japan running news

The JAAF has announced the Japanese team for next month's World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland. Six of the ten men and women are fresh off PBs at the Marugame Half and National Corporate Half earlier this month, with three of the other four having set new bests since December. Set to be elevated from runner-up to winner of December's Fukuoka International Marathon after the bust of Moroccan El Mahjoub Dazza , Taku Fujimoto (Toyota) leads the men's team with an all-time Japanese #2 1:00:06 in Marugame. Three other men on the team including amateur Takahiro Nakamura (Kyocera Kagoshima) broke 1:01 at the National Corporate Half two weeks ago. The only man on the the team not to have cleared 1:01 yet is 2020 Olympic marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu), who ran a PB 1:01:40 at January's Takanezawa Half. National Corporate Half winner Kaena Takeyama (Daihatsu) is the top-ranked woman with a 1:09:12,  followed by Sara Miyake (Tenmaya), 3r...

The first of Japan's selection races for next year's World Half Marathon Championships, the Sanyo Ladies Road Race saw a pack of seven including last year's winner Honami Maeda (Tenmaya), 2:21 marathoner Yuka Ando (Wacoal), the U.K.'s Charlotte Purdue , Canadian national record holder Rachel Cliff and others stay together until almost 15 km before Purdue put the pedal down. Maeda, winner of September's MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials, tried to stay with her, but Purdue had the win in her, taking first in 1:08:45, the fastest time of her career on a record-legal course. Maeda was next in 1:09:08, bettering her PB from her win last year by 4 seconds. Moving up from a 2nd-place finish in the 10 km in Sanyo last year, her teammate Sara Miyake (Tenmaya) was 3rd in 1:09:23 to give Tenmaya a good chance of having two women on the Worlds team. Ando was the only other woman under 70 minutes at 1:09:38. Cliff, who broke the Canadian marathon NR in Nagoya in Ma...

2016 national champion Japan Post led start to finish to win the 2019 Queen's Ekiden , the National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships in one of the closest finishes in the event's history. Running on her 19th birthday, Japan Post's star rookie Ririka Hironaka took control early, pushing the pace and kicking from 2 km out on the 7 km First Stage to open 20 seconds on two-time defending champ Panasonic and break the course record by 18 seconds. Miyaka Sugata more than doubled the lead on the 3.9 km Second Stage, with third runner Ayuko Suzuki , one of the two women to have qualified so far for the 2020 Olympic marathon team, losing only 6 seconds to Panasonic's Yuka Hori . Hori brought Panasonic back into 2nd after a rocky Second Stage, but further back last year's 2nd and 3rd place teams Tenmaya and Daihatsu got off to slow starts, Daihatsu 8th on the opening stage and only up to 7th by the end of the Third Stage, and Tenmaya going from 11th to 18t...

The IAAF World Relays in Yokohama were the weekend's main track action, but the first round of regional corporate championships and a few other meets brought distance action across the country. The women's 10000 m was the highlight at the Kansai Region Corporate Championships , with Wacoal teammates Yuka Ando and Mao Ichiyama recovering from decent runs at the London Marathon last month to go 1st and 5th, Ando the fastest in 32:43.18. Their fellow MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials qualifier Madoka Nakano (Noritz) was 2nd in 32:50.18, doubling the next day in the 5000 m where she was 5th in 16:07.24. Former Hakone Ekiden rivals and now teammates at NTT Nishi Nihon, Kenyans Patrick Wambui and Dominic Nyairo went 1-2 in the men's 10000 m in 28:41.84 and 28:43.86. Ryota Motegi (Sumitomo Denko) just missed the meet record in the men's 1500 m, winning in 3:44.12. At the Chubu Region Corporate Championships Kenyans Rodgers Chumo Kwemoi (Aisan Kogyo) and Mac...

The 37th Sanyo Ladies Road Race took place Dec. 23 in Okayama on a course starting and finishing at City Lights Stadium. In the half marathon division, MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials qualifier Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) won her first Sanyo title in 1:09:12, the fastest time by a Japanese woman in over 5 years. Dropping the lead pack just a kilometer into the race, Maeda ran solo the entire way to become the only Japanese woman under 1:10 this year. Australian Ellie Pashley was 2nd in 1:09:20, with Maeda's teammate and fellow MGC qualifier Rei Ohara (Tenmaya) 3rd in 1:10:37. National record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) was 6th in 1:11:32. Both Ohara and Fukushi are scheduled to run January's Osaka International Women's Marathon . In the 10 km division, Kenyan Grace Kimanzi (Starts) equalled the 31:54 course record set in 2007 by future Olympic marathon gold medalist Tiki Gelana of Ethiopia. Tenmaya runners Sara Miyake and Mai Nishiwaki were a distant 2nd ...

The organizers of the Dec. 23 Sanyo Ladies Road Race have announced the elite field for this year's 37th running. Honami Maeda of local corporate team Tenmaya and others preparing for next September's MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials will be in the field, along with national record holder and Rio Olympian Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) who will return to Sanyo for the first time since 2005. The half marathon division promises to be an exciting race between Olympic contenders. Among the eight women to have qualified for the MGC Race so far, Maeda, teammate Rei Ohara (Tenmaya) and Reia Iwade (Under Armour), the 2nd-place Japanese woman at March's Nagoya Women's Marathon, will face off. Others include Fukushi, Asia Games 5000 m team member Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera), under-20 marathon national record holder Ayaka Fujimoto (Kyocera) and Australian Ellie Pashley , who represented her country at this year's World Half Marathon Championships. It looks set to be ...