japan running news

interview by Mika Tokairin and Tsuguki Matsuda translated by Mika Tokairin and Brett Larner Arata Fujiwara  was a relative unknown when he ran the 2008 Tokyo Marathon , but his 2nd place finish in 2:08:40 made his name both domestically and worldwide. He fell five seconds short of being named to the Beijing Olympics team but made the Berlin World Championships thanks to a 2:09:47 at the Fukuoka International Marathon later that year. In this interview for the first time Fujiwara talked to JRN in detail about his now-famous 2008 Tokyo Marathon run, his thoughts and feelings before, during and after the race. What can you say about your first marathon? You really slowed down a lot. It was at Biwako [Lake Biwa] in March, 2007. That time I had stomach problems and blisters. Without them I would have won. (laughs) But I got a lot of confidence out of that race. Problems like blisters are easy to understand, you know? It’s not like if you don’t have enough stamina or a large...

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2012/12/04/kiji/K20121204004700020.html translated by Brett Larner Two-time World Championships marathoner Satoshi Irifune  (36, Team Kanebo) announced Dec. 3 that he has decided to retire from competition.  Irifune ran the Dec. 2 Fukuoka International Marathon but dropped out after only 10 km.  "I think it's time to call it a day and move on," he said in announcing his decision. A native of Kagoshima, Irifune ran the 10000 m at the 1999 Seville World Championships and the marathon at both the 2005 Helsinki World Championships and the 2009 Berlin World Championships.  He won the 2005 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon in 2:09:58 and set his marathon best of 2:09:23 at the 2008 Fukuoka International Marathon.  Following his retirement he plans to take a coaching position at his corporate team to help shape the next generation of athletes.

by Brett Larner Along with Saturday's Kanaguri Memorial Meet where four men cleared 13:30 in the 5000 m , the weekend saw a number of small meets between Kanto-region university teams with the odd pro popping up in a few races.  Among the highlights: 2012 Hakone Ekiden champion Toyo University 's twin juniors Keita Shitara  and Yuta Shitara  dominated the Five-University Meet at Daito Bunka University on Sunday.  Both brothers surged away from the field mid-race to take their events in new meet records, Keita with a 14:04.40 in the 5000 m to win by 8.62 seconds and Yuta with an 8:04.87 in the 3000 m to win by 8.00 seconds. With a strong international debut in New York three weeks ago and a 10-mile win over marathoner Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref.) last weekend, next weekend Yuta will run on the Japanese national team at the World University XC Championships in Poland. Nihon University's Kenyan senior Benjamin Gandu  made easy work of the rest ...

by Brett Larner Race broadcaster KBC has published the sixteen-man elite field for the 65th anniversary of the Fukuoka International Marathon , scheduled for Dec. 4.  The first of the three domestic selection races for the Japanese men's marathon team for the London Olympics, Fukuoka's organizers have gone an unusual route in setting up the overseas field with not a single invited Kenyan or Ethiopian athlete.  2005 Fukuoka winner Dmytro Baranovskyy  (Ukraine) has run the fastest three times of his career in Fukuoka and returns to lead the foreign contingent along with Russian national record holder Aleksei Sokolov  and last year's runner-up Dmitriy Safronov , also Russian. Moroccan Ridouane Harroufi  is the lone African among the invited athletes.  Perhaps of greatest interest, Ireland's Alistair Cragg  will be looking to finish his first marathon with a mark that does justice to his excellent 1:00:49 half marathon from this past spring.   Fran...

by Brett Larner The Tokyo Marathon has announced the elite field for this year's fifth running, to be held Feb. 27. Following through on his pre-retirement crisis promise, world record holder Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) will return to the marathon distance after his DNF at November's New York City Marathon. Gebrselassie faces what is without a doubt the strongest field in Tokyo's short history, including 2010 and 2009 winners Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda) and Salim Kipsang (Kenya), 2010 Biwako Mainichi Marathon winner Yemane Tsegaye (Ethiopia), 2010 Hokkaido Marathon winner Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable), 2008 Kenyan XC champion Gideon Ngatuny (Team Nissin Shokuhin) in his marathon debut, recent 2:07 man Paul Biwott (Kenya), 2:07 runner and former teammate of Fujiwara's Hailu Mekonnen (Ethiopia), veteran great Felix Limo (Kenya), top-ranked Japanese debutant Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota), and, thus far unsuccessful at the marathon in his first two atte...

by Brett Larner The 2011 National Interprefectural Men's Ekiden Championships take place Jan. 23 in Hiroshima. The race, which features teams made up of the best pro, university, high school and junior high school runners from each of Japan's 47 prefectures, will be broadcast live and commerical-free on NHK beginning at 12:15 p.m. Overseas viewers should be able to watch live online for free using Keyhole TV , available here, with password NHK. JRN will be doing live English-language commentary via Twitter @JRNLive . Live splits and race highlight videos will be available on NHK's race website . Looking at the overall team competition, despite the absence of last year's anchor Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B), defending champion Hyogo is in an excellent position to defend its title with five of the team's seven runners ranked among the best on their respective stages. Look for First Stage runner Kazuto Nishiike , winner of last year's National High School Ekide...

by Brett Larner photos by Dr. Helmut Winter Jaouad Gharib wins the 2010 Fukuoka International Marathon. Click photo for video highlights of the race or click here to visit race broadcaster KBC's Fukuoka site for more photos. The top-seeded man in the field at the 2010 Fukuoka International Marathon , Beijing Olympics silver medalist and two-time World Champion Jaouad Gharib (Morocco) completed four straight years of Fukuoka domination by the Beijing medalists, running 2:08:24 to join Beijing gold medalist Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya) and Beijing bronze medalist Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) in the Fukuoka winner's club. On a cloudless day with temperatures approaching 20 degrees most of the field wilted in the heat, but proven heat runner Gharib had little difficulty dispatching the competition even if he was not completely immune to the temperature effects. After a slower than planned first 5 km a ponytailed Kenta Oshima (Team Nissin Shokuhin) injected a bit of speed by running ahe...

by Brett Larner If it's the first Sunday in December then at last it's time for the last first-rate marathon of the year on the worldwide calendar, the Fukuoka International Marathon. Overseas viewers should be able to watch the live Japanese television broadcast on TV Asahi 12:00-2:30 p.m. Japan time on Dec. 5 via Keyhole TV by clicking here . Scroll down to the bottom of this article for a field listing with bib numbers and links to course maps. Long Japan's most respected elite men's marathon, Fukuoka has stayed relevant in recent years by investing significant capital in bringing in one or two marquee athletes to deliver the goods with a supporting cast of top Japanese runners and second-tier internationals. Culminating in Ethiopian great Tsegay Kebede 's 2:05:18 course record last year, the last four years have seen world record holder Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) and all three Beijing Olympics medalists, Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya), Jaouad Gharib (Morocco) and ...

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/flash/KFullFlash20101118070.html http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/news/20101119k0000m050060000c.html translated and edited by Brett Larner On Nov. 18 Rikuren announced the elite field for this year's Fukuoka International Marathon scheduled for Dec. 5, the first of the domestic selection races for the 2011 World Championships marathon in Daegu, Korea. Beijing Olympics silver medalist and two-time World Championships gold medalist Jaouad Gharib (Morocco) leads the overseas invited field while a large group of Japanese elites will vie for a World Championships berth. The domestic field includes 2005 World Championships marathon bronze medalist Tsuyoshi Ogata (Team Chugoku Denryoku), 2009 World Championships marathon team member Satoshi Irifune (Team Kanebo), 5000 m and 30 km national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta), and in his marathon debut 3000 mSC national record holder Yoshitaka Iwamizu (Team Fujitsu). Gharib will be run...

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/100426/spg1004261040004-n1.htm http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/100425/spg1004252333011-n1.htm http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2010042500237 translated and edited by Brett Larner At Sunday's London Marathon, 2009 World Championships marathoner Yukiko Akaba (30, Team Hokuren) broke her PB as she finished 6th in 2:24:55. Mari Ozaki (34, Team Noritz) was 9th, while 2009 World Championships silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki (28, Team Daiichi Seimei) was 13th. On the men's side, 2009 World Championships marathoner Satoshi Irifune (34, Team Kanebo) was 16th while 5000 m and 30 km national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) was 23rd. Both Irifune and Matsumiya ran the first half in the lead pack close to national record pace. Beijing Olympics bronze medalist Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) won the men's race in 2:05:19 while Liliya Shobukhova (Russia) took the women's race in a PB of 2:22:00. After her disastrous runs at the...

With a significant number of Japanese runners in the field, TV Tokyo will be broadcasting this year's London Marathon live. Scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. Japan time on Apr. 25, it appears that the broadcast will begin 30 minutes after the start of the elite women's race but will otherwise show the race in its entirety. Overseas viewers should be able to watch online for free using Keyhole TV. To download Keyhole TV and for directions on how to use it, click here .

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/london-marathon/7608517/Volcanic-eruption-threatens-disruption-for-elite-London-Marathon-field.html

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/100321/spg1003211532003-n1.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner It was announced this week that two-time World Championships marathoner Satoshi Irifune (Team Kanebo) will run the April 25 London Marathon. Team Kanebo head coach Kunimitsu Ito said that Irifune had been intending to run the Rotterdam Marathon but that they had changed plans. Irifune joins several other Japanese runners in the world's most top-class field in London, including Berlin World Championships women's marathon silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei), World Championships marathoner Yukiko Akaba, Beijing Olympian Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta), his twin brother Yuko Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) and World Half Marathon runner Yusei Nakao (Team Toyota Boshoku).

http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/sports/Sp201003170188.html translated and edited by Brett Larner The men's and women's National Jitsugyodan Half Marathon Championships take place this Sunday, Mar. 21 in Yamaguchi. A selection race for the national team for October's World Half Marathon Championships, the Jitsugyodan Half wraps up the road season as athletes head to track in April. Leading the way in the women's race is the star of Team Daiichi Seimei, 2009 World Championships marathon silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki , running her last major tuneup race before April's London Marathon. Her main competition will come from teammate Misaki Katsumata , who had a brilliant victory at last month's Chiba International Cross Country Meet, and defending champion Danielle Filomena Cheyech (Team Uniqlo). National Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden Championships Sixth Stage winner Kaori Urata (Team Tenmaya) could also be a threat. 2009 World Championships marathoners Kazuhiro Maeda ...

by Brett Larner With three weeks to go until the 2010 Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon race officials announced the complete elite men's and women's fields on Jan. 18. Last year's Japan-based winners Mara Yamauchi (U.K.) and Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya) are scheduled to return to defend their titles. Yamauchi has been out of competition since an injury kept her away from August's Berlin World Championships and is making a welcome return to the scene. The popular Mogusu is likewise making a miniature comeback after his abortive marathon debut last month in Fukuoka. The elite women's field includes 24 invited athletes along with 25 general division elites. 2004 Tokyo International Women's Marathon winner Bruna Genovese (Italy) and 2009 Great Australian Run winner Nicole Chapple (Australia) are Yamauchi's main overseas competition, while the Japanese runners are led by the Ominami twins Hiromi and Takami (Team Toyota Shatai) and 2008 Shanghai Half M...

by Brett Larner By most criteria the Japanese federation's stated goals in the 2009 Berlin World Championships were modest and clear-cut: one medal, six top-eight finishes and a 25% season best performance rate among the team as a whole, with the medal and two of the top-eight performances coming from the team's strongest component, the marathon squads. Despite no-shows and disappointment from many of the biggest Japanese stars including hammer thrower Koji Murofushi, 400 m runner Yuzo Kanemaru and marathoners Yoko Shibui and Yukiko Akaba the team came just within achieving all of Rikuren's aims. Below is a quick evaluation of the Japanese performances relative to the stated goals. Marathon Goal: one medal, two top-eight finishes Actual: one medal, two top-eight finishes With three potential medalists in its initial lineup the women's marathon squad was by far the strongest on the Japanese team. Yoko Shibui's withdrawal with a stress fracture and Yukiko Akaba...

by Brett Larner On many levels this year's World Championships men's marathon was a test for the Japanese marathon world. In the year since the system's breakdown at the Beijing Olympics, a year in which the world's top-level marathons have become fast-starting toughest man competitions regardless of conditions, the slow-moving bureaucracy at the top of the Japanese system and the athletes below have struggled with questions of their own competitiveness and even relevance and what, if anything, can be done to bring Japanese men back from the edge. In this light the Japanese men's results in Berlin were a mixed grade - passing marks but maybe just so. After winning nothing but gold and silver in the World Cup team competition at the last six World Championships Japan earned only bronze this time, and that just by the barest of margins over Portugal. But it was still a medal against Ethiopia and arguably Kenya's strongest-ever World Championships teams. Top man At...

by Brett Larner Click here to enter JRN's World Championships marathon prediction contest for a chance to win a 2009 Japanese national team singlet. Although the Japanese men's medal haul in the World Championships marathon has been slim, with only Hiromi Taniguchi's gold in 1991, Nobuyuki Sato's bronze in 1999 and Tsuyoshi Ogata's bronze in 2005 to show in the last two decades, they've had one and often two runners finish in the top five almost as far back as the eye can see. This year brings the country's best current marathoner saying he's ready for "top five at worst," and two talented younger runners talking medals. Below is a quick guide to the members of the Japanese team in the Aug. 22 men's marathon, the highs and lows of their seasons, and some predictions. Athletes are listed in order of estimated chance of success. Click the names for photos and more detailed profiles. Atsushi Sato - SB: 2:09:16 (London '09) - PB: 2:07:13 (...