japan running news

With 3 weeks to go entry lists are out for the 101st Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2-3, 2025. Things keep going up and up. With 21 teams of 16 entrants and 10 starters each a quick crunch of the numbers gives: 15 teams with a 10-man 5000 m average under 14 minutes 3 teams with a 10-man 5000 m average under 13:45 led by 2024 Hakone winner Aoyama Gakuin University in 13:40.07 10 teams with an individual under 13:30 for 5000 m, AGU, Komazawa University , Chuo University , Tokyo Kokusai University , and Yamanashi Gakuin University with 2 each 2 teams with an individual under 13:15 for 5000 m, TKU's collegiate record holder Richard Etir at 13:00.17 and Komazawa's indoor NR holder Keita Sato at 13:09.45 17 teams with a 10-man 10000 m average under 29 minutes 4 teams with a 10-man 10000 m average under 28:30, led by Chuo's incredible 28:15.62 11 teams with an individual under 28:00 for 10000 m, AGU and Chuo with 3 each, and Komazawa, Josai University , TKU, Waseda University and YG...

Despite losing Kenyan Peter Wanjiru late in the race, favorite Daito Bunka University repeated as winner to lead the qualifiers for January's 100th Hakone Ekiden at Saturday's Yosenkai Half Marathon in western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park. Collegiate 5000 m and 10000 m record holder Richard Etir of Tokyo Kokusai University led the first 8.5 km in his debut at the distance with a pack of around including lone Japanese man Reishi Yoshida of Chuo Gakuin University right behind. Just before 8.5 km Etir was clipped from behind by Nihon Yakka University 's Dennis Kipruto and turned around to tell him off. A few steps later Kipruto clipped him again hard enough that Etir went airborne horizontal before crashing to the pavement. The favorite for the individual win, Etir never regained contact with the front of the race. And that ended up having profound consequences for Tokyo Kokusai. In Etir's absence Nihon University 's took over at 10 km, quickly getting rid of e...

On the first day of real summer weather conditions were hot and humid enough at Kanagawa's Gion Sagamihara Stadium that 3 out of the 4 track 10000 m heats making up the National University Ekiden's Kanto Region Qualifier saw at least one runner get into trouble. In Heat One, Yuto Ono (Shibata Kogyo Univ.) was in trouble after only 3000 m, dropping off the pack and falling to his hands and knees, then getting back up and almost walking his way around another couple of laps. His coach finally stopped him, knocking SKU out of contention to make the seven-deep qualifying bracket for November's Nationals. Heat Two went relatively smoothly, Peter Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) lapping the entire field before getting caught again by the top few in the chase pack but still winning the heat by almost a minute in 29:00.50. Heat Three saw Taiga Tosen (Surugadai Univ.) staggering in the home straight and falling meters from the finish line, crawling on his hands and knees until his to...

Two-time national champion Komazawa University rode the momentum of its course record win at last month's Izumo Ekiden to score a third-straight National University Men's Ekiden win Sunday in Nagoya and Mie, its 15th national title in 29 starts under head coach Hiroaki Oyagi . Komazawa's leading runner Kensuke Tsubura was 4th on the opening leg, star 1st-year Keita Sato broke the 2nd leg course record to move into 2nd, 60:40 half marathoner Chikara Yamano took the lead on the 3rd leg, and from there it was only a question of whether Komazawa could keep it together and how much they would win by. Komazawa runners won three of the remaining five stages after Yamano and took top 2 on another, with 4th-year Ren Tazawa running an incredible 49:38 course record on the 17.6 km 7th leg, 43 seconds under the old record. Anchor Kyosuke Hanao had a lead of over a kilometer for the 19.7 km 8th leg and could have jogged it in, but he soloed a 57:30 stage win to bring Komazawa h...

Home to Japan's best university men's distance running teams, the Tokyo area held its qualifier for November's National University Men's Ekiden Sunday at Sagamihara Gion Stadium in rural Kanagawa. 20 teams of 8 runners each competed for 7 spots available at Nationals, with 2 runners from each team running in 4 heats of 10000 m and teams scored on their 8 runners' total times. For the first time, 3 of the 4 heats had winning times under 29 minutes, making it the highest-level edition in event history. Tokai University , Toyo University and Soka University were the favorites to take the top 3 spots, with at least 9 teams in contention for the remaining 4. Tokai was strong out of the gate, 2nd-year Hibiki Yoshida running a PB 28:59.50 to win Heat 1 by over 45 seconds. Toyo's Ren Umezaki was 3rd in 29:49.77 and Soka's Kaiya Yokoyama 5th in 29:50.51, and interspersed between them in a sign of things to come were Kanagawa University 1st-year Haruto Miyamot...

Back from pandemic-era cancelation last year for its 4th edition, the Year-End Half Marathon took place Dec. 29 in Showa Kinen Park in the western Tokyo suburb of Tachikawa. Conceived of as a race for corporate and university teams that didn't qualify for the New Year Ekiden or Hakone Ekiden, this year it played to exactly that kind of field. イヤーエンドハーフ 11km地点 pic.twitter.com/dXwKGJP70W — 城西大学男子駅伝部 (@josai_ekiden) December 29, 2021 After a slow start  Peter Wanjiru , the first Kenyan to run for Daito Bunka University , and Kenta Uchida  of the SID Group corporate team went head-to-head up front, with a chase pack made up of people from Asia University , Josai University , Chiba University  and the Raffine  corporate team drifting further and further behind. Uchida, running the race as a final tune-up for next month's Chevron Houston Marathon, slipped back from Wanjiru in the final km, leaving Wanjiru to take the win in 1:03:18. Uchida, whose coach Junichi Shibata ...

2021 Hakone Ekiden MVP Vincent Yegon  led Tokyo Kokusai University  to the win at the Kanto Region qualifier for November's National University Men's Ekiden Championships . Twenty schools competed Saturday at Kanagawa's Sagamihara Gion Stadium for the seven spots available at Nationals, every school fielding two runners in each of four heats of 10000 m and scored on the total time of its eight runners. TKU got off to a slow start, outside the top ten after the first race, up to 7th after the second heat with a 9-second margin over Surugadai University , and hanging on to 7th after the third race but seeing its margin drop to just over 2 seconds ahead of Nittai University . Nittai's  Tamaki Fujimoto  took the fourth heat out, but after just 800 m Yegon took over, leading almost the entire rest of the way on sub-28 pace. That burned off most of the competition up front, and with 1500 m to go it was down to Yegon, Hakone rival Philip Mulwa  (Soka Univ.) and Josep...