japan running news

Sunday's Princess Ekiden is the qualifying race for November's Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championship race. In contrast to corporate men's teams, who are divided into regions for their qualifying races which they have to run every year because the New Year Ekiden national championships doesn't currently have a seeded podium, the women's system gives the top 8 teams at the Queens Ekiden guaranteed places at the next year's race and sends the rest back to a single qualifying race, the Princess Ekiden. This frees up the top tier of women's teams, currently Japan Post , Sekisui Kagaku , Shimamura , Panasonic , Edion , Iwatani Sangyo , Daiichi Seimei and Shiseido , to do things like this weekend's Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon or overseas races. 31 other teams will race at the Princess Ekiden, 42.195 km in 6 stages, to try to take one of the 16 remaining spots in the Queens Ekiden field. Teams at Princess are listed in the order they finish...

Sunday is the Princess Ekiden , the official qualifying race for November's Queens Ekiden, the season-ending national championship race for corporate women's teams. The top 8 placers at last year's Queens Ekiden, Sekisui Kagaku , Japan Post , Panasonic , Shiseido , Daihatsu , Daiichi Seimei , Tenmaya and Iwatani Sangyo , auto-qualified for 2024, leaving the rest of the league's teams to line up in Fukuoka at the Princess Ekiden in hopes of joining them. 30 teams will compete for 16 places at the Queens Ekiden, each with a team of 6 running a total of 42.195 km. TBS is broadcasting the race live starting at 11:50, with streaming on Youtube. 16th at Queens last year, Kyudenko has scratched from Sunday's race due to athlete injuries preventing them from having enough people ready to run. 22nd at Queens, Yamada Holdings is also out because it couldn't field 6 runners, one reason being the transfer of one of its star runners, Sakiho Tsutsui , to Universal Entertai...

With the calendar ticking over into October, companies across the country are holding employment offer ceremonies for college students who will join their ranks after graduating next March. 4th-year runners from top universities are also deciding their roads ahead. Having run the fastest-ever time on the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage and playing a key role in Aoyama Gakuin University 's overall win at the 100th Hakone this past January, Aoi Ota , 22, is set to join the GMO corporate team. His teammates Akimu Nomura , 21, and Kosei Shiraishi , 22, plan to join Sumitomo Denko . Former 5000 m high school record holder Kosuke Ishida , 22, who missed all three big college ekidens last year but has made a stellar recovery this season, will join Subaru after graduating from Toyo University . With the fates of their teams in their hands, they and other 4th-years will give it all in their final seasons before moving on to the next stage of their lives. At the 100th Hakone Ekiden Ota del...

Two months out from his Olympic debut in the Paris Olympic Games in the men's 20 km race walk, Yuta Koga talked to media during a practice session in Naruto on June 10 about his hopes for his first Olympics. A native of Fukuoka, Koga, 24, belongs to the Otsuka Seiyaku corporate team. At the 2023 Budapest World Championships he was the top Japanese placer at 12th. In February this year he chopped almost a minute off his PB to finish 3rd in 1:17:47 and secure his place on the Paris team. "I'd been shooting for the Olympics for a long time, so when I made it I was half happy and half just relieved," he said. "Now I've got more of a sense of responsibility and awareness. At this point I'm in the base phase of what you'd call the training pyramid. The pace of my workouts isn't that fast, but I'm going long to build up leg strength and endurance, and then we'll add speed to that. I want to aim high, set high goals, and work toward achieving th...

The main sponsor of the Princess Ekiden , the official qualifying event for next month's Queens Ekiden national corporate women's championship race, the Iwatani Sangyo women won Sunday's 6-stage 42.195 km race for the first time. Out strong in 2nd with good runs from first two runners Kaede Kawamura and Rino Maeda , Iwatani Sangyo went into 1st on the 10.7 km Third Stage thanks to Rio Wakai and stayed there the rest of the way, ultimately winning by 45 seconds over Route Inn Hotels . 5th runner Madoka Nakano even scored a stage win, playing a big part in the team's runaway victory. With the Olympic marathon trials having happened only a week earlier, a rule was in place this time that any team that had had someone qualify for the trials only had to finish the Princess Ekiden to make Nationals regardless of whether they made the qualifying bracket of the top 16 places. That changed the dynamic of the race a bit, with historically higher-tier teams like Tenmaya and U...

The Princess Ekiden , the official qualifying race for November's Queens Ekiden national corporate women's championships, happens Sunday in rural Fukuoka. 31 teams of 6 women will be racing 42.195 km in pursuit of 16 places at Queens alongside the top tier of podium placers from last year's national championships. TBS will be streaming the race live on Youtube starting at 12:10 p.m., and if you've got a VPN you should be all set. Live results will be posted here . There's a general sense that Japanese women aren't where they used to be, but counter to that trend are a lot of new women's ekiden teams trying to get off the ground. Along with some of the long-established powers like past national champions Universal Entertainment , Tenmaya and Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo , there are relatively young teams like Nitori , Senko and Tokyo Metro trying to qualify for the first time, and newcomers like Bears Camellia making their debuts. Next year expect to see at leas...

Daisuke Uekado age: 25 sponsor: Otsuka Seiyaku graduated from: Hokuryo H.S., Kyoto Sangyo University best time inside MGC window: 2:09:27, 6th, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon PB: 2:09:27, 6th, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 14:06.13 (2016) 10000 m: 28:48.22 (2013) half marathon: 1:03:28 (2016) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) 22nd, 2019 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:15:49 8th, 2018 Berlin Marathon, 2:11:07 6th, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:09:27 – PB other major results: 11th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Fourth Stage (22.4 km), 1:05:59 2nd, 2018 Kansai Corporate Ekiden First Stage (12.6 km), 37:54 81st, 2018 Valencia World Half Marathon Championships, 1:04:48 10th, 2017 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:12:58 48th, 2016 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:03:28 – PB 1st, 2016 Kyoto Marathon, 2:17:54 Someone else totally unique in the MGC men’s field: Uekado is the only one who graduated from a university outside the Tokyo-centri...

by Brett Larner Following other regional corporate league ekiden winners Honda (East Japan), Toyota (Chubu), YKK (Hokuriku), Otsuka Seiyaku (Kansai) and Mazda (Chubu), the Asahi Kasei team brought the qualification round for the 60th anniversary New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships to a close with a win by more than a kilometer at Monday's Kyushu Corporate Ekiden. The Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden is the primary reason for the existence of Japan's men's corporate team leagues and a nationally-televised event.  It is also one of the few championship ekidens without a seeded bracket, meaning that every team, even the winner, must run one of the November regional qualifying ekidens to re-qualify the next year.  This has a direct impact on Japanese men's ability to run fall marathons outside Japan. With a huge group of new team members this year Asahi Kasei did what every team should, using its regional qualifier as a way to get its rookies used...

http://osaka.yomiuri.co.jp/sp_others/20090421ks06.htm translated by Brett Larner Based in Fukushima Prefecture's Naruto, beverage maker Otsuka Seiyaku is helping a select crew of young women to achieve their dreams through sports. This month the company announced the formation of a new professional women's track and field team. 2009 Berlin World Championships national team member and world-class race walker Masumi Fuchise leads the initial lineup of five middle and long distance athletes, with additional spots expected to be filled to allow Otsuka Seiyaku to field a women's ekiden team. The new Otsuka Seiyaku team's approval by the Jitsugyodan Track and Field Association is pending, and head coach Tadasu Kono is optimistic about the future as he says, "Especially in times of recession such as these it's important to do something to help inspire the community through sports." Otsuka Seiyaku founded its men's team in 1990. Athletes who have run under...

by Brett Larner The 3rd annual Tokyo Marathon is this Sunday, Mar. 22. This year's race features continued refinements geared to help make Tokyo into a truly world-class event, including the addition of an elite women's field and a public prize purse. It is also the final domestic selection race for the men's World Championships marathon team and will host a competitive field of many of Japan's best male marathoners. JRN will be dedicating most of the week to coverage of the event and its athletes. To kick things off, take a tour of the Tokyo Marathon course. Click here for a high-speed video tour, or here for a Google Earth view. A demo video of Otsuka Seiyaku's Virtual Tokyo Marathon 2009 game. Sponsor Otsuka Seiyaku has put together a Virtual Tokyo Marathon 2009 game as a promotion for its Double Amino-Value sports drink, the official drink of the Tokyo Marathon. Players can select an avatar which will run an animated version of the course and earn points acco...

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/tm2008/news/20080208-OYT1T00503.htm?from=navr http://journal.mycom.co.jp/news/2008/02/07/056/ translated and edited by Brett Larner Tokyo Marathon 2008 sponsor Otsuka Seiyaku announced that it will be increasing the amount of its sports drink Amino Value which will be available to support the 30,000 runners at this week's race. Otsuka Seiyaku supplied 230,000 cups of Amino Value at last year's race, but in response to requests from runners it will be supplying 280,000 cups at this year's event. The drink will be offered in its double-strength format, containing 4000 mg of amino acids rather than the standard 2000 mg format. Sports drink, water and other assistance for runners will be available at 10 stations, including the start, goal, and 8 locations along the course. A map showing the locations of the aid stations is available here . The Tokyo Marathon also announced that it is increasing the number of bananas available along the course to ...

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/0000826157.shtml translated by Brett Larner Japanese national full marathon record holder Toshinari Takaoka (Team Kanebo) will be running in the 10 mile (16.093 km) Himejijo Road Race on Feb. 11 in Himeji, sponsored in part by the Kobe Newspaper Group. Takaoka joined the Himejijo lineup on Feb. 4 following the cancellation of the Ome Marathon 30 km due to heavy snowfall . Takaoka had planned to run Ome as part of his preparation for a spring marathon . Originally from Kitsugawa in Kyoto Prefecture, Takaoka ran track events in the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics, finishing 7th in the men's 10000 m in Sydney. At the 2002 Chicago Marathon he set the Japanese national record of 2:06:16. He also holds the national record for 3000 m and 10000 m. Takaoka attempted to qualify for the Beijing Olympics at last December's Fukuoka International Marathon but finished 10th. Many have wondered where he would go next. Also scheduled to run Himejijo are Satoshi ...

http://4ch.kry.co.jp/tv/marathon_2007/ by Brett Larner *Updated 12/11/07 with links to photos and many more detailed articles in Japanese. Kazuya Nakamori of Team Otsuka Seiyaku ran 2:15:40 to win the 2007 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon yesterday, coming from behind in the final kilometer to stage an upset over breakaway leader Mitsuru Irifune of Team Kanebo. An early pack of 24 led by Team Toyota`s Kazuki Enoki went through 5 km in a solid time of 15:31. Enoki maintained both lead and pace, passing 10 km in 31:04, 15 km in 46:42, and 20 km in 1:02:20. By the halfway point, 1:05:47, the lead pack had dwindled to 8 runners including Korean elite Hyon Je Yon who ran his PB of 2:10:37 while finishing 2nd in the 1999 Hofu. Shortly after the halfway point, Enoki and Nakamori broke away from the other contenders, hitting 25 km in 1:18:17 compared to the remaining 6 leaders` 1:18:37. The pack broke apart between 25 and 30 km as Irifune, the younger brother of 2005 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon winner...