japan running news

by Brett Larner In its third edition in the foothills of Mt. Fuji, the National University Women’s Invitational Ekiden Championships, renamed, appropriately enough, the Mt. Fuji Women’s Ekiden , continues to grow in popularity and stature. This year it moves from the Dec. 23 national holiday to Dec. 30, putting it into a prestigious block alongside the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men’s national championships and the biggest of them all, the university men’s Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2 and 3. Whether Mt. Fuji will reach the same level of popularity remains to be seen, but it’s a sign of faith in the event’s viability, its hilly course offering real racing and not just a handout to the fastest school. The fastest school is again two-time defending champion Ritsumeikan University of the Kansai region, fresh from a course record win at October’s Morinomiyako Ekiden against the best from the Kanto region and the rest of the country. With wins on all six stages at Morinomiyako incl...

by Brett Larner Fresh off the suspension of its three-time defending champion Tetiana Shmyrko (Ukraine) for systematic cheating revealed through the biological passport system, the Osaka International Women’s Marathon ’s elite field features a small overseas field that passes muster with IAAF labeling requirements while keeping the Eastern contingent to a bare minimum.  Karolina Nadolska (Poland) returns to Osaka with the fastest recent non-Japanese time in the field, 2:26:31, leading 2014 World Half Marathon Championships bronze medalist Sally Kaptich Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) and Seong Eun Kim (South Korea). More key is the domestic field competing for one of the two places still up for grabs on the Rio Olympic team. Half marathon national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal), elevated to the status of 2013 Osaka Women’s champ after Shmyrko’s defenestration, is poised to get the win for real this time as the clear favorite to find herself on the short list a...

by Brett Larner The IUAU has announced the Japanese men's and women's rosters for July's Universiade , the World University Games, in Gwangju, South Korea.  2012 London Olympian Anna Doi (Daito Bunka Univ.), 2014 World Junior Championships men's 400 m silver medalist Nobuya Kato (Waseda Univ.) and 200 m 4th-placer Yuki Koike (Keio Univ.) feature prominently in the sprints, with 2014 Youth Olympics men's high jump silver medalist Yuji Hiramatsu (Tsukuba Univ.) leading the field contingent.  The strong men's distance squad is led by 2015 National University Half Marathon champion Tadashi Isshiki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and 2015 Kanto Regionals D2 double 5000 m and 10000 m champion Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), while 2015 National University Half Marathon champion Ayumi Uehara (Matsuyama Univ.) and 2015 Kanto Regional double 5000 m and 10000 m champion Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) front the women's distance group. 28th Universiade ...

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620 and JRN A day after becoming the first man in 78 years to win four-straight Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships 1500 m titles, Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) added another title to his collection, winning a third-straight 5000 m in 13:35.35.  Omwamba and 1500 m runner-up Patrick Wambui (Nihon Univ.) went out front from the start, initially with some company from Japanese athletes but soon on their own.  Wambui made it a good race, at one point going to the front and knocking Omwamba back to 5th, but in the last km he was no match as Omwamba kicked away to win by just over 2 seconds.  Hiroki Matsueda (Juntendo Univ.) was an unexpected 3rd in 13:52.08, just holding off 30 km national collegiate record holder Yuma Hattori (Toyo Univ.). After winning the D2 10000 m Thursday night with a solid 59-second final lap, Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) did it again in the D2 5000 m with a 2:32 last 1000...

by Brett Larner video by naoki620 Senior Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) brought the biggest news of the second day of the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships at Yokohama's Nissan Stadium, winning his fourth-straight D1 Kanto 1500 m title in a national collegiate record 3:35.69.  Omwamba simply outclassed the field, runner-up Patrick Wambui (Nihon Univ.) more than 5 seconds back in 3:41.13 and top Japanese finisher Mitsutaka Tomita (Tokai Univ.) 3rd in 3:47.20.  The fastest time by a Japanese runner actually came in the D2 1500 m final, where Hiroya Inoue (Jobu Univ.) took 0.1 off marathon great Daniel Njenga 's meet record with his 3:45.47 win. Alongside Omwamba, Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) likewise pulled off a successful title defense in the women's 10000 m, winning for the second year in a row in 33:32.94 by almost 4 seconds over teammate Fuyuka Kimura .  Another Daito Bunka runner, Rina Koeda , won the women's 1500 m i...

by Brett Larner Cloudless skies, a fresh snow cap and carefully worked out camera angles that included Mt. Fuji as a backdrop in almost every shot made for spectacular viewing at the second running of the Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden , the last elite race of the year on the Japanese calendar.  Formerly held in Tsukuba, Ibaraki and serving as the season-ending National University Women's Invitational Ekiden Championships, the Mt. Fuji race was once again dominated by the unstoppable Ritsumeikan University whose seven runners handled the downhill first half, flat middle and 164 m-climb 7.7 km anchor stage with equal skill, all seven making the top four out of twenty on their stages. Maya Iino (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) took a short-lived lead on the 78 m-downhill First Stage, but Ritsumeikan's Tomoka Iwai was quick to move to the front on the 25 m-descent Second Stage.  3000 mSC collegiate national record holder Chikako Mori (Daito Bunka Univ.) provided a brief challenge, but Iwa...

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620  and 陸上競技動画集 With the rest of the world busy discovering the joy of the relay that makes the Hakone Ekiden , the Kanto Region university men's road relay championships, the most-watched annual running race in the world, Japan spent the weekend focused on Hakone's stars at the 93rd edition of it's most exciting track meet, the Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships .  Imagine an NCAA national championship held in a major stadium packed with ear-splitting cheering squads from each university and thousands of enthusiastic fans, average folk who actually care about "the sport," and you begin to approach the vibe at the Kanto Regionals.  Plus a half marathon. Yes, the half marathon, the most entertaining event of the meet, D2 running with a 3-minute head start over D1 over nine loops of a course like this: Child's play, or only in Japan? Either way, despite humid conditions both the D2 and D1 turned i...

by Brett Larner While the corporate leagues take a breather after their regional track and field championships last week , Kanto-area university runners are bracing for the second weekend of Japan's best track meet, the Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships  at Yokohama's Nissan Stadium. The men's 800 m should be highlights of the meet,  Nihon University  senior Sho Kawamoto  having set a national record of 1:45.75 two weeks ago at the Golden Grand Prix Tokyo meet in Tokyo's National Stadium.  His second-year teammate Jun Mitake  is the next-best runner in the field with a 1:48.67 PB, so while another NR is probably too much to ask between the two of them they should have a good chance of taking the 1:48.06 meet record set in 2009 by Kenyan Daniel Gitau , another Nihon University runner. It says a lot about the quality of Kanto university men's distance running that four of the five Japanese men in this week's ARRS world top 200 ran...

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620 Train-stopping winds tore at what was left of the roof of the neighboring snow-damaged Kumagaya Dome, but the first day of Japan's biggest university meet, the Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships , plowed ahead as scheduled on Friday, May 16 northwest of Tokyo in Kumagaya, Saitama.  Because Kanto is home to Japan's biggest sporting event, the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden university men's road relay championships,  the region is a national magnet for men's distance running talent to the extent that the Kanto Regionals meet is much more competitive than its national counterpart where Kanto distance men race others from weaker regions from across the country. That being the case, it was no surprise that the highlight of the day came in its final two events, the D2 and D1 men's 10000 m.  A school's D1 or D2 standing depends on the combined scoring of its overall track and field team, meaning that distance sp...

62nd Kashima Yutoku Road Race Kashima, Saga, 2/24/13 click here for complete results Men's Half Marathon 1. Kiragu Njuguna (Kenya/Hiramatsu Hospital) - 1:04:00 2. Koji Kaneko (Team Kurosaki Harima) - 1:04:17 3. Yuki Matsumura (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:04:25 4. Shohei Nakayama (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:45 5. Tsubasa Akagi (Team Nishitetsu) - 1:04:50 Women's Half Marathon 1. Mayumi Watanabe (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:14:51 2. Natsumi Nakamura (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:15:59 3. Shiho Suetsugu (Nagasaki Univ) - 1:18:13 Men's 10 km 1. Junji Katakawa (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 29:23 - CR 2. Yuzo Hiratsuka (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 29:50 3. Shuhei Kitsukawa (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 30:13 Women's 10 km 1. Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 33:28 2. Chikako Mori (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 33:51 3. Eri Tayama (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 34:10 4. Eri Utsunomiya (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 34:18 5. Mari Tayama (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 34:25 35th Yomiuri Inuyama Half Marathon Inuyama, Aich...