japan running news

by Brett Larner The organizers of the Apr. 20  Nagano Marathon  released the names of this year's elite field on Apr. 1.  2010 Nagano winner  Nicholas Chelimo  (Kenya), 2013 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon champion  Serod Batochir  (Mongolia/Team NTN) and 2012 Nagano runner-up Silas Sang  (Kenya) lead the international field, while 2008 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon winner Tomoya Adachi  (Team Asahi Kasei) headlines the Japanese men's field with a best of 2:10:22. The semi-retired Kiyoko Shimahara  (Second Wind AC) and Mika Okunaga (Yufuin Hammock AC) have the fastest bests in the women's field followed by 2:29 Kenyan Hellen Koskei , but with a 2:31:15 best for 8th at this year's Tokyo Marathon  Rika Shintaku (Team Shimamura) may be the favorite for the win.  Look also for a challenge from Shoko Shimizu  (Team Aichi Denki), 4th at last month's Wanjinshi New Taipei City Marathon. 16th Nagano Marathon Elite Field Nagano, ...

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo&k=2014011500595 translated and edited by Brett Larner On Jan. 15 the organizers of the 63rd Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon on Feb. 2 announced the names of this year's elite field.  On the domestic men's list are the fastest Japanese marathoner of 2013, Kazuhiro Maeda  (Team Kyudenko), 2013 New York City Marathon 6th-place finisher Masato Imai  (Team Toyota Kyushu) and Kenichi Shiraishi  (Team Asahi Kasei), winner of last weekend's Oita City Half Marathon.  Their top foreign competition comes from 2013 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon winner and 2012 Beppu-Oita runner-up Ser-Od Bat-Ochir  (Mongolia) and 2:07:37 Kenyan Jason Mbote . 63rd Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon Elite Field Oita, 2/2/14 click here for complete field listing Men Daniel Njenga (Kenya/Team Yakult) - 2:06:16 (Chicago 2002) Jason Mbote (Kenya) - 2:07:37 (Seoul 2008) Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko) - 2:08:00 (Tokyo 2013) Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia) - 2:09:00...

by Brett Larner After cutting its elite program in 2012, the Hokkaido Marathon returns to the top of Japan's summer circuit this year with a solid silver label-quality men's and women's fields sure to be wasted in the heat of its 27th running on August 25th.  Highlights of the men's and women's entry lists are below. Men Gezahegne Abera (Ethiopia) - 2:10:17 (Barcelona 2013) Satoshi Yoshii (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 2:10:45 (Biwako 2011) Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team Honda) - 2:10:59 (Biwako 2013) Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:11:02 (Tokyo 2013) Kazuya Ishida (Team Nishitetsu) - 2:11:57 (Nobeoka 2012) Masaki Shimoju (Team Konica Minolta) - 2:12:18 (Nobeoka 2010) Tatsunari Hirayama (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 2:12:38 (Nobeoka 2013) Dickson Marwa (Tanzania) - 2:12:53 (Gold Coast 2003) Masanori Ishida (Team Sagawa Express) - 2:13:07 (Beppu-Oita 2013) Sho Matsumoto (Nikkei Business AC) - 2:13:38 (Nobeoka 2013) Takehiro Arakawa (Team Asahi Ka...

by Brett Larner The Nagano Marathon has released the names of its elite field lineup for its 15th running, to be held Apr. 21.  It's a field heavy on veterans, including 40+ runners William Kiplagat (Kenya), Chihiro Tanaka  (Athlec RC) and Yoshimi Hoshino  (eAthletes Shizuoka), imminently retiring former national record holder Atsushi Fujita  (Team Fujitsu) and, freshly departed from the Kyudenko corporate team, top-ranked woman Mika Okunaga (Yufuin Hammock AC). Two of last year's top four men return in the form of Silas Sang  (Kenya) and Alexey Sokolov  (Russia), joined from overseas by silver label Eritrean Isaias Beyn .  The domestic favorite in his fourth marathon of 2013 is Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't), but the interest level in the Japanese field extends further to include silver label men Chiharu Takada  (Team JR Higashi Nihon) and Kazuya Ishida  (Team Nishitetsu) and three men with promising runs at February's Nobe...

by Brett Larner On the second of two straight weeks of regional track championship meets the most exciting racing came at the biggest Japanese collegiate meet, the Kanto Regional University Track & Field Championships.   Mai Shinozuka  (Chuo University) won the women's 5000 m to record her second-straight 5000 m - 10000 m double.  Looking to complete a 1500 m - 5000 m - 10000 m triple, Kenyan first-year Enoch Omwamba  (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) fell victim to Waseda University ace Suguru Osako , who came on strong late in the race to win the Division 1 men's 5000 m in 13:47.44 less than a second ahead of Omwamba.  The Division 2 race was dominated by two new African first-years from relatively unknown schools.   William Malel  (Kenya/Sozo Gakuen Univ.) won in a meet-record 13:25.82 as Leul Gebresilase  (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.), a rare Ethiopian collegiate, held of Komazawa University's Shinobu Kubota  for 2nd in 13:55.25.  Top-ranked Ke...

http://www.iaaf.org/LRR11/news/newsid=62785.html

by Brett Larner photo by Mika Tokairin 2011 Osaka top six, L-R Akaba, Ito, Horie, Incerti, Kizaki and Okunaga. On a near-freezing, windy day the top Japanese marathoner of 2010, Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren), took her first marathon victory with a 2:26:29 win at the 2011 Osaka International Women's Marathon . Second-time marathoner Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) ran a bold race, repeatedly surging to the lead in an unsuccessful effort to break Akaba and was rewarded with an over two-minute PB of 2:26:55. Both women fell short of the 2:25:59 requirement for an automatic spot on the 2011 World Championships team and thus must wait until March to hear the official team announcement, but each earned praise from notoriously critical Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki for their strong performances in difficult conditions. Regardless of the outcome, Akaba indicated that she plans to run April's London Marathon to go for a fast time prior to the World Championships. Along with Akaba and I...

by Brett Larner Update: Yumiko Hara (Team Univ. Ent.), Tomo Morimoto (Team Tenmaya), Adriana Fernandez (Mexico) and Tetyana Holovchenko have withdrawn with injuries . The 30th anniversary Osaka International Women's Marathon takes place this Sunday, Jan. 30. With a new course which aims to be flatter and faster by eliminating the old course's most famous feature, the twisting and hilly turn through the ground of Osaka Castle, organizers are hopeful of seeing outstanding times in the first of the major domestic selection races for this summer's World Championships. 2009 World Championships marathoner Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) says she is going to deliver. Akaba, one of Japan's top track and half marathon runners in the last few years, came to last year's Osaka with a knee injury, but despite being less than 100% she led the race through a 1:10:45 in cold rain. Akaba ultimately DNF'd but said afterwards that she had just wanted to see what she could do in the ...

by Brett Larner You can't keep a great champion down. Mostly absent from competition with injuries and motivation issues for the two years since winning the 2009 Osaka International Women's Marathon, 10000 m national record holder Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) looked well on her way to staging the nth comeback of a career full of ups and downs Jan. 23 at the Kita-Kyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden , the last major women's ekiden of the season. Starting the 11.7 km anchor leg 47 seconds back from leader Yurika Nakamura of 2010 National Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden winners Team Tenmaya, Shibui virtually singlehandedly won the race as she finished the stage 48 seconds ahead in 1st. Although she was far from the stage record, Shibui also took the best time on the stage by 15 seconds over 2010 Nagoya International Women's Marathon winner Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC), clocking 37:12. Before Shibui's outstanding performance Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo was ...

by Brett Larner On Dec. 20 the organizers of the Osaka International Women's Marathon announced the field for the 2011 edition. Celebrating the event's 30th anniversary with a new, faster course eliminating the famous hilly, twisting section through Osaka Castle and with the addition of female pacemakers, the field features a competitive cross-section of current top Japanese women and several aging overseas elites. Osaka is the first major domestic selection race for the 2011 World Championships team. The top Japanese woman meeting Rikuren's time goals will be automatically named to the team. If the race is slow then the top domestic finisher will have to wait until mid-March for the final selection announcement. It doesn't look likely to be slow, however. Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) is the favorite, coming fresh from a sub-32 road 10k in Sunday's National Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden in the midst of her marathon training. Akaba says she will be shooting for a f...

by Brett Larner 2009 World Championships marathon 7th place finisher Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC) took a perfunctory win at the 2010 Nagoya International Women's Marathon , running 2:27:11 for the second marathon victory in her career. Ethiopian Derartu Tulu , who beat Kano at last November's New York City Marathon, was second in 2:28:13. For the first time this season the weather cooperated, with clear skies, low winds and humidity and temperatures which started in the upper teens and dropped comfortably. The race kicked off with a quick 3:20 first km but quickly calmed down with veteran Hiromi Ominami (Team Toyota Shatai) doing much of the early leading work. Kano and Tulu were part of a pack of four, along with Ominami and first-timer Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku), who broke away from the field after a slow half. Tulu fell away around 25 km, and after Kano picked up the pace rounding the turnaround point at 28 km Ominami likewise fell back. Only Ito was able to hang on afte...

by Brett Larner So far this year Japan's major marathons have been cursed with bad weather. January's Osaka International Women's Marathon, February's Tokyo Marathon and last week's Biwako Mainichi Marathon all had cold, rainy, windy conditions which put the brakes on hopes of good times. This Sunday's Nagoya International Women's Marathon looks set to have the first genuinely nice spring day, with sunny skies and temperatures in the mid to upper teens. Could it be too much of a good thing? The race is being pitched in the Japanese media as a battle between the holder of the fastest PB in the field, 2007 Rotterdam Marathon winner Hiromi Ominami (Team Toyota Shatai), and the field's highest-placing finisher from last summer's World Championships marathon, 7th-placer Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC). Ominami hasn't broken 2:30 since 2007 but turned in strong performances at February's Marugame Half Marathon and Ome 30 km which indicate she is in g...

by Brett Larner Fresh back from New Zealand where she was spotted at Rikuren's marathon training camp by JRN reader Jason Lawrence, 3000 m, 5000 m and half marathon national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) ran a solo 31:57 10 km course record at the 61st Kanaguri Hai Tamana Road Race in Kumamoto on Mar. 7 to become the first woman to break 32 minutes in the 25 years that the women's 10 km has been part of the event. Running alone and unpressured with her nearest competition nearly a minute behind, Fukushi's time would have put her 4th in last week's much-heralded World's Best 10 km in San Juan, Puerto Rico and is the latest sign that she is back to her best. Last year's winner Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) finished 2nd in 32:43, while Mika Okunaga (Team Kyudenko) was 3rd in 33:29 in a tuneup for next week's Nagoya International Women's Marathon. The course record also fell in the high school boys' 10 km, where Kenyan students took the...

http://www.runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=18939

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/item/144738 http://www.asahi.com/sports/spo/SEB201001070003.html translated and edited by Brett Larner The 30th and final edition of the Miyazaki Women's Road Race took place Jan. 6 in Miyazaki city. Running the event's half marathon for the first time, Misaki Katsumata (Team Daiichi Seimei) won in a time of 1:10:27. 27 seconds behind in 2nd place was Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera), with Mika Okunaga (Team Kyudenko) another 30 second back in 3rd. 2009 Berlin World Championships marathoner Yoshiko Fujinaga (Team Shiseido) was 4th in 1:11:33. Women's 1500 m national champion Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) won the 5 km in 16:15. The Miyazaki Road Race began in 1981 and has seen world records set on its fast course. Past winners of the race have included many famous runners such as Athens Olympics marathon gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex), Sydney Olympics silver medalist Lidia Simon (Romania), Elana Meyer (RSA), Akemi Masuda, Masako Ch...

by Brett Larner Update: JRN reader Jarno Maimonen sent his outstanding photos from the London Marathon. His blog contains excellent firsthand coverage of this year's race. Japan-based and trained runners captured much of the spotlight at the 2009 London Marathon. Beijing Olympics gold medalist Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya, a graduate of Sendai Ikuei High School and former member of Team Toyota Kyushu, missed his goal of a new world record but won the men's race nevertheless, breaking both the course record and his PB with a finishing time of 2:05:10. Based on the outskirts of Tokyo, British runner Mara Yamauchi provided much of the fireworks in the women's race as she broke Japanese-coached Beijing bronze medalist Chunxiu Zhou of China and tried to do the same to German defending champion Irina Mikitenko. Yamauchi had to settle for 2nd behind Mikitenko, but it was an inspiring performance which saw Yamauchi finally break through past 2:25 and come close to her stated dream of a...

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/f-sp-tp0-20090423-486359.html http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2009042300873 translated and edited by Brett Larner Rikuren's Long Distance and Road Racing Special Committee held a meeting at the National Training Center in Tokyo's Kita Ward on Apr. 23. With regard to August's World Championships in Berlin, committee director Susumu Takano commented, "We're not in a position to discuss our goals in much detail quite yet, but I will say that we expect to improve on our overall performances from the last two years." Japan earned one medal in athletics at the 2007 World Championships, Reiko Tosa's bronze in the women's marathon, and two in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the men's 4 x 100 m relay team's bronze and Koji Murofushi's bronze in the men's hammer throw. Takano went on to add that the committee anticipates two finishers within the top eight in the World Championships women's marathon a...

http://www.nikkei.co.jp/kansai/news/news005972.html http://sports.nikkei.co.jp/index.aspx?n=SSXKC0474%2021042009 http://www.plus-blog.sportsnavi.com/kmanabu/ translated and edited by Brett Larner Having already secured a place on the national team for August's World Championships in Berlin, Yuri Kano (30, Second Wind AC) will get an advance taste of world-class competition when she lines up among most of the world's best women for the first time at the Apr. 26 London Marathon. Kano thought she would win last November's Tokyo International Women's Marathon but she was 2nd after being outrun by Yoshimi Ozaki (27, Team Daiichi Seimei), the younger sister of her Second Wind teammate Akemi Ozaki. Following the final domestic selection race last month, Kano's place on the World Championships team was announced on Mar. 23. "I felt like, 'Finally!'" Kano says. Now, as she faces her first overseas marathon, she is confident. "My training hasn't gon...

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/item/82664 translated by Brett Larner Major Tokyo-based electronics manufacturer Canon announced that its subsidiary Oita Canon Materials Inc. will begin sponsoring a new women's running team in April. The team will be based in Oita and will be coached by former Oita Nishi High School head coach Michio Ito. Oita Canon has already hired four professional and high school athletes from Oita, Nagasaki and Kagoshima Prefectures who will be employed at the company's Oita facility. It is searching for two more runners to bring the team's starting lineup to six. Among the runners already chosen for the team are Oita Nishi graduate Rina Abe (19), who runs for Team Oki but will lose that position when the team disbands at the end of March, and Yuka Yano (22), another Oita Nishi graduate who currently runs for Team Sysmex. Under Coach Ito, Oita Nishi was a regular at the National High School Ekiden Championships. In his days at Tsurusaki Kogyo High Sc...

by Brett Larner The 2009 National Jitsugyodan Half Marathon Championships take place Mar. 15 in Yamaguchi. The top men's and women's finishers will be selected for the national team for this year's World Half Marathon Championships, while other high-placing runners will be sent to international partner races including the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Virginia, U.S.A. and the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow, Scotland. In both the men's and women's races, members of two major teams, Nissan and Oki, will be running their finals races in their club colors before the teams are disbanded at the end of the month. Headlining the men's field is Asian record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku). Sato is in preparation for April's London Marathon. While he has had good results thus far this year, he appears to be different than he was before the Beijing Olympics marathon where he finished last. He has not shown his characteristic hard-edged sharpness ei...