japan running news

by Brett Larner Starting the second half of the eight-day Grand Tour Kyushu 2011 with a 5:45 lead over rival Fukuoka Prefecture , defending champion Miyazaki Prefecture retains a lead of 4:31 with one day of racing to go. Fukuoka came out swinging on the first leg of Stage Five, with Ryohei Nakano  setting the only new stage record of the Tour so far.  Nakano covered the 17.4 km leg in 52:28, the next runner more than two minutes back and Miyazaki's Tomoaki Bungo 3:05 behind in 5th.  Miyazaki worked its way back toward the front but Fukuoka held on to the lead thanks in part to leg bests from legs three and four runners Makoto Tobimatsu  and Shuji Yoshikawa , winning Stage Five in 3:46:15 to pick up 1:58 on Miyazaki's overall lead. Miyazaki came back hard on Stage Six, winning five of the six individual legs and adding 8:54 to its lead over Fukuoka.  Miyazaki rookie  Kazuya Deguchi  picked up his third stage win of the Tour, putting him in conten...

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/100214/spg1002141840005-n1.htm translated by Brett Larner At the 50th anniversary Karatsu 10-Mile Road Race on Feb. 14, 2008 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon winner Tomoya Adachi (Team Asahi Kasei) took 1st in an excellent time of 47:01. Re-entering the track in a tight pack for a final lap at the end of the race, Adachi outkicked last year's runner-up Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) and Akihiko Tsumurai (Team Mazda) for his first Karatsu win. First-time winner Adachi commented, "I ran with a margin to spare. 47 minutes was my target time," indicating that the run had gone according to plan. In the early stages Adachi was relaxed, looking around at the others up front. With 3 km to go he took charge, leading the pack all the way back to the track for the finish. Adachi plans to run the Feb. 28 Tokyo Marathon and ran Karatsu as a final tune-up. But even though it was a tune-up, Adachi says, "If I had a chance to win I wanted to go ...

http://www.asahi.com/sports/update/1123/SEB200911230004.html translated by Brett Larner With just a narrow 4-second margin over defending champion Team Asahi Kasei, Team Yasukawa Denki scored its first Kyushu Jitsugyodan Ekiden win in three years at the 46th running of the seven stage, 78.8 km race from Fukuoka to Kita-Kyushu on Nov. 23. Starting out in 8th place, Yasukawa shot up through the field thanks to Shinji Tateishi's stage best run on the Second Leg, taking the lead on the Sixth Leg. Anchor Ryohei Nakano battled with Team Asahi Kasei's Tomoyuki Sato before dropping him for the win. In 3rd was Team Toyota Kyushu, which was unable to field a full squad for last year's ekiden. Led by Yu Mitsuya and Masato Imai's stage bests on the 4th and 7th legs, Toyota Kyushu was only 21 seconds off the leaders. The Kyushu Jitsugyodan Ekiden served as the qualification race for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national corporate championships. Along with the top three, 4th place...

by Brett Larner The 2008-2009 university ekiden season officially got underway on Oct. 13 with the 20th anniversary edition of the Izumo Ekiden . Twenty-two teams competed over the six stage, 44 km course, including the top teams from the Kanto regional championship Hakone Ekiden, strong schools from other regions of Japan, and a select team of ace runners from the American Ivy League. Tokai Unversity had won the previous three years at Izumo on the strength of its two stars Hideaki Date and Yuki Sato, but with the loss of Date to graduation Tokai faced a tough challenge in its quest for a first-ever fourth straight title from 2008 Hakone Ekiden winners Komazawa University. Komazawa’s runners have traditionally relied on sheer strength over speed to make it the top running school in Japan, but this year Komazawa comes to ekiden season with six runners under 14 minutes for 5000 m for the first time in its history. Waseda University, with 5000 and 10000 m Olympian Kensuke Takezawa and a ...