japan running news

by Brett Larner Despite heavy snow throughout much of western Japan and a nearby volcanic eruption which has continued through recent weeks, times were quick at the 49th Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon with four of the top ten recording PBs and the remaining six marking their debuts. Winner Kenji Takeuchi (Team Toyota Kyushu), a former teammate of Beijing Olympics marathon gold medalist Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya) and coached by Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita , clocked a ten-minute PB to win in 2:12:44, putting him inside the five fastest winning times in Nobeoka. Runner-up Takumi Owada (Team Hitachi Cable) broke his own PB by nine minutes to finish 40 seconds back from Takeuchi in 2:13:24. Takuro Yamashita (Team Fujitsu), instrumental in Asia University's 2006 Hakone Ekiden win, took four minutes off his PB to round out the top three in 2:13:33. Little changed for the first part of the race as pacer Yoshikazu Kawazoe (Team Asahi Kasei) took a large pac...

by Brett Larner Organizers of the 49th Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon have announced the elite field for the Feb. 13 race. A developmental race for up-and-coming marathoners and first-timers, Nobeoka serves the role of a step up to the next tier of the Japanese marathoning circuit. Last year's 3rd-placer Takanori Ide (Team Kyudenko) heads the field, and with training partner Kazuhiro Maeda going for a World Championships spot a week before at the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon Ide has been doing the workouts necessary to win. His competition will include last year's 5th-place man Kenji Higashino (Team Asahi Kasei), Takayuki Ota (Team Fujitsu), and, looking to improve on his rare overseas debut at last fall's Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Minoru Okuda (Team Honda). Among the debutants Okuda's teammate Seigo Ikegami (Team Honda) is the most likely to have a strong showing, but 1:02 half marathoners Yusuke Ichinoi (Team Nishitetsu) and Takaharu Miyazaki (Team Sumco) s...

by Brett Larner Team Nissin Shokuhin's Yuki Sato, a university star who struggled through injury his senior year looked set for the World Championships when he ran 27:38 earlier this spring in the second race of his pro career. Injuries returned shortly afterwards and a disastrous showing in the 10000 m at June's National Championships left him empty-handed, but since then Sato has edged closer and closer back toward some measure of his full fitness. On July 21 he took another step toward earning the World Championhips 5000 m A-standard when he finished 2nd overall in 7:53.56 in the 3000 m at the Gentse Feesten Meet in Ghent, Belgium, part of the Flanders Cup series. Sato's time was a PB by nearly 3 seconds but was well short of his university-era and now cross-town Team S&B rival Kensuke Takezawa's PB of 7:49.26 at last week's Gobierno de Aragon meet in Saragossa, Spain. Two other runners, Yusei Nakao of Team Toyota Boshoku and Sato's teammate Satoru Kitam...

by Brett Larner A number of top pro Japanese men competed in the 2009 Lappeenranta Games in Finland on July 12. The biggest results came in the 5000 m, where 2008 World Half Marathon 5th place finisher Yusei Nakao (Team Toyota Boshoku) was 3rd and Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin), who earlier this season ran a PB of 27:38 in the 10000 m, was a DNF. Below are the top results of races featuring Japanese runners. For complete results click here . 2009 Lappeenranta Games - Top Results Men's 5000 m 1. Lewis Korir (Kenya) - 13:36.23 2. Jukka Keskisalo (Finland) - 13:39.81 3. Yusei Nakao (Japan) - 13:44.92 ----- 5. Satoru Kitamura (Japan) - 13:50.33 6. Naoki Okamoto (Japan) - 13:50.88 7. Suehiro Ishikawa (Japan) - 13:52.15 9. Seigo Ikegami (Japan) - 14:14.19 DNF - Yuki Sato (Japan) Men's 1500 m 1. Mohammed Shahween (Saudia Arabia) - 3:42.81 2. Niclas Sandells (Finland) - 3:43.72 3. Jonas Hamm (Finland) - 3:44.39 ----- 7. Yuki Matsuoka (Japan) - 3:46.72 12. Yasunori Murakami (Japan) -...

by Brett Larner Stanford University's Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational holds a special place in the Japanese record books, being the meet where both the current men's and women's 10000 m national records were set. Last year 5000 m national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) fell just short of breaking the 10000 m national record, with Satoshi Irifune (Team Kanebo) a short distance back, likewise clearing the 28-minute mark. This year Irifune was slated to run again, but the outbreak of the swine flu pandemic caused Team Kanebo management to pull him at the last minute. The decision left seven mostly young, lesser-known Japanese runners to compete in three events. Hiroyoshi Umegae (Team NTN) was first up in the men's 3000 m SC. Running a stable pace in the middle of the pack Umegae appeared to be on course for a slim PB and even looked to be advancing in the final km, but he faded over the final lap and lost seven places to come home in 14th in 8:...

The 2009 Stanford University Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational will be webcast live on Flotrack . Assuming that no more withdraw out of swine flu hysteria, the following races will feature Japanese distance runners. Italicized races do not include any Japanese athletes but are likely to be interesting. All times are Japan time on Sunday, May 3. Click here for a complete timetable. Women's 3000 m SC Section 1: 10:38 a.m. Men's 3000 m SC Section 1: 11:02 a.m. - Hiroyoshi Umegae Women's 5000 m Section 1: 12:34 p.m. Men's 5000 m Section 1: 12:52 p.m. - Suehiro Ishikawa and Yuichiro Ueno Women's 10000 m Section 1: 1:08 p.m. Men's 10000 m Section 1 : 1:45 p.m. - Tomoaki Bungo, Seigo Ikegami, Yuki Iwai and Yoshinori Oda

by Brett Larner After a year of injury disappointments which kept him out of the Beijing Olympics, Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) has made a definitive comeback. A week after his professional debut in the 5000 m B-heat at the Mt. SAC Relays, the former Tokai University star ran a 13-second 10000 m PB of 27:38.25 to finish 3rd in the New York Road Runners-sponsored Brutus Hamilton Invitational on Apr. 24 in Berkeley, CA. Sato's time was just over 3 seconds off the Japanese national record and is the third-fastest ever run by a Japanese man. Prior to leaving for California he wrote on the Team Nissin Shokuhin blog , "Since these will be my first races as a pro and they're overseas I want to be myself again and do something special." Consider that goal accomplished: the two men ahead of him on the all-time list, Toshinari Takaoka and Takeyuki Nakayama, were both 10000 m and marathon national record holders. The 22 year-old Sato's future looks very bright. Click pi...

by Brett Larner Four distance races featured Japanese and Japan-based athletes on the second day of the Mt. SAC Relays meet in Walnut, CA. Former high school and university star Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) showed that he has finally overcome the illness which kept him under medical treatment for most of 2008, running a PB of 3:42.51 to finish 5th in the men's invitational 1500 m . Ueno was also entered in the invitational 5000 m but wisely sat it out. Kenyan Philes Ongori (Team Hokuren) easily dominated the women's invitational 5000 m , starting slowly and gradually accelerating to grind down her competitors. She finished in 15:23.33 nearly 11 seconds ahead of 2nd place finisher Christin Wurth-Thomas (Nike). Over 30 seconds off her PB, the run amounted to little more than a buildup practice run for the talented Ongori. In Ueno's absence, Honda teammates Suehiro Ishikawa and Seigo Ikegami, the top Japanese men in last month's World Cross-Country Championships, were the...

The Mt. SAC Relays meet in Walnut, CA takes place this Friday to Sunday, Japan time, with a fair number of Japanese athletes and at least one Japan-based Kenyan starting off their track seasons at the meet. At least two sites are promising live webcasts, offering a rare chance to see Japanese athletes in overseas track competition. Below is a schedule of events featuring Japanese athletes. All dates and times are Japan time. Italicized events are major distance events which do not include Japanese runners but will be worth watching. A complete event schedule is available here . Please note that the dates and times on the official schedule are local California time. Click here for the official Mt. SAC webcast. Click here for the Flotrack webcast. Friday, April 17 10:15 a.m. – Women’s Invitational 3000m SC: Minori Hayakari 10:40 a.m. – Men’s Invitational 3000m SC 11:35 a.m. – Women’s Invitational 10000m 12:10 p.m. – Men’s Invitational 10000m Saturday, April 18 4:00 a.m. – Men’s Ol...

by Brett Larner Click here for a gallery of photos from the 2009 World Cross Country Championships. Once again, Japan's junior women's squad led the way at the 2009 World Cross Country Championships in Amman, Jordan, scoring the overall team bronze medal while the Japanese teams in the other three races came up empty-handed. Junior woman Nanaka Izawa had the strongest individual finish of the day, 17th, followed closely by scoring members Erika Ikeda, Asami Kato and Aki Otagiri, and by 5th runner Chitose Shibata. The senior men's and women's squads had modest improvements over last year , the men finishing 11th despite missing ace Yuta Takahashi, and the women 8th, led by Yuko Shimizu's strong 18th place finish. Only the junior men showed a decline, the three members of 2008 National High School Ekiden champions Saku Chosei H.S. and aces Wataru Ueno, Kazuto Nishiike and Yutaro Fukushi coming in only 8th after last year's 4th place finish. Star runner Akinobu M...

by Brett Larner Yuki Iwai reaches the finish of the 2009 Asahi Ekiden in world record time. Click photo for video highlights. The clip of Iwai's run begins at time index 8:16. Still smarting from landing 3rd in the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden's sprint finish, Team Asahi Kasei came up from 3rd place to win the 60th Asahi Ekiden on Jan. 12 thanks to a stage-record run by anchor Yuki Iwai . Iwai covered the 16.7 km 7th stage in an astonishing 45:35, with the next fastest runner clocking 47:27. Iwai's pace was just under 2:44 / km, equivalent to 40:57 for 15km. The 15 km world record of 41:29 is held by Kenyan great Felix Limo. It was Team's Asahi Kasei's 3rd-straight Asahi Ekiden win and its 27th in the event's 60 runnings. Team Asahi Kasei rival Team Honda was highly focused on the win after a dismal showing at the New Year Ekiden, taking two stage best titles. After leading the second half of the race on the strength of a stage-best run by Ethiopian ace Hailu Mekonn...

by Brett Larner Team Fujitsu anchor Ryuji Matsushita won a spectacular three-way sprint finish over Team Nissin Shokuhin's Yuzo Onishi and Team Asahi Kasei's Tomoya Adachi to bring Fujitsu home in 4:51:55 to its first New Year Ekiden win in ten years on a windy Jan. 1 morning in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture. Both Nissin Shokuhin and Asahi Kasei clocked 4:51:56, with Matsushita a step ahead and Onishi outleaning Adachi at the line. Team Fujitsu ran in the second pack for the first three of the 100 km ekiden's seven stages. Former marathon national record holder Atsushi Fujita started the 22.3 km fourth stage in 4th place, passing all three runners ahead of him but being outkicked by one second by Team Komori Corp.'s Keita Akiba. Akiba clocked the stage-best performance in 1:03:04, with Fujita taking a creditable stage-3rd best, putting Team Fujitsu in 2nd place. Team Fujitsu's 5th stage runner Takayuki Ota likewise clocked a stage-3rd best, running 47:42 for the uphil...

by Brett Larner photo of Kaori Yoshida in Albuquerque courtesy of John Schrup In training for the Dec. 14 Honolulu Marathon, Kaori Yoshida (Second Wind AC) was the top-placing Japanese competitor at the Nov. 30 Great Australian Run in Melbourne, Australia, a new 15 km road event which attracted some of the top names in international distance running. Yoshida led a chase pack of four behind Olympic marathon silver medalist Catherine Ndereba of Kenya through 10 km in 34:26 before falling behind Kiwi Alica Mason and Australian Lisa Weightman. Ndereba took the win in 50:43, Yoshida clocking 51:44. Yoshida beat Olympic marathon gold medalist Constantina Dita of Romania by 48 seconds. Further back, Megumi Oshima (Team Shimamura) was 11th in 56:13. In the men's competition, Team Honda fielded two runners, ace Seigo Ikegami and captain Suehiro Ishikawa. Ikegami spent most of the race in the third pack, while Ishikawa sat in the fourth pack. Marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie o...

http://mainichi.jp/select/today/news/20081103k0000e050015000c.html http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/081103/spg0811031730009-n1.htm http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2008110300180 http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2008/11/04/04.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Last year's runner-up Team Honda took the win at the 49th East Japan Jitsugyodan Ekiden in Saitama Prefecture on Nov. 3, covering the new 7-stage 77.5 km course in 3:44:53. It was Honda's first win in 15 years and its 3rd win in the history of the event. The team, along with other top finishers, qualified for the Jan. 1 All-Japan Jitsugyodan Ekiden Championships, also known as the New Year Ekiden, in Gunma Prefecture. Team Honda's Ethiopian ace Yakob Jarso, who finished 4th in the Beijing Olympics 3000 m steeplechase in an Ethiopian national record, passed 6 people on the 9.5 km 3rd stage to put Honda into 2nd place. Takashi Horiguchi took the lead on the 4th stage, and after 5th leg runner Seigo I...