japan running news

Meijo University  ran up to expectations, breaking its own course record to win a third-straight Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden national title. Head coach Katsuro Yoneda  had confidently predicted a perfect win, Meijo runners taking all seven stage titles and the overall win for the hilly 43.4 km course, but on the very first stage Karin Akahori  (Nittai Univ.) shot that down, beating Meijo's Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu  by 6 seconds to win the stage. But the setback didn't last long, as second runner Yuna Wada  tied her stage's record to put Meijo out front.  From there Meijo stretched its lead out to 1:26 by the start of the 10.5 km Fifth Stage, the longest of the day. There Yuka Suzuki  (Daito Bunka Univ.), the 2019 World University Games half marathon gold medalist, gave Meijo's Rika Kaseda , the silver medalist in the same race, a scare as she cut Meijo's lead down by 42 seconds. But record-breaking runs on the last two uphill stages from Yuka Masubuchi...

by Brett Larner Alongside Sunday's record-breaking marathon action , the weekend featured three high-level road races across the country.  In Yamaguchi, Ethiopian Abiyot Abinet (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) made a strong half marathon debut to win the National Corporate Half Marathon Championships men's title. Emerging from a lead pack of seven including Kenyans Macharia Ndirangu (Team Aichi Seiko), Charles Ndirangu (Team JFE Steel) and Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Team Kanebo) plus Japanese men Taku Fujimoto (Team Toyota), Ken Yokote (Team Fujitsu) and Hiroyuki Ishikawa (Team Aisan Kogyo), Abinet ran the last two-thirds of the race alone to win in 1:01:21.  Fujimoto took 4th overall in 1:01:53 in the top Japanese position.  Kitonyi, Yokote and Ishikawa faded in the second half and were run down by 2014 National University Half Marathon champion Hideto Yamanaka (Team Honda) and Komazawa University graduate Shun Inoura (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) who set new PBs of 1:02:00 and 1:02:...

by Brett Larner video by toyosina2008 Outdoor track season got moving early with two big meets on April 2nd. At the Setagaya Time Trials meet in Tokyo's Kinuta Park, 17-year-old Hyuga Endo (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) kicked hard over the last lap to outrun three members of 2016 Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University , all of whom ran PBs, and all other competition and go under 13:50 for 5000 m for the first time.  A day after the start of his senior year of high school Endo won the fastest 5000 m heat in 13:48.13, moving up from #9 to #7 on the all-time Japanese high school lists .  AGU's Kazuki Tamura and Yuki Nakamura took 2nd and 3rd in PBs of 13:50.43 and 13:52.29, with Hakone Sixth Stage winner Yuji Onoda joining them under 14 for the first time in 13:56.87.  One other high schooler, Ryunosuke Omori (Sano Nittai Prep H.S.) scored his first sub-14, running 13:54.25 for 5th just behind Kenyan Silas Kingori (Team SGH Group).  Kenyan Rosemary Monica W...

by Brett Larner Leaders 14:54 thru 5k, just under 63 pace. Huge pack with almost no separation. pic.twitter.com/s06yAf9wUR — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) March 6, 2016 Lake Biwa was the weekend's biggest race , but there was no shortage of other high-level action across the country.  Last year the National University Men's Half Marathon in Tokyo's Show Kinen Park was the deepest half marathon in history , with 265 breaking 1:06:00 and the top 12 all under 1:02:30.  This year with no World University Games and the World University Cross-Country Championships, NYC Half Marathon, World Half Marathon Championships and Rio Olympics all coming up most of Japan's top university men gave it a miss, resulting in a relatively low-key race by recent standards.  The entire field went out just under 3:00/km pace and stayed there, the numbers whittling down to a final seven.   Ryunosuke Hayashi (Tokai Univ.) broke away in the last km for the win in 1:03:07, his teamm...