japan running news

by Brett Larner note: International travel resulted in a delay to posting these results.  Apologies. Three big road races produced noteworthy results across Japan over the past weekend.  At last year's Takashimadaira Road Race 20 km, the completely unknown Takehiro Deki  (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) exploded onto the Kanto region university men's distance scene by tying the course record of 58:51 while winning by a margin of 1:30.  This year as a more established name Deki successfully repeated, winning Takashimadaira again in warm conditions in 59:44 by a margin of 1:13.  Veteran Yoshimi Hoshino  (eAthletes AC) took her fifth win in the women's division, running 1:15:12, while five-time women's 10 km division winner Maki Inami  (Kita AC) made it six as she won in 34:50.  Komazawa University graduate  Akinori Iida  (Team Honda) won the men's 10 km in 29:59. Further north in Sendai, Ritsumeikan University  scored a major upset as it b...

by Brett Larner Entry lists are up for the 2011 Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet on Apr. 29 in Hiroshima, one of the big meets on the spring Japanese calendar. This year's meet features an extra round of distance events with separate 5000 m qualifier heats for the World University Games 5000 m teams alongside the regular open 5000 m heats. The university men's 5000 m may be the most exciting race of the day, with 2011 Hakone Ekiden champion Waseda University fielding big guns Shota Hiraga , Suguru Osako , Yuki Yagi and Yo Yazawa and rival Meiji University its ace Tetsuya Yoroizaka along with star first-year recruits Yuki Arimura and Genki Yagisawa . #1-ranked first-year Kazuto Nishiike will be debuting for Hosei University, while 2010 Kanto Regional 5000 m champion Taku Fujimoto (Kokushikan Univ.) will tune up to defend his title at May's Kanto Regionals. Like Waseda, Ritsumeikan University will be putting all its best people into the university women's 5000 m...

by Brett Larner Unknown high schooler Risa Shibuya of Hanawa H.S. in the northern city of Akita turned in one of the biggest performances in the 2010 National Sports Festival on the final day of competition on Oct. 5 in Chiba. Running in the high school girls' 3000 m, Shibuya trounced 2010 Asian Junior 3000 m champion Mahiro Akamatsu (Kojokan H.S.) by over 6 seconds to win in 9:08.07, the second-fastest time of the year by a Japanese woman behind only 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshoki). Shibuya's performance would have put her in 2nd place at last weekend's National Corporate Championships ahead of world-ranked Ethiopian ace Betelhem Moges (Team Denso). With most of the top high school boys opting for the 5000 m the high school boys' 3000 m was relatively unremarkable, won in 8:25.76 by Yusuke Uchikoshi (Kokugakuin Prep Kugayama H.S.). Update: This article reports that Shibuya is a 3rd year who for the last two years placed in t...