japan running news

Alongside the weekend's 2 big 30 km races and college ekiden action, 4 of Japan's big mass-participation races with quality sub-elite fields happened across the country. The Kitakyushu Marathon just north of Fukuoka saw the fastest men's race up front, with Toyo University 's Mashu Nishimura scoring the win in his debut in 2:16:14, outrunning Rio Olympian Hisanori Kitajima by 2 minutes. The Daihatsu corporate team's Yuki Shibata had a decent debut to win the women's race in 2:40:36. The only one of the 4 marathons to be on the World Athletics calendar and visible to the rest of the world, the Kumamoto Castle men's race was almost as fast as in Kitakyushu, with amateur Hiroaki Furukawa taking a 5th win in 2:16:56 and 3 others under 2:20 like in Kitakyushu. Another amateur, women's winner Michiru Kato took her 5th win too, running a CR and PB 2:42:00. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. , the Kyoto Marathon had the fastest Japan...

The Kumanichi 30 km and Ome 30 km were the two big road races this past weekend, but there were at least 5 big mass-participation marathons with decent semi-elite results Sunday too. The Kyoto Marathon saw the fastest times of the weekend, with local boy Yuma Morii beating Yudai Fukuda 2:16:19 to 2:16:50 to win. Fuka Hirokawa won the women's race by over 3 minutes in 2:45:09, but 3rd-placer Miyu Fukada had a much faster net time, 2:41:09 versus her gun time of 2:50:16. It's not clear why she started so far back. The Kumamoto Castle Marathon had a great race up front between last year's winner and CR holder Hiroaki Furukawa and Hyuga Abe . Abe missed Furukawa's CR by 12 seconds but beat Furukawa by 14, going 2:16:26 to 2:16:40. Michiru Kato won out over the ageless Mai Fujisawa in the women's race, winning in 2:45:32 to Fujisawa's 2:47:11. Veterans dominated at the Kitakyushu Marathon , where Rio Olympian Hisanori Kitajima , now 40, beat another 40+ ru...

Both of the big 30 km races this weekend had some of the fastest winning times in their histories, with the Kumanichi 30 km the faster. Kotaro Kondo (SGH) pushed the pace to grind the competition, splitting 15:02-14:56-14:37-14:31 until only Kyuma Yokota (Toyota Kyushu) was left. Things slowed from 20 to 25 km but Kondo still pulled away, putting over a minute on Yokota over the last 10 km and just missing the CR by 2 seconds in 1:28:54. Yokota was 2nd in 1:30:01, with nobody else clearing 1:32. Mao Kiyota (Suzuki) had an even bigger margin of victory in the women's race, wining in 1:44:39 by nearly 2 minutes. At the Ome 30 km and 10 km Road Race , Paris Olympics marathon team members Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Mao Ichiyama (Shiseido) took the top spots in solo performances. With a strong tailwind in the uphill first half and headwind in the mostly downhill second half Akasaki went out incredibly hard, splitting 28:45 at 10 km, on track to break the NR by 1:45, and 58:35 at...

Another busy weekend in Japan as its road races and marathons continue to return from pandemic-era hiatuses, with two 30 km races, four big marathons, and a post-season university ekiden. In Kumamoto, Yuki Sato (SGH), 36, put in a hard last 5 km to pull away from the massive leading pack and win the Kumanichi 30 km in 1:30:57, the oldest athlete to win Kumanichi to date. Kira Migita (Toyota Kyushu) was 2nd in 1:31:13, just beating Sato's teammate Kazuto Kawabata (SGH) by 1 second. Rui Nishida (Higo Ginko) won the women's race by over 2 minutes in 1:46:58. Sato, who ran a 1:00:35 PB at last weekend's National Corporate Half Marathon, said post-race that he'd done a 30 km training run on Thursday and that Kumanichi had been only a workout effort. In western Tokyo, 2018 Ome 30 km Road Race men's winner Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Danryoku), 38, led almost start to finish in pursuit of a second win on the hilly Ome course, but in the home straight he fell victim to a...