japan running news

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 Two different women's ekidens led the weekend's action, both in their 31st runnings but each with a highly different format. On the west coast in Fukui, corporate, university and club teams went head to head at the six-stage, 30.0 km Fukui Super Ladies Ekiden .  Just 7th last year, the Yamada Denki corporate women led start to finish bookended by stage wins from star members Shiho Takechi and Kasumi Nishihara to take the win in 1:36:48. 2nd place saw heavy turnover, with the Kyudenko team briefly moving up mid-race thanks to Kenyan Mariam Waithera before returning to overtake Canon AC Kyushu for 2nd in 1:38:03 thanks to a strong run from anchor Yuka Miyazaki .  Canon held on to 3rd by 5 seconds in 1:38:31despite anchor Chisaki Takegami struggling late in the 7.45 km stage.  Last year's winner Osaka Gakuin University was only 9th but still claimed the top university team position. On the east coast in Fukushima the Tokyo team very nearly dupl...

http://athleticsasia.org/index.php/k2-component/69-21st-asian-athletics-championships-2015-distance-running-preview

by Brett Larner Two of Japan's elite women-only ekidens founded after the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics celebrated their 30th anniversaries Sunday.  At the Fukui Super Ladies Ekiden , last year's top collegiate team Osaka Gakuin University staged a classic come-from-behind race to take its first Fukui title, covering the six-stage, 30.0 km course in 1:38:23.  Down by more than a minute behind leader Panasonic and in 15th place after the 6.55 km First Stage, each of Osaka Gakuin's next five runners moved up in both stage ranking and overall standing until Sakie Arai took the lead by four seconds over 2014 National University Women's Ekiden champion Ritsumeikan University and by six over Panasonic with a 16:10 stage best on the Fifth Stage.  Anchor Saori Noda then put both Ritsumeikan and Panasonic away with a 24:25 stage best for the 7.45 km Sixth Stage to win by nearly a minute.  Panasonic's anchor, 2014 Gold Coast Airport Marathon winner Asami Kato , overtook Ri...

Stanford, CA, U.S.A., 5/4/14 click here for complete results Men's 10000 m Section 1 1. Juan Luis Barrios (Mexico) - 27:34.40 2. Cam Levins (Canada) - 27:36.00 3. Bashir Abdi (Belgium) - 27:36.40 4. Daniel Meucci (Italy) - 27:36.53 5. Shadrack Kipchirchir (Kenya/Oklahome State Univ.) - 27:36.79 ----- 8. Yuki Sato (Japan/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 27:46.69 12. Zewdie Miliyon (Kenya/Team Yachiyo Kogyo) - 28:04.64 13. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Japan/Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:05.67 Women's 10000 m 1. Sally Kipyego (Kenya) - 30:42.26 2. Molly Huddle (U.S.A.) - 30:47.59 3. Betsy Saina (Kenya) - 30:57.30 4. Jordan Hassay (U.S.A.) - 31:39.67 5. Julia Bleasdale (GBR) - 31:42.02 ----- 7. Doricah Obare (Kenya/Team Hitachi) - 31:45.24 9. Kasumi Nishihara (Japan/Team Yamada Denki) - 32:09.84 10. Kotomi Takayama (Japan/Team Sysmex) - 32:15.20 11. Miho Ihara (Japan/Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:15.42 21. Mao Kuroda (Japan/Team Wacoal) - 32:41.92 30. Misaki Kato (Japan/Team Kyudenko) ...

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/131111/oth13111119380017-n1.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner On Nov. 11 Rikuren, the Japanese Federation, announced the entry lists for the thirteen teams at the Nov. 23 International Chiba Ekiden .  A six-stage, 42.195 km event, Chiba is unique in featuring mixed men's and women's teams with each gender alternating over the course of the race. The Japanese team will be picked from an entry list of four men and four women.  The men's list includes all three Japanese men from this summer's Moscow World Championships 10000 m, Suguru Osako  (Waseda Univ.), Yuki Sato  (Team Nissin Shokuhin) and Tsuyoshi Ugachi  (Team Konica Minolta), as well as Moscow women's 5000 m runner Misaki Onishi  (Team Sekisui Kagaku).  Combined with the likes of 2011-2013 National University Ekiden champion Komazawa University's star anchor Shinobu Kubota  and women  Miho Ihara  (Team Sekisui Kagaku),  Risa Ki...

by Brett Larner Two high-level mid-season women's ekidens held their 29th runnings on Nov. 10.  A dry run for January's National Women's Ekiden and featuring the same format of teams made up of junior high school, high school, university and pro runners from each prefecture, the nine-stage, 42.195 km East Japan Women's Ekiden in Fukushima saw 2010 winner Chiba Prefecture  advance in the second half of the race after a strong Fifth Stage run from ace Yurie Doi  and a brilliant performance from the Seventh Stage's Asahi Tate  to return to the top.  Anchor Mai Shinozuka  had a scare from 2013 London Marathon 3rd-placer Yukiko Akaba  (Tochigi Pref.), but with a starting margin of almost 45 seconds at her disposal fro the 10 km Ninth Stage she was safe enough to run a steady, conservative leg to bring Chiba home in 2:19:23, 27 seconds ahead of Akaba.  Up front through much of the race, Nagano Prefecture was the only other team to break 2:20:00 in ra...

62nd Kashima Yutoku Road Race Kashima, Saga, 2/24/13 click here for complete results Men's Half Marathon 1. Kiragu Njuguna (Kenya/Hiramatsu Hospital) - 1:04:00 2. Koji Kaneko (Team Kurosaki Harima) - 1:04:17 3. Yuki Matsumura (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:04:25 4. Shohei Nakayama (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:45 5. Tsubasa Akagi (Team Nishitetsu) - 1:04:50 Women's Half Marathon 1. Mayumi Watanabe (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:14:51 2. Natsumi Nakamura (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:15:59 3. Shiho Suetsugu (Nagasaki Univ) - 1:18:13 Men's 10 km 1. Junji Katakawa (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 29:23 - CR 2. Yuzo Hiratsuka (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 29:50 3. Shuhei Kitsukawa (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 30:13 Women's 10 km 1. Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 33:28 2. Chikako Mori (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 33:51 3. Eri Tayama (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 34:10 4. Eri Utsunomiya (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 34:18 5. Mari Tayama (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 34:25 35th Yomiuri Inuyama Half Marathon Inuyama, Aich...

by Brett Larner Fifteen hours after winning the National Corporate Track and Field Championships 10000 m, Kenyan teammates Sally Chepyego  and Paul Tanui  of Team Kyudenko  returned to win their  5000 m qualifying heats.  Chepyego took the women's 5000 m heat one in 15:52.97, the fastest time among the 27 qualifiers for the final, with heat two going to Grace Kimanzi  (Kenya/Team Starts) in a relaxed 16:07.28.  Tanui's 13:58.81 was good enough to win the second men's heat but was the slowest of the three men's winning times.  Sera H.S. graduates Bitan Karoki  (Team S&B) and Charles Ndirangu  (Team JFE Steel) won the other two heats, Karoki in 13:55.72 and Ndirangu in 13:53.61, the fastest time among the 27 qualifiers.  Close behind Ndirangu, Hayato Saito  (Team Honda) had the fastest qualifying time by a Japanese runner, 13:55.37.  Karoki and Ndirangu's matchup in the final should be one of the highlights of this yea...

by Brett Larner click here for complete results The 2012 edition of the early-summer staple of the Japanese track circuit, the Hokuren Distance Challenge, wrapped up July 7 with a big night in Abashiri, Hokkaido.  Having missed out on the London Olympics team, women's 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi  (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) made her formal 10000 m debut in 32:21.03, finishing 2nd in the A-heat behind one of the year's leading Japanese women, Ai Igarashi (Team Sysmex), who took the win in 32:17.58.  Eight women altogether broke 32:30, most for the first time.  6th place finisher Akiko Matsuyama  (Team Panasonic) recorded an enormous PB of 32:27.23 ahead of her international road debut at the Great North 10 km.  Marathoners Yukiko Akaba  (Team Hokuren) and Yoko Shibui  (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) were far down the field, 20th and 24th in 33:08.59 and 33:27.03 respectively. The men's 10000 m A-heat was a showdown between newly...

by Brett Larner The first meet of the 2011 Hokuren Distance Challenge series took place June 19 in Kitami, Hokkaido. With cooler than usual temperatures 2006 world 10000 m junior champion and 2008 world junior XC champion Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) delivered the biggest result of the evening, a solo 27:09.02 nearly a minute ahead of runner-up Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK). Jeilan's time was the third-fastest of the year by an Ethiopian, putting him into consideration for the Ethiopian team for August's Daegu World Championships. In 5th, third-year Yuki Maeda (Waseda Univ.), whose excellent run on the first day of this year's Hakone Ekiden was instrumental in keeping Waseda in contention for the win, became the latest Waseda runner to break 29 minutes as he clocked a PB of 28:54.34. Ten men on the roster of Waseda's 2010-2011 squad held PBs under 29 minutes. In the women's 5000 m, 2011 East Japan Corporate T&F 10000 m champion Hiroko Shoi (Team ...

210th Nittai University Time Trials 5000 m Heats click here for complete results Men - Heat 39 1. Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) - 13:18.22 2. Paul Kuira (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) - 13:22.38 3. Caleb Ndiku (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 13:26.03 4. Patrick Mwaka (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) - 13:27.14 5. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 13:31.12 6. Masato Kikuchi (Meiji Univ.) - 13:49.36 7. Samuel Kariuki (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) - 13:49.57 8. Ikuto Yufu (Komazawa Univ.) - 13:50.53 9. Kazuya Watanabe (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 13:50.93 10. Takuya Noguchi (Nittai Univ.) - 13:51.42 Women - Heat 29 1. Kayo Sugihara (Team Denso) - 15:48.16 2. Miki Sakakibara (Hamakita Nishi H.S.) - 15:54.36 3. Risa Kikuchi (Team Hitachi) - 16:01.18 4. Michi Tanaka (Team Sekisui Giken) - 16:02.82 5. Misaki Onishi (Team Sekisui Giken) - 16:04.71 6. Yuri Tokushige (Team Starts) - 16:06.12 7. Miki Ohira (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 16:07.01 8. Kaori Akagawa (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 16:07.71 9. Asami Furuse (Tea...

by Brett Larner The Olympic A-standard victory of Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) in the women`s 5000 m proved the standout result of the July 13 Hokuren Distance Challenge Kitami Meet. Akaba, who has already been named to the Beijing Olympic team in the women`s 10000 m, ran a sizeable PB of 15:06.07 to win the race and all but assure that she will double in Beijing. Her potential teammate in the Olympic 5000 m, women`s national 1500 m record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki), won the Kitami 1500 m in 4:12.79, a time too slow to put her in a position for an Olympic double. Men`s national 1500 m record holder Fumikazu Kobayashi (Team NTN) likewise missed setting an Olympic-standard mark, winning the men`s 1500 m in 3:42.67. Barring a last-minute breakthrough, the male Kobayashi will likely be staying home in August. Athens Olympics 10000 m team member Ryuji Ono (Team Asahi Kasei) won the men`s 3000 m in 7:54.25 in a tune-up for Wednesday`s Hokuren Distance Challenge Kushir...