japan running news

by Brett Larner After outperforming their men for over a decade, Japanese women have been on a downward trend for much of the last 8 years even as depth and quality improved dramatically among the men.  In 2016 the trend reversed again, with the men's depth and quality dropping somewhat and the women's fortunes improving.  The good: Half marathon national record holder Kayoko Fukushi breaking through with an all-time Japanese #7 mark of 2:22:17 in Osaka . Team bronze  at the World Half Marathon Championships. A 12 km national record  by  Risa Takenaka . An 8 km national record by Tomomi Tanaka . A course record win over solid competition at the Gold Coast Airport Marathon by Misato Horie . Confident frontrunning  from  Miyuki Uehara  to make the 5000 m final at the Rio Olympics. First-time national titles by relatively young, innovative teams Matsuyama University and Japan Post at the National University Women's Ekiden and Nation...

by Brett Larner The third installment in Japan's midsummer Hokuren Distance Challenge time trials series took place July 11 in Abashiri, Hokkaido, the last day for athletes to turn in qualifying times for next month's Rio de Janeiro Olympics.  With the long distance squads already mostly set the only events with people seriously contending for Rio were the women's 3000 m steeplechase and men's 800 m, where National Championships runners-up Chikako Mori (Team Sekisui Kagaku) and Masato Yokota (Team Fujitsu) tried a final time to get under the 9:45.00 and 1:46.00 standards.  Both came up well short, Mori running 10:00.23 to win the steeple and Yokota just 1:49.28 for 4th in the 800 m. Which is not to say that the day was slow overall.  With ideal conditions the distance events were fast across the board, and in both the women's 5000 m and men's 10000 m there were new year-leading Japanese marks.  Risa Yokoe (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) won the women's 5000...

by Brett Larner The National Corporate Half Marathon Championships are Japan's premier half, producing more quality times over its 43-year history than any other half marathon worldwide.  This year's 44th running on Feb. 14 counts as the final men's and women's selection race for the 2016 World Half Marathon Championships team and has fields as good as ever lined up.  The men's field includes last year's course record-breaking top two Charles Ndirangu (Team JFE Steel) and Macharia Ndirangu (Team Aichi Seiko), 2014 3rd-placer Sota Hoshi (Team Fujitsu), 2013 runner-up Johana Maina (Team Fujitsu) and 2012 winner Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota), along with Rio Olympics marathon team contender Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) and fellow 2:08 marathoners Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Team NTN). The women's field is split between the half marathon and 10 km distances again this year, making for two smaller but equally comp...

Updated 12/26/16 JRN's 2016 Japanese track and road distance running rankings. Overall rankings are calculated using runners' times and placings in races over 5000 m, 10000 m, half-marathon and marathon and the strength of these performances relative to others in the top ten in each category. Unlisted distances will be added as the season progresses. Click any image to enlarge. Past years: 　 2015 　・　 2014 　・　 2013 　・　 2012 　・　 2011 © 2016 Brett Larner all rights reserved

by Brett Larner National championship ekiden season got off to a good start at Sunday's National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships , where two-time defending champion Team Denso led seven teams under the 2:16:12 course record it set last year on the way to its third-straight win with new records on four of the 42.195 km course's six stages. Denso's Yuki Mitsunobu led off, missing the First Stage record by 1 second as she handed off just behind Ayumi Sakaida (Team Daihatsu).  Denso's next two runners Naoko Koizumi and Yuka Takashima scored records on their stages to give their team a lead that was never broken despite new Fourth and Fifth Stage records by rivals Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko) and Risa Yokoe (Team Toyota Jidoshokki).  Denso anchor Nami Hashimoto was the only stage winner not to tie or set an individual record but her 21:26 for the 6.795 km Sixth Stage was more than enough to maintain Denso's lead of almost a minute over Toyota Ji...

by Brett Larner Japan's major midsummer track series, the Hokuren Distance Challenge in four locations across Hokkaido, wrapped up July 16 with the Abashiri Meet.  For the second time in a week , 20 km race walk world record holder Yusuke Suzuki (Team Fujitsu) broke a national record held by teammate Eiki Takahashi , both times outgunning Takahashi to do it.  This time it was Takahashi's 10000 mRW national record, from which Suzuki lopped 8 seconds with a new record of 38:10.23.  12 more seconds to another world record. Other new came in the women's 10000 m, where National Championships 3rd-placer Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) finally succeeded in breaking the Beijing World Championships qualification standard of 32:00.00, taking 3rd in a new PB of 31:48.31 for which she is all but certain to be rewarded with a place on the Beijing team.  Riko Matsuzaki (Sekisui Kagaku) won in a solid PB of 31:44.86, with the top 4 breaking 32 minutes and the top 7 all clearing t...

Yuka Tokuda gives Osaka the National Women's Ekiden win in 2:16:37. Click photo for video highlights courtesy of broadcaster NHK . by Brett Larner The Osaka women's team emerged from nowhere to take a surprise win at the 30th anniversary National Interprefectural Women's Ekiden Championships Jan. 15 in Kyoto, leading wire to wire to score its first national title in 19 years.  First Stage runner Ryoko Kizaki , winner of November's Yokohama International Women's Marathon Olympic selection race, got things off on the right by taking the 6.0 km opening leg by a margin of 2 seconds.   Chizuru Ideta  followed up on the 4.0 km Second Stage, second-fastest on time but holding on to the narrow lead, but Third Stage junior high school runner Nozomi Musembi Takamatsu , half-Japanese daughter of Kenyan 2001 Nagano Marathon winner Maxwell Musembi , deserves much of the credit for opening up a permanent lead despite only running 3.0 km.  Takamatsu was second on her stage ...

by Brett Larner Toyokawa H.S. senior Beatrice Murugi Wainaina for the win at the 2011 National High School Girls Ekiden Championships. Click photo for video highlights via broadcaster NHK. For the second time in three years, Kenyan Beatrice Murugi Wainaina led Toyokawa High School  to the National High School Girls Ekiden Championships title as she crossed the line in 1:07:29, the fifth-fastest time ever on the five-stage, 21.0975 km course through Kyoto on Dec. 25.  Defending champion Kojokan High School  ace Katsuki Suga  faltered on the 6.0 km opening stage, the day's longest, finishing only 6th on the stage and putting Kojokan permanently out of contention.  Only one second behind the lead at the handoff, Toyokawa's Kanayo Miyata  had little trouble taking over on the 4.0975 km Second Stage.  After a brief challenge from the strong Suma Gakuen High School 's Yui Fukuda  on the 3.0 km Third Stage, Toyokawa's Fourth Stage runner Shiho Fuk...

by Brett Larner Click photo for video highlights. Thanks in part to outstanding performances from the identical twin Akamatsu sisters on the final two stages, Kojokan H.S. took its second-ever national title at the 2010 National High School Girls Ekiden , holding off two-time defending champion Toyokawa H.S. by 16 seconds after battling the strong Suma Gakuen H.S . throughout the ekiden. Kojokan's Katsuki Suga got the team off to a good start, winning the 6 km First Stage by a margin of 6 seconds. Suma Gakuen's Risa Yokoe caught up on the Second Stage, running a stage best to finish the leg dead even with Kojokan's Miyuki Oka . Suma Gakuen's Third Stage runner Mika Kobayashi likewise turned in a stage best, giving the school an 8 second lead after Kojokan's Manami Takehisa finished only 9th on the stage. Everything turned around on the 3.0 km Fourth Stage. Kojokan's Hiroka Akamatsu , the lesser-known of its star Akamatsu twins, seized back the lead, taking...

2010 National Sports Festival - Top Results Oct. 3, Chiba Sogo Sports Center Stadium click here for complete results High School Boys' 5000 m - final 1. Titus Waroru (Kenya/Chinzei H.S.) - 13:39.43 2. Genki Yagisawa (Nasu Takuyo H.S.) - 13:57.37 3. Takashi Ichida (Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) - 13:57.76 4. Shogo Nakamura (Ueno Kogyo H.S.) - 13:59.88 5. Norihisa Imai (Gijuku Ishikawa H.S.) - 14:06.98 6. Kazuto Nishiike (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 14:07.58 7. Kenta Murayama (Meisei H.S.) - 14:07.91 8. Naoki Shimada (Hamamatsu Nittai H.S.) - 14:12.48 9. Ryoma Takeuchi (Tokai Oyamagata H.S.) - 14:13.14 10. Kei Fumimoto (Rakunan H.S.) - 14:17.73 Women's 1500 m - final 1. Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) - 4:12.38 - MR 2. Ayako Jinnouchi (Team Kyudenko) - 4:18.22 3. Yukari Soh (Team Asahi Kasei) - 4:18.38 High School Girls' 1500 m - final (10/2) 1. Risa Yokoe (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 4:16.90 - MR 2. Tomoka Kimura (Chikushi Jogakuen H.S.) - 4:17.93 - MR 3. Shiho Takeda (Tokiwa H.S.) - 4:23.39 Men...