japan running news

Bumped by a local election from its usual date at the beginning of September to the same day as the Berlin Marathon, the Volksbank Muenster Marathon saw its most competitive men's race ever. With pacers assigned to go 3:04/km with a halfway split of 1:04:30-45, the lead men went through 5 km way ahead of that in 15:02 and 15 km in 45:17. Running his first race in Europe and hoping for a low-2:10 improvement to his 2:10:49 PB in Tokyo this year, Ryuichi Yoshioka , stayed tucked into the lead pack at that point, but Taiki Suzuki , with a 2:11:51 PB from Tokyo and fresh from altitude training in Kenya in hopes of 2:09, was already starting to lose touch. Yoshioka rolled with the lead group through halfway in 1:03:55 on CR pace, but when a break came just before 30 km he was dropped. Most of the people ahead of him ended up running PBs, no small achievement with relatively windy conditions, and for the first time in the race's 23-year history 3 men ended up going under 2:10. Kenya...

The Paris Paralympics wrapped up with another trio of bronze medals by Japanese athletes. In Friday's T52 men's 100 m final, Tomoki Sato held off Canada's Anthony Bouchard and Mexico's Salvador Hernandez Mondragon by 0.11 for bronze in 17.44 (+1.6). Tomoya Ito and Tatsuya Ito were 7th and 8th in 17.67 and 17.91, with Belgian Maxime Carabin winning gold in 16.70. In Sunday's marathons, Tomoki Suzuki lost out to China's Hua Jin in the race for T54 men's silver, Jin getting there first in 1:31:19 and Suzuki 4 seconds back in 1:31:23 for bronze. But both were far behind gold medalist Marcel Hug of Switzerland, who had a dominant run in 1:27:39 for the win. Ryota Yoshida clocked 1:37:15 for 8th. Wakako Tsuchida and Tsubasa Kina were off their best in the T54 women's race, Tsuchida 6th in 1:52:39 and Kina 12th in 2:04:53. In the T12 women's marathon, Paralympic and world record holder Misato Michishita lost both records to Moroccans Fatima Ez...

At least three noteworthy international races had Japanese athletes in their fields this weekend. Fresh off his 6th-place finish at the Budapest World Championships, 3000 m steeplechase national record holder Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) took 7th at Saturday's Xiamen Diamond League meet in China, running 8:18.32 to winner El Bakkali Soufiane 's 8:10.31. Also Saturday, Waseda University athletes Tomonori Yamaguchi , Haruto Ishizuka and Taishi Ito ran the Birell 10 km Road Race in Prague along with corporate leaguer Ryota Kondo (Toyota Boshoku). Both Yamaguchi and Ito ran faster than their track 10000 m PBs, Yamaguchi the top Japanese man at 8th in 29:13, Ishizuka 9th in 29:17, Kondo 10th in 29:28 and Ito 11th in 29:29. Japan-based Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) was 2nd in 27:48 behind Ethiopian Tadese Worku , 1st in 29:35. Sunday at Germany's Volksbank Muenster Marathon , Ai Ikemoto made her international marathon debut with a 4th-place finish in 2:41:30. "I wa...

Excellent conditions and decent fields said course records might be in the works, but while the results fell short of that level the women's race was the deepest in the Volksbank Muenster Marathon 's 18-year history. Ethiopians Chaltu Negasa and Chaltu Chawo and Kenyans Cythina Kosgei , Rebby Koech and Sheila Rono took it out at CR pace with Japan's Yoshiko Sakamoto , running with support from JRN, hanging on for the first 5 km before dropping off. By 15 km the debuting Kosgei and last year's winner Rono had fallen off, leaving Koech to tackle the Ethiopian pair. The pair took turns trying to break away from the Kenyan, and by halfway they had a 30-second lead, 1:14:15 to 1:14:45. At 30 km they were still on CR, but despite staying together until near the end they didn't quite have the record in them, Negasa breaking away after 40 km for the win in 2:30:59. Chawo staggered in in 2:31:09, almost unable to stand an hour later at the award ceremony. Koech...

by Brett Larner Japanese athletes raced in three European road races in three different countries on Sunday, 2015 Zurich Marathon winner Yoshiko Sakamoto (Y.W.C.) leading the way at Germany's Volksbank Muenster Marathon .  Starting off at a conservative pace that left her 20 seconds behind the lead group at 5 km and over a minute and a half behind by 15 km, over the second half she overtook three women, Ethiopian Belaynesh Yigezu , then Kenyans Janet Cheruiyot and Salina Jebet , to move into 2nd.  2015 Nairobi Marathon winner Elizabeth Rumokol of Kenya, the only woman in the field to have broken 2:30, took 1st in 2:33:01, Sakamoto next in 2:38:46 and Jebet 3rd in 2:42:27.  "I wanted to try to run with the lead group, but they went out too fast," Sakamoto said post-race.  "I was hoping for a faster time but I'm really, really happy to have gotten 2nd.  This was the first time I've ever enjoyed myself while racing seriously." In the Muesnter men...

by Brett Larner Germany's Volksbank Muenster Marathon celebrates its 15th running this Sunday.  Appearing with support from JRN, Japan's Shingo Igarashi (Josai Univ. Coaching Staff) and Yoshiko Sakamoto (Y.W.C.) face competitive fields from Kenya and Ethiopia.  The course record setter at January's Katsuta Marathon, Igarashi scored some attention at April's Boston Marathon when he frontran the first 10 km before suffering a minor stress fracture.  Muenster will be his first marathon since then, and he is optimistic of bettering his 2:13:15 best from his Katsuta win.  That PB ranks him 3rd in the field, not far behind 2:12:08 man Joel Kositany (Kenya).  In another class is the heavy favorite, Kenya's Duncan Koech with a 2:09:17 at the 2014 Vienna Marathon.  At the pre-race press conference race director Michael Brinkmann said that he hopes to see a 2:07 winning time, a major improvement on the current 2:10:25 course record and something that only ...

by Brett Larner Click here for Dr. Helmut Winter's German-language article on this year's Muenster Marathon including a large number of high-quality photos. The day dawning with heavy rain, wind, thunder and lightning, the 12th edition of the Volksbank Muenster Marathon saw the worst conditions in the race's history, but with radically opposing results in the men's and women's races the weather's impact on the race was hard to determine.  In the men's race things went out very slow on the twisting roads in the course's first 10 km, understandable given the slick cobblestone surface.  The designated Kenyan pacer was more than 10 seconds per km off the target pace of 3:06/km, but still the almost entirely Kenyan lead pack lagged behind.  Japanese runners Yuko Matsumiya  (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) and Yuya Shiokawa (Team Subaru), in Muenster with support from JRN, gestured for the pacer to run the designated splits but he repeatedly looked over his sh...

by Brett Larner For the second year in a row, Germany's Volksbank Muenster Marathon  features Japanese athletes in its elite field through the support of JRN.   Yuko Matsumiya  (Team Hitachi Butsuryu), identical twin brother of 5000 m and 30 km Japanese national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya  (Team Konica Minolta), and veteran Chihiro Tanaka  (AthleC AC) are the fastest athletes in the field on paper, Matsumiya with a best of 2:09:18 and amateur Tanaka holding a 2:29:30.  But both ran these times several years ago and will face tough challenges from the best-quality fields Muenster has yet assembled.  Kenyans Bertram Kimutai Keter , Joel Kipsang Kositany  and John Kyalo  have all run under the course record of 2:10:25 within the last two years, and with favorable conditions forecast for Sunday it may well take a new course record to win.  Pre-race Matsumiya was optimistic, saying, "I'm here to win.  I'm not focused on a time,...

text and photos by Brett Larner Makoto Fukui (Team Fujitsu) and Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team Honda) in the early going at the 2012 Muenster Marathon Unseasonably hot temperatures kept the field at the 2012 Muenster Marathon from approaching the course record of 2:10:25, but despite the heat the front end of the men's race was the deepest and most international in the race's 11-year history. The two men with 2:10 bests went 1-2 as Moroccan Ahmed Nasef took the win by five seconds over Kenyan Paul Kimaiyo Kimugul , 2:12:21 to 2:12:26 after breaking away near 35 km.  Kimugul challenged Nasef's win, saying that Nasef had received unfair aid from a cyclist giving him water in the final 7 km, but the protest was dismissed after judges investigated the claims and could find no supporting evidence or witnesses.                                      The Muenster Marathon finish Defending ch...

Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team Honda) and Makoto Fukui  (Team Fujitsu) will make their European marathon debuts at this Sunday's Volksbank Muenster Marathon in Germany with support from JRN.  Fukui ran a PB of 2:14:15 at February's Tokyo Marathon, with Fukuyama running a PB of 2:13:55 a week later at the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon.