japan running news

by Brett Larner Earlier this season  Samuel Wanjiru 's disaster-hit alma mater Sendai Ikuei H.S.  had a big run to win the Miyagi Prefecture High School Ekiden.  Sendai Ikuei followed up Nov. 10 with another big one, setting a 2:04:43 course record to win the seven-stage, 42.195 km Tohoku Region High School Ekiden over rival  Aomori Yamada H.S.   Sendai Ikuei started slow, running 3rd behind early leader Tamura H.S.  and Aomori Yamada after the first two stages before current Kenyan ace Hiram Ngatia  got things into gear.  Ngatia outran Aomori Yamada's John Maina  to set a 22:53 record on the 8.1075 km Third Stage, handing off to Fourth Stage runner Tadashi Isshiki  in 2nd.  Isshiki, one of the best Japanese high schoolers this year, had little trouble making up the 5-second deficit to leader Aomori Yamada over the 8.0875 km stage, setting a 23:51 course record of his own to put Sendai Ikuei 18 seconds up.  Sendai Ikuei'...

by Brett Larner The local titans dominated three significant regional ekidens over the weekend.  In disaster-hit Miyagi, Sendai Ikuei H.S. , alma mater of the late Samuel Wanjiru  and 5000 m national champion Megumi Kinukawa  (Team Mizuno), had superb runs in both the boys' and girls' races to sweep the National High School Ekiden Championships Miyagi Prefecture Qualifier.  Running on a modified course due to lasting tsunami damage, Sendai Ikuei runners won every stage in both the six-stage, 42.1 km boys' race and five-stage, 21 km girls' race.  Particularly dominant boys included the Hattori twins, Yuma and Hazuma , who won the 8.1 km Third Stage and 8 km Fourth Stage by margins of 2:18 and 1:38, Kenyan first-year Hiram Ngatia , who won the 5 km Sixth Stage by 1:11 in his ekiden debut, and anchor Tadashi Isshiki  who clocked 13:55 for the 5 km road course to win by over one minute.  The boys' team totalled 2:02:17 versus second-place Rifu H.S. ' 2:1...