 qualify for New Year Ekiden 1. Mazda - 4:00:10 - CR 2. Chudenko - 4:02:35 3. Chugoku Denryoku - 4:03:51 4. JFE Steel - 4:06:13 -...

Kenji Yamamoto age: 29 sponsor: Mazda graduated from: Yugakkan H.S., Toyo University best time inside MGC window: 2:08:42, 7th, 2019 Lake Biwa Marathon PB: 2:08:42, 7th, 2019 Lake Biwa Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 13:55.42 (2013) 10000 m: 28:26.35 (2015) half marathon: 1:01:47 (2014) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) 7th, 2019 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:08:42 – PB 9th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon, 2:08:48 other major results: 4th, 2019 San Diego Half Marathon, 1:02:01 20th, 2019 National Corporate Half Marathon, 1:02:34 1st, 2019 Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden Sixth Stage (15..9 km), 47:49 3rd, New Year Ekiden Fourth Stage (22.4 km), 1:05:30 1st, 2018 Chugoku Corporate Ekiden Third Stage (11.6 km), 35:43 4th, 2018 San Diego Half Marathon, 1:02:45 4th, 2017 San Diego Half Marathon, 1:03:14 10th, 2017 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:15:19 2nd, 2012 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage (21.5 km), 1:02:43 1st, 2011 Hakone Ekiden Tenth Stage (23.1 km), 1:09:36 Another ...

One of the highlights of the new year, the Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden took place Jan. 27, with the Mazda corporate team winning the open division for the fourth year in a row. Including the open, municipal and high school divisions a total of 46 teams took part in the Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden's 82nd running, covering 84.4 km in seven stages starting in front of Ube City Hall, passing the Yamaguchi Prefectural Government offices and finishing in front of Shunan City Hall. Mazda's Shiferaw Bekele set a new stage record of 43:35 on the 15.1 km First Stage, outrunning the Chudenko team's lead runner Amos Kipruto by 3 seconds and establishing a lead that was never broken all the way to the finish. In the high school division, 2018 National High School Ekiden champion Kurashiki H.S. of Okayama won for the second-straight year, with the Sera T&F Association team winning the municipal division for the first time thanks in part to stage record runs by its second man Jo...

photo by @tsutsugo55225 For the second time in the last three weeks, a Japan-based Kenyan ran the fastest time in the world this year for 10000 m at Yokohama's Nittai University Time Trials series. On October 20th it was 2015 World U18 Championships 3000 m gold medalist Richard Kimunyan (Hitachi Butsuryu), 20, with a 27:14.70  that surpassed Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei 's world-leading mark by almost five seconds. This time it was 2018 World U20 Championships 5000 m silver medalist Stanley Waithaka (Yakult), 18, taking almost two minutes off his PB to break Kimunyan's mark with a 27:13.01 win. Both winners received support from 2014 Commonwealth Games steeplechase gold medalist Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu), who ran season bests for 2nd place each time, 27:50.38 three weeks ago and 27:28.27 on Saturday. 2013 World U18 Championships 3000 m bronze medalist Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) was also under 28 minutes, running just off his PB at 27:42.16 for 3rd. ...

The Chugoku Denryoku and Mazda men's corporate teams raced each other to new heights at the 56th Hiroshima Corporate Ekiden , each taking over two minutes off the course record Mazda set just last year. 5 of the race's 6 stages saw new records with runners from both teams breaking the record on 3 of them. Mazda's Kenji Yamamoto took an early lead on the opening stage, but on every remaining stage the two teams swapped position, Mazda never more than 13 seconds in front and Chugoku Denryoku never more than 28.  Chugoku Denryoku anchor Kaido Kita was down 13 seconds when he took the tasuki, but with only 5.49 km to work with he managed to turn that around and open 17 seconds on Mazda anchor Shori Arai after catching him. Mazda's record for the 43.82 km course was 2:08:10. This year Chugoku Denryoku won in 2:05:52 with Mazda running 2:06:09. 3rd-placer Chudenko was also just off the record at 2:08:20, briefly taking the lead on the Second Stage thanks to a stage ...

Ekiden season is in full swing, and across the country it was another busy weekend. Although there were four major ekidens nationwide, the best action came as runners from high school to the pros tuned up for the string of national championship ekiden races stretching from the end of this month to mid-January. At Kanagawa's Nittai University Time Trials meet, two-time steeplechase junior world champion Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) pipped 5000 m junior world championships bronze medalist William Malel (Honda) at the line in the 10000 m A-heat, winning in 27:22.73 to Malel's 27:22.79. Four other Kenyans including Ndiku's junior teammate Richard Kimunyan broke 28 minutes as their coaches eye who to run at the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden. Evans Yego of the tiny Sunbelx supermarket team won the more conservative 5000 m A-heat in 13:48.04, a race most notable for high schoolers Luka Musembi (Sendai Ikuei H.S.), Masato Suzuki (Suijo H.S.) and Reito Hanzawa (Gakuho Is...

by Brett Larner The Osaka International Women's Marathon and Osaka Half Marathon were the weekend's main races, but across the country there was plenty of other action on the roads.  Highlights: In Yamagata, Sakata Minami High School 10th-grader Masato Arao ran 29:27 for 2nd at the  Yamagata Prefecture Winter Road Race 10 km, one second behind winner Shuhei Moriya .  Arao's time was 21 seconds faster than the best-ever track 10000 m time by a Japanese 10th-grade boy, Keigo Iijima 's 29:48.25. Now in semi-retirement and working as an assistant coach for the Hitachi women's corporate team, former high school star Satoru Kitamura won the men's 10 km at Ibaraki's 65th Katsuta Marathon in 30:06.  Hitachi women defended their titles in both the 10 km and marathon, Ryo Koido winning the 10 km in 33:16 and Kana Kurosawa the marathon in 2:43:03 and both slightly faster than last year.  The men's marathon, by contrast, was very slow.  After a 2:13:15 ...

by Brett Larner Following other regional corporate league ekiden winners Honda (East Japan), Toyota (Chubu), YKK (Hokuriku), Otsuka Seiyaku (Kansai) and Mazda (Chubu), the Asahi Kasei team brought the qualification round for the 60th anniversary New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships to a close with a win by more than a kilometer at Monday's Kyushu Corporate Ekiden. The Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden is the primary reason for the existence of Japan's men's corporate team leagues and a nationally-televised event.  It is also one of the few championship ekidens without a seeded bracket, meaning that every team, even the winner, must run one of the November regional qualifying ekidens to re-qualify the next year.  This has a direct impact on Japanese men's ability to run fall marathons outside Japan. With a huge group of new team members this year Asahi Kasei did what every team should, using its regional qualifier as a way to get its rookies used...

by Brett Larner National championship ekiden season may be through, but across the country smaller regional and local ekidens continue.  Biggest among the dozen or so noteworthy ekidens this weekend was the 77th running of the Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden .  A moderate-length event at 7 stages and 84.4 km, Chugoku Yamaguchi featured six top corporate league teams from the central Japan region along with local universities and clubs.  Despite a one-two punch of 2012 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Joseph Gitau  (Kenya) and former Sera H.S. star Charles Ndirangu  (Kenya) the JFE Steel  team could not hold off rivals Mazda , the lead turning over twice during the course of the race before Mazda anchor Kenji Yamamoto , a member of Toyo University 's 2012 Hakone Ekiden course record-setting team, ran down JFE Steel's Yuki Moriwaki  to give Mazda the win by 20 seconds in 4:08:54.   Chugoku Denryoku , the top-ranked team in the region after finishi...