japan running news

by Brett Larner On a warm and windy day, 2007 World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist and 10 mile junior world record holder Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) performed up to expectations in his half marathon debut at the May 9 Sendai International Half Marathon . Already on his own after a quick 14:03 first 5 km, Mathathi ran a solo race. He was consistent through 15 km, clocking 14:04 from 5 to 10 km and 14:07 from 10 to 15 km, on pace at that stage to run 59:24. Only after 15 km did he slow, dropping to a 14:30 split from 15 to 20 km. Mathathi finished in 59:48, just 5 seconds off Samuel Wanjiru's 5 year-old course and Japanese all-comers record. His outstanding debut was a prelude to a planned marathon debut in the upcoming winter season. Still yet to regain his university form, runner-up Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Aidem) was nearly 2 minutes behind in 1:01:34. The top Japanese runner, Osamu Ibata (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) was another 2 minutes back in 1:03:39, fi...

by Brett Larner The 2010 Hyogo Relay Carnival got underway on Apr. 24 with the sprints and Asics Challenge distance events. In the Asics Challenge 10000 m, the weekend's men's 10000 m B-heat, Kenyan Nicholas Makau (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) easily defeated Keita Akiba (Team Komori Corp.) and Akihiko Tsumurai (Team Mazda) but was more than 45 seconds off Samuel Wanjiru 's B-heat meet record from 2005. Miho Notagashira (Team Wacoal), teammate of national record holder Kayoko Fukushi , won the Asics Challenge women's 5000 m by a few strides over Shoko Mori (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) in 15:54.48. The Hyogo Relay Carnival continues on Apr. 25 with the high school races and Grand Prix 1500 m and 10000 m A-heats. 2010 Hyogo Relay Carnival Day One - Top Finishers click here for complete results or event header for individual event results Asics Challenge Men's 10000 m 1. Nicholas Makau (Kenya/Team Yachiyo Kogyo) - 28:18.94 2. Keita Akiba (Team Komori Corp.) - 28:34.42 3. Akihiko...

http://svr.sanyo.oni.co.jp/feature/sports/other/2009/12/01/20091201101648.html translated by Brett Larner The 28th Sanyo Women's Road Race is scheduled to take place Dec. 23. 65 women are entered in the elite half marathon, while the 10 km division has a field of 199. A number of athletes who competed in August's World Championships in Berlin will take their next step on the roads of Okayama. At the top of the field in the half marathon is Berlin WC 10000 m 7th place finisher and Beijing Olympics marathoner Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya). Her toughest challenge will come from Kenyan Danielle Filomena Cheyech (Team Uniqlo), who defeated Nakamura in March's National Jitsugyodan Women's Half Marathon, and last year's runner-up Megumi Seike (Team Sysmex). Marathoner Yumi Hirata (Team Shiseido) and Nakamura's teammate Kaori Urata (Team Tenmaya) are also expected to challenge for the lead. In the 10 km, Berlin World Championships marathoners Yuri Kano (Second Wi...

by Brett Larner The Nagano Prefecture team staged a coup at Sunday's 25th anniversary East Japan Women's Ekiden in Fukushima, clocking 2:18:36 for the 9-stage, 42.195 km course to beat two-time defending champion Tokyo by over a minute and take its first-ever win at the regional championships. Nagano's Yuko Shimizu, a member of the Japanese national team for the International Chiba Ekiden later this month, got her team off to a strong start with a 2nd-place finish on the 6 km first leg, one second behind Aomori Prefecture's Miho Notagashira in 19:08. Tokyo's Chisa Fujimoto languished far behind, finishing 13th out of 17 in 19:56. While Tokyo spent the rest of the ekiden trying to claw its way back to the front, Nagano's second leg runner Yuka Hakoyama overtook Aomori's Nao Sasaki to build a lead which Nagano never relinquished. The biggest excitement of the day came on the anchor stage where Tokyo's Azusa Nojiri, a former pro XC skier who began running ...

by Brett Larner The 63rd running of the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon takes place this Sunday, Feb. 1. This year's race is its first in a new international format, with a small group of four invited overseas men and three women added to the usual strong domestic and Japan-residing African field. The man to beat is course record holder Mekubo Mogusu (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.), who broke the hour mark for the first time in winning the 2007 Marugame. Mogusu comes to the race this year fresh from breaking his own stage record on the Hakone Ekiden's 2nd stage and will be all but impossible to beat. Only three men in the field have a conceivable chance. One is Mogusu's university rival Daniel Gitau (Nihon Univ.), who has approached Mogusu's level on the track and will be looking for his first legitimate world-class half marathon time. Another is Asian Record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku), whose best time of 1:00:25 is only 37 seconds behind Mogusu...

by Brett Larner Six Japanese runners competed in the elite field of the 2008 Virginia Beach Rock and Roll Half Marathon on Aug. 31. Each year the 5th and 6th place male and female Japanese finishers in March's All-Japan Jitsugyodan Half Marathon Championships are invited to run the Rock and Roll Half Marathon, the higher-tier Japanese finishers being selected for other races including the World Half Marathon Championships. This year the invited men were Team Konica Minolta's Kazuyuki Maeda, 7th overall at the 2008 Jitsugyodan Half in 1:02:50, and Team Asahi Kasei's Takaaki Koda, 8th at the Jitsugyodan Half in 1:02:52. The invited women were Team Tenmaya's Kei Terada, 7th overall at the Jitsugyodan Half with a 1:12:11, and Team Sysmex's Megumi Seike, 9th at the Jitsugyodan Half in 1:12:25. Two other Japanese women, Team Shimamura's Aya Manome and Team Wacoal's Miho Notagashira, also ran the Rock and Roll Half Marathon. Maeda ran 1:05:18 to take 4th in the men...

by Brett Larner As expected, women`s 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) delivered the biggest result of the Hokuren Distance Challenge Sapporo meet, winning the 3000 m in a PB of 8:51.85. Kobayashi and Ann Karindi (Team Yutaka Giken) simply outclassed the rest of the field, quickly opening a large gap and running together until Kobayashi`s stronger kick left her Kenyan competitor behind. Karindi finished in 8:52.24, a PB of nearly 10 seconds; 3rd place finisher Mariko Nakao (Team OKI) was far behind in 9:19.95. Kobayashi`s time was the 3rd fastest in the world so far this year and not far off the Japanese national record of 8:44.40 held by Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal). In April she ran a 5000 m PB of 15:07.37 to become the only Japanese woman thus far to meet the Beijing Olympics A-standard in the 5000 m. She has thus far failed to meet the Olympic B-standard in the 1500 m after setting the national record of 4:07.86 in Sept., 2006 but is expected t...

http://kumanichi.com/fsports/30km/index.cfm http://kumanichi.com/fsports/30km/30km52/20080225.1.cfm http://kumanichi.com/fsports/30km/30km52/20080225.2.cfm http://kumanichi.com/fsports/30km/30km52/20080225.3.cfm translated and edited by Brett Larner On Feb. 24 individual entrant Masaki Shimojo (Team Konica Minolta) won the 52nd Kumanichi 30 km Road Race in Kumamoto in 1:30:33. He became only the 3rd individual entrant to ever win the event, the last being Tomoya Shimizu (Team Sagawa Express) 2 years ago. Only 2 women were entered in the race, but winner Miho Notagashira (Team Wacoal) set a new course record by 13 seconds, running 1:44:00. Although windy conditions prevented a predicted 1:29 finish time, the men's race yielded the first dead heat finish in years. It started with a slow pace. At the 10 km point, Kodai Tanabe (Team Mazda) broke from the lead pack and opened a gap, but at the halfway point it looked likely that the finish time would be in the 1:33 range. The chase...