japan running news

Tokyo Olympics and Oregon World Championships women's 5000 m team member Kaede Hagitani placed 3rd in the Mar. 31 Hasetsune 30K Trail Race , finishing in 4:06:01. Starting and finishing at the Akigawa Keikoku Rivertio campground and hotel, Hasetsune covers 30 km across the three Tokura peaks in western Tokyo's Okutama mountain range. Yuri Yoshizumi won the women's race in 3:40:49. Hagitani graduated from Nagano Higashi H.S. where she was teammates with Narumi Kobayashi and others on the roads and track. In her 3rd year at Nagano Higashi she took 5th in the 1500 m at the National High School Championships and 7th in the National Sports Festival 3000 m. Along with Kobayashi she helped Nagano Higashi take the runner-up spot at the National High School Ekiden. Entering the Edion corporate team after graduating, Hagitani ran 15:05.78 for 5000 m in 2020, at the time the 7th-best ever by a Japanese woman. In 2021 she was 4th at the National Championships, earning a spot on th...

There was never any doubt that Meijo University was going to win a fifth-straight national title at today's Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden , but what they really showed was that they have the core of a team that is going to extend its dynasty at least another 3 or 4 years. 1st-year trio Azumi Nagira , Hikaru Kitagawa and Nanaka Yonezawa built up a 43-second lead for Meijo over the first three legs, Yonezawa taking 4 seconds off the CR for hers. 3rd-year Yuka Masubuchi added another 19 seconds to that, setting up 4th-year power duo Yuma Yamamoto and Narumi Kobayashi to deliver it to 2nd-year anchor Nanase Tanimoto to bring Meijo home up the ~170m climb of the final stage. Yamamoto made sure nobody was going to come from behind late in the race, taking Meijo's lead from 1:02 to 2:28 over the 10.5 km fifth leg. Kobayashi has had trouble performing up to her past level this year, but even though she lost 21 seconds she still managed to run the 3rd-fastest time on her stage. ...

The Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden , the year-ending national championship for university women, happens this Friday at 10:00 a.m. Japan time, kicking off four days of the year's best racing over the course of five. Fuji TV has the live broadcast starting at 9:50 a.m., TVer has the streaming, and @JRNLive will have the English coverage. When it comes to the collegiate men's ekiden circuit it's a given that Tokyo-area schools are going to win and, in most cases, fill the podium, but the college women's ekidens are more genuinely national, and in that way have a type of excitement the men's races lack. The Mt. Fuji race has 7 hilly stages totaling 43.4 km, with a mostly downhill first two stages, a rolling middle four, and an anchor stage that climbs almost 170 m. And Meijo University is going to win. Meijo is the four-time defending champ and is fresh off a sixth-straight win at October's Morinomiyako Ekiden where it won 5 of the 6 stages, 3 in CR time. The ...

There was never really any doubt that five-time defending champion Meijo University was going to become the first team in National University Women's Ekiden history to win a sixth-straight title. Star 1st-year Nanaka Yonezawa took the lead in the first 200 m and from there Meijo never looked back. Its first four runners Yonezawa, Asuka Ishimatsu , Yuma Yamamoto and Nanase Tanimoto all won their stages, Yamamoto tying the 21:37 CR held by teammate Narumi Kobayashi on the 6.9 km Third Stage and Tanimoto turning in the most impressive run of the day with a 15:14 CR on the 4.8 km Fourth Stage, 23 seconds under the CR she set last year and 50 seconds faster than the next-best runner on the stage. Captain Kobayashi was the only weak link in the lineup, 30:48 for 6th on the 9.2 km Fifth Stage, but anchor Yuka Masubuchi still had a 1:55 lead to work with on the 6.7 km Sixth Stage. Like Tanimoto, Masubuchi broke her own CR with a 22:04 that put Meijo's final lead up to 2:31. Wit...

Sunday is the 40th edition of Sendai's Morinomiyako Ekiden , the National University Women's Ekiden Championships . NTV will be broadcasting the race live starting at noon local time, with coverage also on @JRNLive . 26 teams are racing for the national title, the complete course covering 38.1 km in 6 legs. Last year Meijo University led start-to-finish en route to a fifth-straight win, taking 5 of the 6 individual stage titles with 3 of them in course record time. 2 of the stage winners have graduated, but in their place Meijo has a very strong class of first-years led by Nanaka Yonezawa , 8:59.57 for 3000 m and 15:31.33 for 5000 m. 4 others are under 9:15 for 3000 m or under 15:50 for 5000 m, making solid support for the 4 returning members from last year. A lot depends on 4th-year Narumi Kobayashi , who ran a 10000 m  collegiate record 31:22.34 last year but hasn't run well most of her senior year so far. 4th-year Yuma Yamamoto on the other hand is fresh off a 15:16....

A crowd reported at over 6000 filled the lower stands at Tokyo's National Stadium Saturday to see the 10000 m component of this year's National Track and Field Championships . In the women's race, Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) and Rino Goshima (Shiseido) sealed up their places on the Oregon World Championships team by going 1st and 3rd, with NR holder Akira Aizawa (Asahi Kasei) making a comeback for the win in the men's race but falling short of the Worlds standard. The dynamic in the women's race was changed dramatically a few hours before the race when top-ranked Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) announced she had withdrawn after not making enough progress in her comeback from an injury in January. In her absence Goshima took things out on pace to crack the standard, which only she, Hironaka and top collegian Narumi Kobayashi (Meijo Univ.) held going into the race. Following Goshima's lead were Hironaka, Kaede Hagitani (Edion), Mikuni Yada (Denso), Sayaka Sa...

Usually a 2nd-tier meet held in June every year in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, this year the National University Individual Track and Field Championships have been moved up to this weekend with a full schedule of events and top-level collegiate talent. Friday's opening day kicked off with a meet record in the men's 1500 m from Kazuto Iizawa (Tokai Univ.). Iizawa took almost 2 seconds off the old record to win in 3:44.54, with teammate Jin Mizoguchi also under the old record in 3:46.49 for 2nd. The top 9 in the final were all under 3:50, pretty good for a Japanese collegiate meet. Sheila Cherotich (Meiji Kokusai Iryo Univ.) was a second off the women's 1500 m meet record, winning in 4:21.75 over Saki Katagihara (Tsukuba Univ.). The meet record also went in the men's hammer throw , with winner Tatsuto Nakagawa (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) throwing 70.85 m and 2nd-place Shota Fujita (Nihon Univ.) also over the old record at 70.56 m. Remi Katsuya took the women's hammer ...

The 2022 National Cross Country Championships took place Saturday, Feb. 26 at Fukuoka's Uminonakamichi Kaihin Park. In the U20 women's 6 km , 9:10.50 runner Kana Mizumoto (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) ran 19:55 to take the junior title by 8 seconds over Akari Matsumoto (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.), holder of a 9:11.96 best for 3000 m. Yoshino Namiki (Tokiwa H.S.) was 3rd in 20:08. In the U20 men's 8 km , favorite Hiroto Yoshioka (Saku Chosei H.S.) waited until the last lap to break from the pack along with rival Yuta Minamisaka (Kurashiki H.S.). On the course's rolling hills he applied pressure to drop Minamisaka, pulling away for the win by 3 seconds in 23:36. Sonata Nagashima (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) was 3rd in 23:46 to make it a clean sweep of the top 3 by 2nd-years. 2021 National University Half Marathon winner Narumi Kobayashi (Meijo) went one-on-one with corporate leaguer Yuka Sarumida (Univ. Ent.) in the senior women's 8 km . Still together with 1 km...

Course record holder and 3-time defending champ Meijo University  was unstoppable again, leading start to finish to win the 2021 Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden university women's national title Dec. 30 in Shizuoka.  1st-year Nanase Tanimoto  got things rolling with a 12:49 win on the 4.1 km opening leg to give Meijo a 7-second lead that increased to 51 seconds over the next three legs, 2nd runner Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu  holding the margin and 3rd and 4th runners  Hana Inoue  and Yuma Yamamoto running the fastest times on their stages. On the longest leg, the 10.5 km Fifth Stage, Yuna Wada  took 45 seconds off the course record to further open Meijo's lead to 1:13, and the team's last two runners Yuka Masubuchi and Narumi Kobayashi both did their parts, Masubuchi taking the lead to 1:59 and Kobayashi to 2:58 on the tough uphill anchor stage to bring Meijo in for the win in 2:22:24 for the full 43.4 km course.  But the race's main action happen...

The year's biggest races are just around the corner, with four days of championship ekiden racing in the space of five coming up this week. First up on Dec. 30 is the Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden university women's national championship, 7 stages totaling 43.4 km through the foothills of Mt. Fuji. Meijo University  has won the last three years, setting the course record of 2:21:38 last year, and it's going to win again. Meijo's core quartet Narumi Kobayashi , Yuma Yamamoto , Yuna Arai  and Yuna Wada  all made the Japanese top 25 for 5000 m or 10000 m this year, more than all other universities combined, and unless Meijo has some kind of major setback there's just no way for its strongest competition, perpetual 2nd-placer Daito Bunka University , to match it.  The most exciting thing to look forward to will be seeing how Takushoku University  1st-year Seira Fuwa , 30:45.21 in her 10000 m debut earlier this month, does on a more technical course than she has raced ...

Earlier this week after the Princess Ekiden my friend Becky asked a couple of good questions. "I'm always curious on why they don't let women run Hakone, and why women-only ekidens are so much shorter," she said. Japan is hopelessly behind on a lot of social issues, especially women's equality. In March this year the World Economic Forum ranked Japan 120th out of 156 countries in gender equality, just over a month after Tokyo Olympics organizing committee head and former prime minister Yoshiro Mori  was forced to, publicly at least, step down from his position after making comments derogatory of women. Which is not to say that that stopped him from turning up at the Olympic Stadium to catch Olympic athletics action and hang with his boys Thomas Bach  and Seb Coe this past summer, of course. On the other hand, things can also be oddly progressive at times. Japan was the first country in the world to put on an annual women-only marathon, way back in 1979 before it...

Meet 3 of 5 in this year's Hokuren Distance Challenge series happened Saturday in Abashiri, Hokkaido. The biggest news came in the women's 10000 m , where 2021 National University Half Marathon champion Narumi Kobayashi  (Meijo Univ.) broke the 11-year-old collegiate women's national record and cleared the qualifying time for next year's World Championships. Running with excellent pacing by  Pauline Kamulu  (Route Inn Hotels), Kobayashi split 15:44 at 5000 m before picking it up in the second half to win in 31:22.34. Ai Hosoda  (Edion) hung with Kobayashi as long as she could but ended up 2nd in 31:39.32, with amateur club runner Haruka Yamaguchi  (AC Kita) taking 15 seconds off her two month-old PB for 3rd in 32:09.44. James Muoki  (Konica Minolta) won the men's 10000 m A-heat in 27:35.59. Muiru Muthoni  (JR Higashi Nihon) was the only other man under 28 minutes at 27:52.93, Kazuya Nishiyama  (Toyota) fading to 28:08.36 after Yuki Sato (SGH G...

The first meet in this year's Hokuren Distance Challenge  in Hokkaido was the main meet of the weekend, but there was more action near Tokyo than in a normal year too as organizers sought to keep the number of people in one location down. At the HDC Shibetsu Meet the men's 3000 m was the highlight, with Yohei Ikeda  (Kanebo) winning in 7:56.10 to lead the top eight under eight minutes. Even just five years ago it was rare to see more than one Japanese man break eight in an entire year, a sign of how much things have changed in both shoes and priorities.  Titus Wambua  (SID Group) ran 13:22.49 for 1st in the men's 5000 m A-heat, Kenyans sweeping the top four spots. In 5th Kotaro Kondo  set a new school record for ekiden power Aoyama Gakuin University , running 13:34.88.  34-year-old Yuki Sato  (SGH Group) was 6th in 13:35.74, bettering the time he ran at Nationals less than two weeks ago by 3 seconds. Women's results in Shibetsu were low-key, Sakiko Na...

There was a lot of distance action this weekend, but the biggest performance in Japan came at the Fuse Sprint meet in Tottori. Lucking out with a maxed out legal tailwind of 2.0 m/s, Ryota Yamagata  (Seiko) took 0.02 off the national record in his first sub-10 clocking to win in 9.95. 2nd-place Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) also scored a PB of 10.01, with sub-10 man Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) 3rd in 10.13. Despite a scratch from former NR holder Yoshihide Kiryu  and a weak run from relay regular Aska Cambridge , the Japanese men's 4x100 m looks to be in a stronger position than ever. Fuse also produced a national record in the women's 100 m hurdles thanks in part to an ideal +1.8 m/s tailwind. Masumi Aoki  (77 Ginko) equalled the 12.87 NR held by Asuka Terada  (Japan Create) for the win, with Terada running 12.89 for 2nd. Both women are still short of the Olympic qualifying standard, but the solid runs will push them up further from their current positions of 32...

Things have been in a bit of a lull the last week or two with the Tokyo Olympics test event, university and corporate regional championship meets and more out of the way and everyone getting ready for the National Track and Field Championships in Osaka near the end of the month. But there is a lot going on this weekend, even if the leading edge of rainy season means conditions will not exactly be ideal. Friday through Sunday the National University Individual Track and Field Championships happen in Kanagawa, the lesser cousin of September's National University Track and Field Championships without the team scoring. National record holder Ryuji Miura  (Juntendo Univ.) is entered in the 3000 mSC, but with a place at the Olympics already guaranteed there doesn't look to be much reason for him to run except as a training run. 13:40 is the new sub-14, with the entire men's 5000 m A-heat field of 31 having bests under 14 minutes, 15 of them plus another 3 in the B-heat from Aoya...

20-year-old Ririka Hironaka  (Japan Post), marathoner Yuka Ando  (Wacoal) and last year's men's runner-up Tatsuhiko Ito  (Honda) joined the winners of December's 2020 National Championships 10000 m on the Tokyo Olympics team as they took the top spots at today's 2021 National Championships 10000 m in Shizuoka. Hironaka, who debuted over the distance three weeks ago with a 31:30.03, Ando and Kenyan pacer Tabitha Njeri Kamau  (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) were all about the 31:25.00 Olympic standard, going out on sub-31 pace and burning off all competition, including Kamau. Hironaka took 1st in 31:11.75 with Ando next in 31:18.18, each of them clearing the JAAF's two criteria for Olympic selection, finishing in the top three and hitting the standard, to join 2020 winner Hitomi Niiya  (Sekisui Kagaku) on the Olympic team. No other women broke 32 minutes, 2021 National University Half Marathon champion Narumi Kobayashi  (Meijo Univ.) running 32:08.45, the 8th-fastest...

Even as several big races and meets canceled amid new states of emergency being declared across the country, two big two-day meets went off as planned this weekend. At Kobe's Hyogo Relay Carnival , Yuno Yamanaka  (Ehime Ginko) ran a world-leading 6:19.55 to win the women's 2000 m steeplechase. Both Yamanaka and runner-up Yui Yabuta  (Otsuka Seiyaku) bettered Yabuta's old national best in the little-raced distance, Yabuta more than 7 seconds under her old mark in 6:20.37. The national best mark also fell in the men's 2000 m steeplechase, with 2019's 3000 mSC national champion Ryohei Sakaguchi  (SGH Group) clipping almost 2 seconds off the old mark in 5:29.89. In the women's 5000 m, 2021 national university half marathon champion Narumi Kobayashi  (Meijo Univ.) the only woman to break 16 minutes at 15:57.87. Aoyama Gakuin University  runners took the top three spots in the men's 5000 m, new recruits Masaya Tsurekawa  and Aoi Ota  going 1-2 in 13:55.77 a...