japan running news

After 54 years at the Asahi Kasei corporate team, first as athlete and then as coach, Takeshi Soh will retire at the end of this month. Together with his twin brother Shigeru Soh they formed a duo who were icons of the Japanese marathoning world and went all the way to the Olympics. After retiring from competition Takeshi devoted himself to coaching young athletes and came to play a primary role in the leadership of Japanese long distance. His list of achievements is long, and so is the list of those he influenced and inspired. His twin Shigeru was chosen for three Olympic teams in the marathon, Montreal in 1976, Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984. Takeshi was named to the Moscow and Los Angeles teams, placing 4th in L.A. to confirm his position as one of the greatest names in the sport in that era. After becoming a coach the twins helped lead Hiromi Taniguchi to gold at the 1991 Tokyo World Championships, Koichi Morishita to silver a year later at the Barcelona Olympics, and o...

The Tokyo Six University Meet took place Apr. 2 at Tokyo's National Stadium. In the men's 5000 m, Waseda University 3rd-year Haruto Ishizuka ran a PB 13:46.31 for the win. "The first half went out fast, so my time ended up being a lot faster than I expected," he said post-race. 2023 has been good for Waseda so far. In January the team placed 6th at the Hakone Ekiden, making the seeded bracket for next year's 100th running. In February 4th-year Koki Sato won the Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon in his debut at the distance. In March 2nd-year Tomonori Yamaguchi won a race in Hong Kong. Ishizuka said his teammates' success gave him "good synergy." In late April he plans to race 10000 m, where, he said, "I'll be looking to run another big PB and go sub-28." source article: https://www.sanspo.com/article/20230402-SQSFXEQ53RDMFNWF7NH3SCVESE/ translated by Brett Larner

The Yasukawa Denki men's corporate team has announced that four of its members including 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics marathoner Hisanori Kitajima , 38, are retiring. Kitajima won the Hakone Ekiden's Eighth Stage his fourth year at Toyo University . He finished 2nd as the top Japanese man at the 2016 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon to qualify for the Rio Olympics, where he placed 94th. In comments Kitajima said, "The last few years I've felt my body deteriorating day by day, and it was frustrating not to be able to do the kind of training and aggressive racing I used to. But that made me change the way I approached racing, and to approach it with more thought and craft. I learned new things and changed my way of thinking, and as I got older I found a new kind of enjoyment and satisfaction in racing. Part of that was being called a veteran, which felt like some kind of persona. It made me want to compete with the 'veterans' from other teams, and that came to be a m...

It's a busy weekend ahead, with a major trail race, a half marathon, and at least three high-level track meets going on across the country. The Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji is already underway, 100 miles around the foothills of Japan's most recognizable landmark in the long course race. It doesn't factor into national team selection for next year's World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, but UTMF is still the most prestigious trail race in the country. Catch streaming here and on the UTMF Youtube channel .  Leaderboard and athlete tracking here . Sunday is the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon , in normal years Japan's only WA gold label half marathon and still one of its most competitive in this still not normal year. 2022 National Corporate Half Marathon champ Dolphine Nyaboke Omare (U.S.E.) leads the women's field with her 1:07:56 CR at that race, her main competition on paper coming from Aussie veteran Sinead Diver , 1:08:50 at Marugame two years ago but a DNF...

The latest wave of race cancelations sweeping Japan as its coronavirus case numbers climb to record highs hit two elite-level marathons Friday, the Feb. 6 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon and Feb. 13 Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon . Planned as a full-sized race with 4,184 entrants, with just two weeks to go Beppu-Oita announced that in an effort to cope with the worsening situation it was limiting its field to those with sub-2:30 times and their pacers, IPC athletes, and local entrants, all required to be fully vaccinated and tested within a short period before the race. Its new limited field of 543 takes Beppu-Oita back to its roots as an elite-only race, but the remaining 3600+ entrants find themselves out of luck. Just down the coast, Nobeoka took an even more conservative approach. Planned with a field size of only 200 plus an invited athlete field of what would probably have been another 8 or 10, the city government announced on Friday that the race has been canceled outright. In th...

With regard to the possibility of the 59th Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon being held as scheduled on Feb. 14, 2021, the organizing committee has considered the issue carefully while listening to the voices of all those involved. Despite popular support for the event to go ahead, after consulting with infectious disease experts and medical personnel concerning the coronavirus and hearing their opinion that the situation with regard to infections is expected to become worse, we have come to the conclusion that it would be difficult to put on the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon while preserving the safety of the runners, medical personnel and volunteers. As such we have unfortunately made the decision to cancel next year's race. We are sorry for the disappointment this will cause to everyone who had been looking forward to the race but ask for your understanding. We hope that the situation improves and that we can once again put on our event in the years to come. Thank you for your sup...

https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20170515-00000124-sph-spo translated by Brett Larner 今日から新しいチームメイトが旭化成に加わりました！！ 共に世界を目指して頑張ります。 応援よろしくお願いします。 #ケニア #🇰🇪 #左 #アブラハム #右 #ケネス https://t.co/OSMR3UynMN pic.twitter.com/UiuIcQTFUK — 市田 孝 (@TAKA_supra) May 15, 2017 On May 15 ekiden and marathon powerhouse Asahi Kasei welcomed its first-ever foreign-born team members, Kenyans Kenneth Kiprop Kipkemoi , 32, and Abraham Kapsis Kipyatich , 24, to the team's base in Nobeoka, Miyazaki. The highly accomplished Kipkemoi holds a 10000 m best of 26:52.65 far superior to the 27:29.69 Japanese national record held by Asahi Kasei's Kota Murayama , 24, and his 5000 m and half marathon bests of 13:03.07 and 59:01 are likewise better than the Japanese national records. By comparison, Kipyatich is still young with room to grow further in the future. Regarding the reinforcement of the team's strength, an Asahi Kasei spokesperson commented, "The mission of our athletics program ...

by Brett Larner Strong winds made for tough conditions and slow times at most of the weekend's main races.  The newly-formatted X-Run Chiba , a retooling of the longstanding Chiba International Cross-Country Meet, saw Yusuke Nishiyama (Komazawa Univ.) emerge on top of the day's longest race, the university men's 12 km.  Nishiyama outkicked Kenta Ueda , son of Yamanashi Gakuin University head coach Masahito Ueda , by 5 seconds to take the win in 37:48.  Maki Izumida (Rikkyo Univ.) had an even closer win in the university women's 6 km, running 20:54 to beat Ai Hosoda (Nittai Univ.) by just 3 seconds.  Rodgers Chumo Kwemoi (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) won the men's 8 km by nearly a minute in 25:05, Yuki Kanehira (Team Sysmex) joining him at the top of the women's 8 km podium in 29:04.  With the junior high school races now serving as the National Junior High School Cross-Country Championships Maebashi Fujimi J.H.S. easily dominated, taking both the boys' and...

by Brett Larner The Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon organizers have announced the field for their 53rd running on Feb. 8.  Run on the home ground of the Takeshi Soh -led Asahi Kasei corporate team, Nobeoka is primarily a developmental race focusing on first-timers and young athletes trying to get the marathon right and typically sees winning times in the 2:12~2:13 range.  It's noteworthy outside Japan mainly in that every year the people who run around that level in Nobeoka make up a major part of the runners included on their coaches' annual junket to the Chicago Marathon, where some go on to take a step toward bigger things. Recently things have been getting a little faster in Nobeoka, with 2:11 winning times in two of the last three years .  This year the organizers have taken a slightly different tack, invited three experienced men who should be able to work together to take down the 2:11:05 course record.  Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) is the stronges...

by Brett Larner photos by Kenji and Jamie Ogura With 22 men on its entry list having run under 2:14 in the last four years, 11 of them sub-2:12 and an unprecented sub-2:10 contingent led by former marathon junior world record holder Bazu Worku (Ethiopia), in its final year under the helm of race director Scott Keenan the 37th running of Grandma's Marathon may, if the weather cooperates, see a serious shot at the historic 2:09:37 set in 1981 by the great Dick Beardsley .  Only one athlete among the top 22 hails from a country other than Kenya or Ethiopia, 27-year-old Japanese independent Sho Matsumoto  (Nikkei Business Services).  Appearing at Grandma's with support from JRN after a recommendation from Japan's most famous independent, Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't), Matsumoto faces a tough challenge in climbing up through the ranks toward the front end of the field. A graduate of running-oriented Kobayashi H.S. where he ran the National High School Ek...

by Brett Larner Former Sera H.S. standout Charles Ndirangu  (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) continued his second pro season with a win in the Nobeoka Time Trials 10000 m A-heat May 3 in Nobeoka, leading Athens Olympian Ryuji Ono  (Team Asahi Kasei) across the line in 28:56.04.  Asahi Kasei runners made up the major part of the field, taking 7 of the top 10 positions.  Other notables in the race included 2008 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon winner Tomoya Adachi  (Team Asahi Kasei) and 2012 Ohtawara Marathon winner Ryoichi Matsuo  (Team Asahi Kasei). Nobeoka Time Trials Nobeoka, May 3 click here for complete results Men's 10000 m Heat 2 1. Charles Ndirangu (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) - 28:56.04 2. Ryuji Ono (Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:56.04 3. Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) - 29:10.14 4. Yoshikazu Kawazoe (Team Asahi Kasei) - 29:21.53 5. Taiki Yoshimura (Ryutzu Keizai Univ.) - 28:28.99 6. Atsushi Ikawa (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 29:30.17 7. Takahiro Mori (Team Asahi...

by Brett Larner Five races fill a busy long weekend in Japan.  First and foremost is the 51st running of the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon in Kyushu .  A developmental race at the 2:11-2:15 level, Nobeoka has in the past produced athletes such as Koji Kobayashi  (Team Subaru), who debuted there in 2:12:52 last year before going on to run the fastest time of 2012 by a Japanese man overseas, 2:10:40 at the Chicago Marathon.  This year's field includes 2010 Asian Games silver medalist Yukihiro Kitaoka  (Team NTN), 2011 Nobeoka winner Kenji Takeuchi  (Team Toyota Kyushu) and the promising Etsu Miyata  (Team Fujitsu).  A large number of athletes will be making their marathon debuts, most noteworthy among them being defending 5000 m national champion  Kazuya Deguchi (Team Asahi Kasei) and sub-63 man Ayumu Sato  (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki).  2009 Ome 30 km winner Hirokatsu Kurosaki  (Team Konica Minolta) will also make a long-...

http://mainichi.jp/area/miyazaki/news/20110908ddlk45050568000c.html translated and edited by Brett Larner On Sept. 7 Hiroyuki Horibata  (24, Team Asahi Kasei), the top Japanese finisher in the 2011 Daegu World Championships men's marathon at 7th in in 2:11:52, made an appearance at his hometown Nobeoka City Hall in Miyazaki prefecture to talk about his race and his plans for making the 2012 London Olympic team. Horibata smiled at the warmly welcoming applause from the staff and guests at city hall.  Nobeoka mayor Masaharu Sudo  told him, "You met the hopes of all the citizens of Noboeka.  It was an outstanding performance."  Horibata told the crowd, "I ran with my own rhythm, with a margin of strength that came from inside.  I did better than my goal of 8th place.  My training went completely according to plan, and that's why I was able to achieve this result.  In my next race I want to seal up my place on the Olympic team."  Horib...

by Brett Larner As track season rolled on with the Oda Memorial Meet in Hiroshima and the Nobeoka Spring Time Trials Meet in Nobeoka on April 29, the biggest news came in the Oda women's 5000 m. Kenyan ace Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko), the 2001 World Junior Championships gold medalist over 3000 m, set her third PB of the month with a new clocking of 15:13.09, a meet record. Just behind her and also under the hold meet record, Hitomi Niiya , the 2007 Tokyo Marathon winner at age 18, came in with a 6-second PB of 15:17.84, 0.02 seconds faster than national record holder Kayoko Fukushi's best time of 2010 and the leading time by a Japanese woman thus far in the build-up to August's World Championships. What made Niiya's run big news was that she appeared running for Chiba Prefecture rather than for her sponsor since graduating from high school, 2008 national champion Team Toyota Jidoshokki. Late last month Toyota Jidoshokki announced that it was leaving its base in C...

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2010051900600 http://www.docomoasahi.gr.jp/ggn/2010/10ggn/caution/apology.html translated and edited by Brett Larner On May 19 the organizers of the 21st Golden Games in Nobeoka track and field meet scheduled for May 22 in Nobeoka, Miyazaki prefecture, announced that the event would be cancelled due to an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Miyazaki. On May 18 Miyazaki Prefectural Government officials asked organizers of upcoming events within the prefecture to postpone their events, but with the difficulties of rescheduling a major track meet in mind, Golden Games organizers opted to cancel this year's competition. A notice posted on the Golden Games in Nobeoka website on May 19 explained that while foot and mouth disease only affects cattle, pigs and water buffalo, not humans, no cases had been detected within the Nobeoka area, and meet organizers had contingency plans in place to minimize the risk of spreading the disease through dirt co...

http://www.47news.jp/CN/200902/CN2009021501000274.html http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/item/77474 translated and edited by Brett Larner At the 47th Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon starting and finishing in front of Nobeoka City Hall in Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture on Feb. 15, 29 year-old Kazuyuki Maeda (Team Konica Minolta) ran a nearly 30-minute of 2:13:55 to take his first-ever marathon win. Maeda ran alongside debut marathoner Shingo Tsumemaru (Team Asahi Kasei) behind pacemaker Tomoyuki Sato (Team Asahi Kasei) until Sato's departure at 30 km. Maeda then gradually pulled away from Tsumemaru and widened his lead to what became a solo run. The 2nd and 3rd place finishers ran a conservative early pace, coming from behind in the later stages to clock strong results. 2 minutes and 2 seconds behind Maeda in 2nd place was Keisuke Wakui (Team Yakult) in his marathon debut. Takanori Ide (Team Kyudenko) was 3rd in a PB of 2:16:01. Tsumemaru faded to 9th in 2:20:00. Conditions at the star...

by Brett Larner The 2009 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon takes place this Sunday, Feb. 15 on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu. Nobeoka is one of Japan's second-tier elite marathons and typically serves as a development race for young marathoners and first-timers. The top returning runner from 2008 is 4th place finisher Isamu Sueyoshi (Team Otsuka Seiyaku), who recorded his PB of 2:15:12 at last year's race. His main competitor may be Masayuki Sakahashi (Team Kurosaki Harima), but with more debutants than experienced marathoners Nobeoka is far from predictable. The first-time marathoner most likely to be a factor is 1:02:01 half marathoner Yuki Tanaka (Team Sumco Techxiv), but either Takashi Nabeshima (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) or Sueyoshi's teammate Katsuji Yamaguchi, both of whom have half marathon times under 1:03, could also be up front. The most talented runner in the field, Kazuyuki Maeda (Team Konica Minolta), holds a half marathon PB of 1:01:49 and a 30 km P...

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/local/20080225/20080225_001.shtml translated by Brett Larner Cutting through the strong headwind without struggle to run away to the goal line, Masaya Shimizu 's 4th marathon was his 1st perfect race. "I ran 120% today. Knowing I won by running perfectly is the best feeling I've ever had," the laurel-crowned king of the Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon said with a shaky voice. Shimizu, 27, took a potential disaster and reshaped it into a tool with which to forge his dream race. At the drink station just after the pace makers dropped out at 30 km, he was unable to grab his special drink. "Some dumbass put my bottle too far back on the table to reach. I missed it and didn't have any choice except to just go without it." Instead, he put on a spurt which caught most of the other leaders off guard, breaking up the pack and reducing it from 10 runners to 4. Shimizu led the pack into the biting headwind. "I didn't want to ...

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/local/20080208/20080208_001.shtml translated by Brett Larner On Feb. 7 the organizing committee of the 46th Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon, sponsored by Kyushu Rikuren, Nobeoka City and the Nishi Nihon Newspaper Group, held a press conference at Nobeoka City Hall in Miyazaki Prefecture to announce the elite field for this year's race, to be held on Feb. 24. The invited field includes 24 athletes, 7 more than last year, with total entries standing at 356 runners, also up from last year. The elite field includes several members of local team Asahi Kasei. Muneyuki Ojima, the fastest man in the field with a PB of 2:08:43, will be running his final race before retiring. Also appearing from Asahi Kasei are Fumiyuki Watanabe, who was injured and had to withdraw from last year's race, and Masaya Shimizu. These athletes will all be spurred on by the extra motivation of having watched their teammate Tomoya Adachi win the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon on Feb....