japan running news

Four elite-level Japanese athletes were at the Chicago Marathon Sunday. In the women's race, Yuka Akasaki (Kraftia), 6th in the marathon at the Paris Olympics, ran the second-fastest time of her career, 2:23:18 for 11th. Her husband Akira Akasaki (Kraftia), also 6th in Paris and runner-up in Berlin last year, better his PB by 28 seconds with a 2:05:47 for 9th, the fastest time this year by a Japanese man and his second-straight World Marathon Majors top 10 finish. NR holder Suguru Osako (Li Ning) was about 3 minutes off his goal of a new Asian record with a 2:07:34 for 14th, with half marathon NR holder Tomoki Ota (Toyota) struggling a bit to find his feet in his marathon debut, running 2:11:52 for 26th off a 1:02:57 first half. At the Perth Running Festival marathon in Australia, 2025 Warsaw Marathon winner Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) had a great head-to-head race against Kenyan Dominic Ngeno , together through 10 km, then dropping as far as 1:42 behind at one point before...

We're at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii where JRN associate editor Mika Tokairin is making her debut here as an athlete after having come to Kona for years as a journalist. Next to Kona the most eyes worldwide will be on the Chicago Marathon , where a solid Japanese contingent is lining up including men's marathon NR holder Suguru Osako and half marathon NR holder Tomoki Ota , Kiyoshi Koga , and the other power couple in Japanese marathoning, last year's Berlin Marathon runner-up Akira Akasaki and Paris Olympics 6th-placer Yuka Akasaki . Osako's manager told JRN that he is going for the Asian Record of 2:04:43 held by Moroccan-born Bahraini El-Hassan El-Abbassi who was served up a 4-year suspension not long after setting the record. Last year's Warsaw Marathon winner Ryoma Takeuchi is at the Perth Running Festival marathon in Australia where he hopes to add a CR win to his PB at July's Gold Coast Marathon. On the home front Keita Satoh i...

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20140910-OHT1T50076.html http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20140909-OHT1T50166.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Incheon Asian Games men's marathon team member and civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi (27, Saitama Pref. Gov't) ran in a 40 km time trial and biometric measurement run in Shibetsu, Hokkaido on Sept. 9 as part of the Marathon National Team's official training camp.  The Japanese Federation launched the National Team project in April , naming twelve men to the team.  The 40 km run, designed so that Federation officials could measure each member's biometric data before and after a race and examine the changes, was the climax of the National Team's first group training camp which has gone on since late August in Hokkaido.  On Aug. 31 Kawauchi ran the Perth Marathon in Australia , winning in a course record 2:12:55 before returning to Japan and joining the National Team training camp on Sept. 6.  "The Fed...

Post by Chevron City to Surf for Activ . by Brett Larner In his last marathon before focusing his energies on the Oct. 3 Incheon Games Marathon, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) returned to Australia for the Aug. 31 Perth City to Surf Marathon .  Much of the race went by with a pack of four featuring Kawauchi, fellow 2:08 man Samuel Woldeamanuel Gebremichael (Ethiopia), course record holder Luka Chelimo (Kenya) and his countryman Simon Kirui (Kenya) up front.  Gebremichael, who lost out to Kawauchi at July's Gold Coast Airport Marathon, was the first casualty.  A move by Chelimo around 29 km looked like it might add Kawauchi to the casualty list as Chelimo and Kirui pulled around 100 m ahead, but as per his usual pattern Kawauchi came back aggressively in the final 5 km to pass both Kenyans.  Crossing the line in 2:12:55 he took 21 seconds off the record Chelimo set at last year's race, his fifth marathon course record win in eight starts so far thi...

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2014/08/29/kiji/K20140829008829260.html translated by Brett Larner Incheon Asian Games men's marathon team member Yuki Kawauchi (27, Saitama Pref. Gov't) left from Narita Airport to for Perth, Australia where he will run the Aug. 31 City to Surf Marathon.  Due to a significant delay to his scheduled flight leaving Japan Kawauchi was not going to be able make his connecting flight in Australia, but it was no problem to reroute his booking to take a connecting flight on another airline.  Excited for his final full marathon before Incheon, Kawauchi said, "If I win it'll be a good dry run for the Asian Games."

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20140817-00000035-nksports-spo translated by Brett Larner The 33rd Hoppo Ryodo Nosappu Misaki Half Marathon took place Aug. 17 on the northeastern coast of Nemuro, Hokkaido. 2014 Incheon Asian Games marathon team member Yuki Kawauchi (27, Saitama Pref. Gov't) ran the half marathon division as an invited athlete, taking 1st in 1:06:12. The last time the Nosappu Misaki Half invited an athlete was nine years ago when it featured Seoul Olympian Akemi Matsuno .  As a measure of the 'Kawauchi Effect,' 779 people entered the race, the most ever in the event's 33-year history. Wearing a bib reading "Give back the Northern Territories!" [a reference to an ongoing territorial dispute with Russia involving nearby islands held by the Soviet Union and Russia since the end of World War II but still claimed by Japan] emblazoned across his chest, Kawauchi showed his strength to local fans.  After finishing, he gorged himself on th...

http://mainichi.jp/sponichi/news/20140813spn00m050012000c.html translated and edited by Brett Larner 2014 Incheon Asian Games men's marathon team member Yuki Kawauchi (27, Saitama Pref. Gov't) has confirmed that he will run the Aug. 31 City to Surf Marathon in Perth, Australia.  The race has been on his tentative schedule for some time but he did not officially commit to it until Aug. 12.  It will be Kawauchi's final marathon before the Oct. 3 Asian Games. Kawauchi has run many Australian marathons in recent years, winning the Gold Coast Airport Marathon and Sydney Marathon and finishing 2nd at the Melbourne Marathon.  Famous for running while maintaining his career as a civil servant, interviews with him have been published in Australian running magazines.  A familiar and comfortable place for him, Kawauchi hopes that another quick spin through Australia will help him succeed in his ambitions for the Asian Games. Before Perth, Kawauchi will run Sunday's Hop...