japan running news

Part two of a 2010 interview with Tsutomu Akiyama , one of the people responsible for bringing the first Kenyans into Japan's high school, collegiate and corporate running worlds. Read part one here . Can you talk more about World Half Marathon Championships silver medalist Philes Ongori? Well, as of April she’s leaving and going back to be based in Kenya. She’s superb up to the half marathon. She has run in the 67:30’s. At the World Half in the U.K. she ran 67:38 and came 2nd, just beating 3rd at the very end. But looking toward the marathon…she can train up to what’s necessary for the half marathon, but the marathon has to be double that. I don’t know how that’s going to turn out. I can’t say one way or the other. Looking back a bit, when she came over in high school she was running 2:23 for 800 m. The first stage of the National High School Ekiden is the same as the first stage of the National Inter-Prefectural Ekiden. On the first stage of the National High School Eki...

Friday and Saturday were one of the busiest weekends of the year on the track, with high-level time trial meets going on across the country as Japan's best runners tuned up for championship ekiden season. All told 18 men broke 28 minutes and 115 went under 29 minutes for 10000 m. This year Jakarta Asian Games steeplechase bronze medalist Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ.) took a more conservative approach to prepping for the Hakone Ekiden than his 27:47.87 at last year's Hachioji Long Distance meet, opting to run his home ground Juntendo University Time Trials meet on Friday instead. Shiojiri won the 10000 m A-heat in 28:58.16, notably closing with a 58-second final lap.  Rio Olympics 10000 m silver medalist Paul Tanui (Kyudenko) also gave Hachioji a miss in favor of staying close to home, winning Friday's  Time Trial in Nagasaki 10000 m A-heat in 28:20.03 by a margin of over two and a half minutes. Jakarta Asian Games marathon silver medalist Keiko Nogami (Ju...

The IAAF may have unilaterally declared the long distance track season over last week, but in Japan autumn track is in full swing as athletes at all levels prepare for championship ekiden season. The biggest race of the weekend was the men's 10000 m A-heat at Yokohama's Nittai University Time Trials . Richard Kimunyan (Hitachi Butsuryu) led a small group including 2014 Commonwealth Games 5000 m gold medalist Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) out at a steady pace around 27:10. By halfway Kimunyan was alone but still rock steady with a 13:35 split. From 7000 m on he slowed gradually toward the 27:19.62 world-leading time run by Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda) at this year's Commonwealth Games, but with a hard kick over the last lap Kimunyan crossed the line 5 seconds up on Cheptegei's mark in 27:14.70, a PB by 38 seconds. Ndiku also got under 28 minutes in 27:50.38. Half marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda) was the top Japanese man in 28:11.25, conti...

The IAAF has unilaterally declared track season over . But in Japan fall track is an integral part of ekiden season training, and it's not unusual to see many athletes drop their best 3000 m, 5000 m and 10000 m times of the year between October and December. Case in point, this weekend. The biggest news came at Saturday's Nighter Time Trials in Nagasaki , where Keiho H.S. 11th-grader Hiroto Hayashida ran 28:45.75 for 6th in the 10000 m, all-time #8 among Japanese high school boys and #2 among 11th-graders. "Thank you to everyone who supported me!" Hayashida said on Twitter post-race. "I want to take this and apply to it ekiden season now." Geoffrey Gichia (Daiichi Kogyo Univ.) won in 28:36.36, with Jakarta Asian Games marathon gold medalist Hiroto Inoue (MHPS) 2nd in 28:37.27. ナイター記録会(諫早) 林田洋翔選手(瓊浦2) 28:45.75 県高校記録更新おめでとうございます🎉 pic.twitter.com/V7navKw6HQ — manamin (@kinokonoko0916) October 13, 2018 At Niigata's Autumn Time Trials a...

As ekiden season gets into full swing, track time trials continue to be a staple of Japanese and Japan-based athletes from junior high school to the corporate leagues. This weekend's main results from across the country: 15'35”31で世界ジュニアぶりの自己ベスト更新出来ました! 素直に、本当に嬉しい😂 2週間後の全日本駅伝まで更に調子を上げて頑張ります👊✨応援ありがとうございました☺︎ pic.twitter.com/SO9M1MPdeS — 加世田 梨花 (@rikaks3) October 15, 2017 Just six days after running 8:54.27 to win the National Sports Festival junior women's 3000 m, Nozomi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) won again, this time running a PB 15:32.34 to take the 5000 m A-heat at the Shizuoka Time Trials meet. Having led the national champion  Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuen H.S. girls to the win at last weekend's Kurayoshi Women's Ekiden , Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu won the 3000 m A-heat in 9:10.53. At Saturday's Chubu Jitsugyodan Autumn Championships , Rodgers Chumo Kemoi (Aisan Kogyo) ran 27:48.30 to win the men's 10000 m, leading James Rungaru (Chuo Ha...

There's no real end to track season in Japan, and at Osaka's Yanmar Stadium Nagai this weekend the corporate leagues plowed ahead with their 65th National Corporate Track and Field Championships . Having broken the men's discus throw national record this summer, Yuji Tsutsumi (Alsok) did it again with a new record of 60.74 m on his second attempt. Kaede Miyasaka (Nippatsu) jumped 13.40 m (+0.9 m/s) to break the women's triple jump meet record. London World Championships men's 10000 m bronze medalist Paul Tanui (Kyudenko) prevailed in a tough 10000 m, running 27:35.38 to lead ten men under 28 minutes, his eighth-straight national corporate 10000 m title and extending his career sub-28 world record to 35 times. Tanui was effusive in his thanks post-race . 昨日のポールタヌイ選手のラストスパート🏃 全日本実業団選手権10000m優勝 27分35秒38 9850m付近(ラスト150m) #10000m #全日本実業団陸上 pic.twitter.com/FGriXaxzui — Kota Shinjo (@7vodka26) September 24, 2017 But the biggest newsmaker was the men'...

by Brett Larner Most of the country's corporate leagues held their regional track and field championships this weekend, but superseding them all was the Golden Grand Prix Kawasaki meet. With a shortage of candidates for the London World Championships men's 5000 m the JAAF doctored in a sub-7:55.00 qualifying standard for men to get into next month's National Track and Field Championships, adding a 3000 m to the normally sprint, middle distance and field event GGP.  In the midst of his best season in years, Yuichiro Ueno (Team DeNA) took it out close to national record pace through the first half before abruptly slowing and dropping off the back. Rio Olympics 10000 m silver medalist Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko) took over, with only Evans Keitany Kiptum (Team Toyota Boshoku), Hiroki Matsueda (Team Fujitsu), Hayato Seki (Tokai Univ.) and Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei). Never do this. Kiptum looked set for the win with a strong kick over the last 200 m, ...

by Brett Larner It's a busy weekend ahead both at home and abroad. The main road action happens overseas, with London Olympian and 2:07:48 marathoner Arata Fujiwara in Mongolia to run the Ulanbaatar Marathon where a victory will earn him a horse. A group of five Japanese men and women led by 1:01:37 runner Ken Yokote and 2017 National Corporate Half Marathon champion Ami Utsunomiya is in Sweden on a corporate league junket to the Göteborgsvarvet Half Marathon to gain valuable experience running and going to laundromats internationally. Back home, many of their corporate league brethren and sistren will instead be lining up at one of four regional corporate league track championships. Up north in Akita, the East Japan Region meet features top-level Japan-based Africans Jonathan Ndiku , William Malel and Wesley Ledama , with Yuta Shitara , Masato Kikuchi and Azusa Sumi leading the Japanese crowd. The Kansai Region meet happens at the same time in Osaka, with the Chugoku...

by Brett Larner Kenyan Rosemary Wanjiru (Team Starts) bettered her own world leading marks to break the Oda Memorial Meet women's 5000 m meet record Saturday in Hiroshima.  With an early lead from Ethiopian Shuru Bulo (Team Toto), Wanjiru took over in the second half of the race to win in 15:11.48, two seconds under both the old meet record and her previous world leading mark from the Kanaguri Memorial Meet earlier this month.  Bulo also cleared the old meet record, 2nd in 15:12.13.   Tomoka Kimura (Team Universal Entertainment) was 3rd in 15:27.68, coming up short of the London World Championships qualifying standard.  Already the fifth-fastest Japanese high school ever, Shuri Ogasawara (Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.) confirmed that position was a 15:31.46 to beat top university placer Natsuki Sekiya (Daito Bunka Univ.) by almost 10 seconds.  Sekiya led the qualifiers for the Japanese team for August's Taipei World University Games. In the men's 5000 m, ...

by Brett Larner The New Year Ekiden is the peak of the year for corporate league men, their national championship race with 37 teams of seven squaring off over a total of 100 km in front of a live TV audience.  At 61 runnings it is still a newcomer compared to the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden and has long struggled to approach Hakone's popularity.  The upswing in talent at the university level over the last few years has brought more fans to the New Year Ekiden as one after another of the biggest Hakone stars have graduated and entered the corporate machine. Last year Toyota scored a second-straight New Year Ekiden title with a very young team that averaged 23 years old.  This year its roster is bolstered by the addition of one of the most popular and talented 2016 graduates, 30 km collegiate national record holder Yuma Hattori , formerly of Toyo University. Hattori will tackle the New Year Ekiden's longest stage, the 22.0 km Fourth Stage, and with much of last year's...

by Brett Larner With ekiden season just starting to break track action was heavy across the country as teams started to sharpen their lineups after summer mileage.  At the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Osaka, Rio Olympics 4x100 m silver medalist Ryota Yamagata (Seiko) ran a 10.03 (+0.5 m/s) PB and meet record to beat his Rio relay teammate Asuka Cambridge (Dome), drawing ever closer to Japan's first sub-10 clocking.  Another member of the Rio team, Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) duly won the 200 m in 20.57 (+0.0 m/s), doubling in the 4x100 m and running a rare 4x400 m to help bring Mizuno national corporate titles in both, Mizuno breaking the 4x400 m meet record with a 3:04.51 win. A meet record also fell in the men's 3000 mSC, where two-time national champion Hironori Tsuetaki (Team Fujitsu) ran an all-time Japanese #7 8:29.78 for the win.  Times were also fast by Japanese standards in the women's 1500 m, where Kenyan Ann Karindi (Toyota Jidoshokki...

by Brett Larner Hot and windy across the country, it was a busy weekend on the corporate circuit with four regions holding their spring track championships, a high-level time trial meet and one decent result overseas. Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Team Universal Entertainment) turned in the fastest women’s 10000 m of the weekend, running 32:04.11 to win the East Japan corporate region. Hisami Ishii (Team Yamada Denki) was next across the line, just missing the Rio standard in 32:16.60 but scoring the fastest Japanese time in the four corporate meets. Already on the Rio team in the marathon, Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) won the Kansai region women’s 10000 m in 33:02.94. The fastest women’s 5000 m also came in East Japan as Rosemary Wanjiru (Kenya/Team Starts) took the A-heat in 15:23.10. 4th-placer Sayaka Kuwahara (Team Sekisui Kagaku), returning from a solid 2:25:09 marathon debut in Nagoya in March, ran 15:44.99, topping the 15:46.40 time of Kansai region winner Mizuki Matsuda ...

by Brett Larner Japan-based Kenyans Rosemary Wanjiru (Team Starts) and Paul Kamais (Team Chugoku Denryoku) scored tight wins to take the Grand Prix 5000 m titles at the 50th Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet at Hiroshima's Edion Stadium on Saturday.  Wanjiru, a graduate of Aomori Yamada H.S. , led start to finish in the women's race, taking it out at 15:20 pace and closing in 2:58 to beat teammate Grace Kimanzi by just over a second.  Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), already the fastest Japanese woman so far this year for 10000 m, delivered the fastest 5000 m, 15:37.21, to take the top Japanese spot in 5th. Kamais, a brand-new graduate of Hiroshima's local National High School Boys Ekiden course record-setter Sera H.S. , alternated the lead with two-time World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko) throughout the men's race before closing in 2:33 for the win.  Shuho Dairokuno (Team Asahi Kasei) was the top Japanese finisher in 13:31.5...

by Brett Larner James Mwangi 's 27:23.24 10000 m world leading time on day one of the Hyogo Relay Carnival lasted less than 24 hours as two-time World Championships bronze medalist Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko) held off an Ethiopian challenge from Mamiyo Nuguse (Team Yasukawa Denki) to win Hyogo's day two Grand Prix 10000 m in a new world leader of 27:22.28.  Tanui led the entire way from a 2:42 opening 1000 m to the finish, Nuguse waiting to kick in true Ethiopian style but coming up short in 27:24.85 for 2nd.  2016 National cross-country champion Takashi Ichida (Team Asahi Kasei) outran a heavyweight domestic field to take the top Japanese spot, running 28:22.57 for 5th. Felista Wanjugu (Team Univ. Ent.) took the women's Grand Prix 10000 m in 32:11.68, running behind Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu) through 9000 m before kicking away for the win.  Ando was 2nd in 32:16.34, well ahead of a Japanese trio including marathoner Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya). Japan-based Afr...