japan running news

Saturday is the official qualifying event for the 99th running of the world's greatest road race. Back on its regular course after two years as loop around a runway, the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai half marathon has the 11th through 53rd-ranked men's university teams in the greater Tokyo area racing it out to be in the top 10 and score a place in Hakone in January. All 43 teams field from 10 to 12 runners with their first 10 finishers scoring and teams ranked on their scoring runners' total combined times. It's tense, dramatic, and every second from every runner really does count. Sometimes the difference between 10th and 11th in the team scoring comes down to a fraction of that per runner. NTV will be broadcasting it live starting at 9:25 a.m. local time Saturday. It doesn't need to be said that proven half marathon ability is the best predictor of half marathon success, but given that teams can qualify runners via 10000 m best that's what organizers KGRR list in ...

Japan's biggest collegiate meet wrapped up Sunday with some of the best races at the 101st Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships . Things started at 8:15 a.m. with the D2 men's half marathon , a start on the track at the 2020 Olympic stadium and run up to the nearby Kaigakan road loop, where the field ran 19 laps of 1 km before going back to finish on the stadium. Luka Musembi (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) took things out just under 3:00/km and more or less led through 15 km in 45:10 before Kenzo Ijichi (Koku Gakuin Univ.) dropped the fastest split in the race, 14:39 from 15 to 20 km, to open an 11-second lead over a chase pack including Musembi, sub-61 and sub-62 Komazawa University teammates Chikaro Yamano and Kyosuke Hanao , three runners from Aoyama Gakuin University , and his KGU teammate Genta Tsuru . Hanao tried to close it down over the last km, but Ijichi was too far away and took the win in 1:02:50. Hanao was 2nd in 1:02:56, with AGU's Ryo Nishikubo w...

The Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships returned to Tokyo's National Stadium Thursday for the first of four straight days in its 101st edition. Favorite Noah Kiplimo (Nihon Yakka Univ.) won the meet's first track final, taking the D2 men's 10000 m in 28:28.58. Kiplimo led most of the race, alternating first with Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin Univ.) and then Kotaro Shinohara (Komazawa Univ.) before pulling away with only Hironori Kishimoto (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and Patrick Kamau (Jobu Univ.) left behind him. The 1st-year Kamau couldn't match the two 4th-years' closing speed and dropped to the 3rd in 28:31.41, but Kishimoto nearly pulled off an upset as he took 2nd in 28:28.94. Hirabayashi and Shinohara dropped to 6th and 8th, but both went home with new PBs of 28:36.32 and 28:41.13. The women's 10000 m was pretty similar, with Mao Kuroda (Nittai Univ.) leading most of the way on 33 minute-high pace in a pack including teammate Momoko ...

Japan's best collegiate meet returns to Tokyo's National Stadium for the first time since 2013, with the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships happening there over the next four days. The KGRR will be streaming the whole thing live, with entry lists and live results here . Highlights on Day One include: Just a 2nd-year at Aoyama Gakuin University , Yu Ishikawa is already looking like she has potential to break the 13-year-old collegiate record of 11.32 in the women's 100 m. Her best of 11.48 leads the way in the heats. Toyo University 1st-year Hiroki Yanagita leads the entries in the men's 100 m with a best of 10.22. Toyo is the favorite in the men's 400 m too, with 3rd-year Joseph Nakajima leading the entries at 46.09. Chuo University 4th-year Airi Oshima is ranked #1 in the women's 400 m at 54.25. 4th-year Kazuto Iizawa of Tokai University is the only man entered in the 1500 m heats with a best under 3:40, coming in with a 3:38.55, bu...

After a surprise finish outside the top 10 at this year's Hakone Ekiden, Meiji University  was back to do the expected, winning the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai half marathon qualifier Saturday in Tachikawa, Tokyo by over 4 minutes. In windy conditions things went out slowly up front, the lead group of 6 Kenyans hitting the first km in only 3:01. Last year's winner Joseph Lemeteki Razini  (Takushoku Univ.) made a push to get things into gear and Vincent Raimoi (Kokushikan Univ.), James Bunuka  (Surugadai Univ.), Charles Kamau Wanjiku  (Musashino Gakuin Univ.) and Paul Onyiego  (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) all took turns leading, but it wasn't until 14 km for Wanjiku to make a serous move. Running the rest of the way unchallenged, he took 1st in 1:01:23, more than a minute slower than Razini's winning time last year. The only two people in the front group not to take the lead at some point, Samson Ndirangu (Ryutsu Keizai Univ.) and Noah Kiplimo  (Nihon Yakka Univ....