japan running news

by Brett Larner Having left Japan's corporate team system, 2012 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon winner Samuel Ndungu (Kenya) was back to take the top spot again in Biwako's cold and rainy 70th edition.  With a target pace of 3:00/km for the front group including last year's winner Bazu Worku (Ethiopia), 2014 European champion Daniele Meucci (Italy), Mongolian national record holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Team NTN) and Japanese World Championships hopefuls Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko), Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) and Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta), Kenyan pacers Kimutai Kiplimo and Silas Kimutai were not even close, going through 2 km in 6:19 and hitting 5 km in 15:30, well over 2:10 marathon pace. Collegiate runner Atsuya Hiraiwa (Meijo Univ.) pulled in front of the pacers to try to get the race moving, but although the next 10 km were decent, by 20 km they were back to another 15:30 split.  Halfway came in 1:04:39 with a pack of 40 still together, but a...

photo c/o Dr. Helmut Winter Japanese results in this year's Chicago Marathon were pretty consistent with those seen at the Berlin Marathon and at major international half marathons elsewhere this fall.  On average, the five Japanese men in the race ran 4:18 slower than their PBs, with Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) the closest at 2:48 off his best.  National Team members Koji Kobayashi (Team Subaru) and Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) ran 2:11:43 and 2:15:25. 2014 Chicago Marathon Chicago, U.S.A., 10/12/14 click here for complete results Men 1. Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya) - 2:04:11 2. Sammy Kitwara (Kenya) - 2:04:28 3. Dickson Chumba (Kenya) - 2:04:32 4. Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) - 2:05:51 5. Bernard Koech (Kenya) - 2:08:30 6. Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (Eritrea) - 2:09:08 7. Lani Rutto (Kenya) - 2:10:42 8. Wesley Korir (Kenya) - 2:11:09 9. Bobby Curtis (U.S.A.) - 2:11:20 10. Koji Kobayashi (Japan/Team Subaru) - 2:11:43 ----- 16. Naoki Okamoto (Japan/T...

by Brett Larner photo by Dr. Helmut Winter Five Japanese men and one woman are scheduled to run Sunday's Chicago Marathon led by two members of the Japanese Federation's new National Team project, Koji Kobayashi (Team Subaru) and Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei).  Coached by 2:08:49 marathoner Wataru Okutani , Kobayashi has been improving gradually since his 2:12:52 debut at the 2012 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon, running 2:10:40 in Chicago later that year and 2:11:31 the next in Berlin before taking it down to 2:08:51 in Tokyo this spring.  Sasaki, a graduate of Daito Bunka University and guided by the legendary Takeshi Soh , has progressed even more steadily since his 2:14:00 debut in 2009, outrunning Daegu World Championships silver medalist Vincent Kipruto (Kenya) for 2nd in 2:09:47 at March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon.  Of the 146 sub-2:10 marathons run so far by Japanese men only 22 have ever been done outside Japan, but although they will likely end up ru...

by Brett Larner #2-ranked Bazu Worku  (Ethiopia) came through with the win at the 69th running of the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon , holding off  Satoru Sasaki  (Team Asahi Kasei) and defending champion Vincent Kipruto  (Kenya) to cross the line in 2:09:10 with Sasaki running down Kipruto in the final 200 m to go sub-2:10 for the first time in 2:09:47. Conditions were very reasonable, with 12 degree temperatures and light wind, but despite this the casualty rate was high and came early.  2012 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Joseph Gitau  (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) was off the back of the pack before the lead group of thirteen hit halfway in 1:03:24.   Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't), in search of a 2:07 and a place in the history books as Japan's first man to run sub-2:10 seven times, was the next big name to falter.  By 25 km it was down to seven, and when the pacers departed at 30 km only Worku, Kipruto and Essa Ismail Rashed ...

by Brett Larner Four regions across Japan held their qualifying races on Sunday for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships.  In the Chugoku region, Team Chugoku Denryoku  suffered a scare in its pursuit of a 17th-straight win, trailing trailing Team Mazda  until the sixth of the ekiden's seven stage before advacing to earn its place in Maebashi on New Year's Day.  Ideal conditions helped runners set new records on five of the ekiden's seven stages, led by a scintillating 19:41 record on the 7.2 km Second Stage by Ethiopian Ayele Abayneh  (Team Mazda), who outran Team JFE ace Kenyan Charles Ndirangu  by nine seconds.  Four teams in all from the Chugoku region qualified. Six teams made the grade in the Kansai Region, where Team Sagawa Express  won despite the absence of London Olympics marathoner Ryo Yamamoto .   Team Osaka Gas had a close victory over the Osaka Police Department team to pick up the last qualify...

Great Scottish Run Half Marathon Glasgow, 9/2/12 click here for complete results Men 1. Joseph Birech (Kenya) - 1:03:14 2. Sota Hoshi (Team Fujitsu) - 1:03:49 3. John Kelai (Kenya) - 1:04:17 4. Masamichi Shinozaki (Team Hitachi Logistics) - 1:05:10 5. Yuki Takamiya (Team Yakult) - 1:05:19 6. Masashi Kada (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 1:05:41 Women 1. Bezunesh Bekele (Ethiopia) - 1:09:09 2. Aya Nagata (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 1:12:02 3. Grace Momanyi (Kenya) - 1:12:41 4. Shino Saito (Team Shimamura) - 1:13:23 5. Hayley Haining (U.K.) - 1:15:03 Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon Virginia Beach, 9/2/12 click here for complete results Men 1. Nicholas Kurgat (Kenya) - 1:04:45 2. Henry Rutto (Kenya) - 1:05:01 3. Ryo Matsumoto (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 1:05:58 4. Samuel Ndereba (Kenya) - 1:06:00 5. Rui Yonezawa (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:06:32 ----- 8. Kazuki Tomaru (Team Toyota) - 1:11:13 Women 1. Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) - 1:13:50 2. Chihiro ...

by Brett Larner Japan's 2010-2011 ekiden season wrapped Jan. 30 with two high-level men's races, the 65th Meigi Ekiden and the 74th Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden . At the Meigi Ekiden in Nagoya and Gifu, Team Aichi Seiko staged a thrilling come-from-behind victory over Team Aisan Kogyo , spending the first five stages in 5th place before winning by one second thanks to a sensational run from rookie anchor Mahoro Ikeda . 2011 New Year Ekiden national champion Team Toyota , running a mostly JV squad, was only 6th despite a 20:56 stage record run by Chihiro Miyawaki on the 7.3 km Second Stage and a stage best by Fifth Stage man Takamasa Uchida . 2007 World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), who had previously announced plans for a marathon debut this winter, won the 9.8 km Fourth Stage by 37 seconds, running a solid 26:31 but short of his own record from last year's race. Further south at the Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden, Team Chugoku...