japan running news

18th Incheon International Half Marathon Incheon, South Korea, 3/25/18 click here for complete results Men 1.Reuben Narry (Kenya) 2. Jean Marie Vianney Uwajene (Rwanda) 3. Paul Kipkemoi Kipkorir (Kenya) ----- 12. Hiroki Nagayama (Japan/Waseda Univ.) - 1:06:08 13th Warsaw Half Marathon Warsaw, Poland, 3/25/18 click here for complete results Men 1. Ezrah Kiprotich Sang (Kenya) - 1:01:37 2. Mekashaw Kassa (Ethiopia) - 1:01:52 3. Hillary Kiptum Maiyo (Kenya) - 1:02:18 ----- 8. Yuki Yagi (Japan) - 1:05:03 © 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

by Brett Larner Murayama photo courtesy NYRR The last main racing weekend of the Japanese calendar, this weekend saw high-level half marathon performances at home and abroad. At the  United Airlines NYC Half Marathon ,  Kenta Murayama  (Team Asahi Kasei), twin brother of 10000 m national record holder  Kota Murayama (Team Asahi Kasei), ran 1:00:57 for 5th, the best time ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil and the second-best ever run outside Japan. Collegiate runners Rintaro Takeda (Waseda Univ.) and Kenta Ueda (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) were 22nd and 25th. London World Championships marathon alternate Misato Horie (Team Noritz) ran 1:12:45 for 13th in the women's race. Japan-based Kenyans  Grace Kimanzi  (Team Starts) and  Doricah Obare (Team Hitachi) took both titles at the  Matsue Ladies Road Race , Kimanzi winning the half marathon in 1:10:09 and Obare the 10 km division in 33:14. With Matsue serving as the National University W...

by Brett Larner Karoki photo by Tsukasa Kawarai 世田谷246ハーフ 1. クイラ (コニカミノルタ) 1:02:27 大会新 pic.twitter.com/JUGqtXhD6z — EKIDEN_MANIA (@ekiden_mania) November 13, 2016 Marathons and ekidens aside, this weekend also saw high-level half marathon and track action.  At Tokyo's Setagaya 246 Half Marathon Japan based-Kenyan Paul Kuira (Team Konica Minolta) scored the third win in four half marathons in his career to date, setting a course record 1:02:27.  Kuira and university runners Takato Suzuki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and Yusuke Nishiyama (Komazawa Univ.) went out fast, ahead of the pack within the first few km and staying together through 15 km before Kuira put them away.  For Kuira it was a solid tuneup for his marathon debut in three weeks at the Fukuoka International Marathon.  For Suzuki, 2nd in 1:02:55, it was his first time breaking 1:03 in the half marathon, a result sure to elevate his position on the deep roster of Hakone Ekiden favorite Aoyama Gakuin U...

by Brett Larner Following the rebranding of the Chiba International Cross-Country Meet earlier this month as the trendier-sounding X-Run Chiba, Japan's mini XC season saw most of its action over the weekend.  The other big domestic meet alongside Chiba, the Fukuoka International Cross-Country Meet was likewise rebranded this year as the National Cross-Country Championships .  Yukari Abe (Team Shimamura) was crowned the first senior women's national champion, winning the 8 km race in 27:13 by a second over Tomoka Kimura (Team Univ. Ent.).  With Ethiopian Kassa Mekashaw (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) running up front to keep the pace hot, first-year pro Takashi Ichida (Team Asahi Kasei) had a surprise win over Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage star Daichi Kamino (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and, fresh from breaking 1:01 at the Marugame Half, the ascendant Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei) to pick up the inaugural senior men's 12 km title in 35:59.  Fukiko Ando (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) and Sot...

by Brett Larner Although Japanese men largely stayed away from Stanford University's Payton Jordan Invitational this year, three more women picked up qualifying marks for this year's Beijing World Championships.  In the 10000 m, Yuka Takashima (Team Denso) improved on her qualifying mark with a 31:37.32 best for 4th, while behind her teammates Mao Kiyota and Eri Makikawa (both Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) ran 31:44.79 and 31:48.22 to expand the list of candidates for the Beijing team to six.  5000 m national champion Misaki Onishi (Team Sekisui Kagaku) likewise ran a best of 15:16.82 to get under the 15:20.00 Beijing standard, bringing that list of candidates up to three.   Men's 10000 m national champion Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) duly turned in the top men's performance of the day, a 27:57.13 that made him the first Japanese man this year to break 28 but still left him far off the sub-27:45.00 Beijing standard. Payton Jordan Invitational Stanford, Californ...

by Brett Larner Despite thunderstorms bringing heavy rain that shut down highways and roads in the area, the Honda corporate team came through with its second-straight win today at the 67th Towada Hachimantai Ekiden in Akita.  The rain may actually have helped the situation by alleviating Towada's normal summer heat as times were fast across the board compared to other years.  None was faster than Honda's William Malel (Kenya), who covered the 13.4 km, 180 m downhill Second Stage in 35:27 and took an incredible 45 seconds off the stage record set just last year.  Malel started the Second Stage in 7th, but by the time he handed off to Honda's third man Hiroaki Sano he had a lead of 33 seconds and from there Honda never looked back. Sano, the top Japanese man at last year's Chicago Marathon, extended the lead to 1:29, running 46:23 for the 16.2 km Third Stage.  Honda's Keita Baba ran 49:17 for the 16.4 km Fourth Stage, its fastest mark by over a minute, to pu...

by Brett Larner video courtesy of Ekiden News Among the seven major Japanese races and meets over the weekend, the Nittai University Time Trials meet featured a standout showing from 22-year-old Waseda University senior Suguru Osako .  Already in the all-time Japanese top five for 10000 m after a 27:38.31 runner-up finish at Stanford in the spring, Osako hung tough in the Nittai 5000 m A-heat against the likes of international-level Kenyans Jonathan Ndiku  (Team Hitachi Butsuryu), Bidan Karoki  (DeNA RC) and Leonard Barsoton  (Team Nissin Shokuhin) to take seven seconds off his best with a new mark of 13:20.80, making him the all-time sixth-fastest Japanese man over 5000 m and the second-fastest Japanese collegiate ever behind only former Waseda star  Kensuke Takezawa 's 13:19.00.  Two-time World Junior 3000 mSC champion Ndiku took the win over Karoki in 13:14.97, with 2013 World XC Junior silver medalist Barsoton outkicking William Malel  (Kenya...