japan running news

Arguably the highest-volume elite-level marathoner in the world, Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead) survived four straight weekends of marathons to win her hometown Saga Sakura Marathon yesterday. Starting the month off at the Mar. 3 Tokyo Marathon Yoshitomi ran 2:32:30 for 13th. A week later at the Mar. 10 Nagoya Women's Marathon it was 2:34:49 for 31st. Last weekend she headed overseas in a bid to win the Mar. 17 New Taipei City Wan Jin Shi Marathon in Taiwan, but in a rare off day she finished 6th in only 2:48:45. Heading back home she rallied to win the Mar. 24 Saga Sakura Marathon in 2:42:02. At an expo talk show appearance the Wan Jin Shi organizers billed Yoshitomi as "the female Kawauchi," but not even he has come close to the kind of volume of racing Yoshitomi has been turning out over the years while working at her parents' botanical farm. Expect to see more, and more, and more from her in the months to come. photos courtesy of Wan Jin Shi Marath...

by Brett Larner As is his tendency, Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't) led the way on a busy weekend that saw Japanese athletes in at least four competitive overseas races. Running the second edition of the Saga Sakura Marathon  in scenic southwesternmost Kyushu despite having changed his workplace this week, Kawauchi took almost nine minutes off the course record and beat last year's winner Tomonori Onitsuka (Team Kyudenko) by more than ten minutes in 2:13:02 CR, his third marathon of the year and second soloing a massive CR in an amateur-level race.  "I haven't been feeling well since the Incheon Half last week and have just been jogging 60 minutes a day, so I'm glad I could at least run passably," he told JRN post-race. "If there hadn't been a strong headwind between 25 and 35 km I would have been a minute faster." Like Onitsuka, women's course record holder Hiroko Yoshitomi (First Dream AC) was knocked back to 2nd as 20-year-old ...

by Brett Larner With the start of the Japanese fiscal and academic year this week, outdoor track season gets rolling this Saturday at the Kanaguri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto.  A distance-oriented meet with a focus on 5000 m, Kanaguri is the place where many of the top young talents make their debuts wearing new high school, university and corporate team colors. Competition in the women's races is thin, with Kenyans  Pauline Kamulu  (Team Toto) and  Susan Wairimu  (Team Denso) leading 2014 Marugame Half Marathon winner  Eri Makikawa  (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and the talented  Yukari Abe  (Team Shimamura) as the top contenders in Heat 2 of the 5000 m.  The high school girls' 3000 m, featuring a long list of top juniors, may supply the more interesting races. The big races on the men's side are heats 4 and 5 of the 5000 m.  Heat 5 features three of the very best Japan-based Kenyans, Moscow World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist...

http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0406/SEB200804060008.html translated by Brett Larner At around 11 a.m. on April 6 in Yamato, Saga, a swarm of honeybees attacked participants in the Saga Sakura Half Marathon. 30 runners were sent to the hospital after receiving severe stings, while an additional 2 runners sustained only minor stings not requiring hospitalization. Prefectural police are investigating whether the bees came from a local beekeeping farm and, if so, whether race officials took the presence of beekeepers into account when designing the course. Beekeepers within Saga Prefecture are required to register their operations, but the beekeper believed to be involved in the attack was not licensed by the prefecture. 6200 runners took part in the race, a half marathon along the Kase River. The attack took place near the 11 km point in the race. After the lead pack of competitors passed, the swarm of bees appeared and began to attack the trailing runners. Police were able to deter...