japan running news

The Ohtawara Marathon and 10 km took place Nov. 23 at DI Stadium in Ohtawara, Tochigi. 2803 people started the marathon at 10:00 a.m., with 2354 people finishing for a finisher rate of 84.0%. The race has a cutoff time of 4 hours, and all participants are able to use special drink tables. Most years there is a headwind blowing from the mountains of Nasu in the 2nd half of the race, but this year there was almost no wind and cloudy skies. Itto Otawa , a 23-year-old Tochigi local, won the men's marathon in a 2:13:04 course record. Otawa ran this year's Hakone Ekiden for Senshu University , placing 15th on the Ninth Stage. After graduating in March he was hired by the Shimotsuke Newspaper in Tochigi, where he works as a reporter. In August he ran a PB of 2:16:29 at the Hokkaido Marathon. "At work I'm mainly in charge of the Nikko beat," Otawa said. "My goal in Ohtawara this time was to break the course record. I've run a PB every time so far in the marathon...

January's Hakone Ekiden has a big impact on the shape of the fall season for Japanese collegiate men. The top 10 teams at Hakone run this past Monday's Izumo Ekiden , where 6 runners per team run an average of 7.5 km. 11th-place and lower run Saturday's Yosenkai, the half marathon used to fill the 10 remaining slots in the Hakone field and the lineup of the select team made up of top-placing individuals from universities that don't qualify as a team. The 42 teams at the Yosenkai can run up to 12 people, with the times of their first 10 finishers adding up to a team score and the 10 fastest teams going on to the big show. At Izumo a lot of the top teams were down on track times this season . At the Yosenkai it's really noticeable how much the level has come up. In 2023 only 2 teams, Daito Bunka University and Tokyo Kokusai University , had a 10-runner 10000 m average under 29 minutes. Last year there were 3, Chuo University , Tokai University and TKU again. This ...

With high humidity, mostly sunny skies and temps reported as high as 30˚ it was just too hot for fast times at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon qualifying race for January's 101st Hakone Ekiden. Individual winner and last year's 1:00:16 CR setter Shadrack Kipkemei from Nihon University and runner-up Brian Kipyegon of Yamanashi Gakuin University lasting the whole way on sub-1:01 pace and going 1:00:59 and 1:01:02 was really exceptional given the weather, but you could see how tough it was given that only five people went under 1:02 and seven under 1:03 compared to 11 and 38 last year. Top Japanese finisher and 1:00:31 half marathoner Reishi Yoshida of Chuo Gakuin University was only 10th in 1:03:29 and collegiate record holder Richard Etir of Tokyo Kokusai University 11th in 1:03:35. But ultimately the Yosenkai is about team scoring based on the total times of each school's first ten finishers, so while the unseasonal summertime conditions held times ba...

Ekiden season rolls on, and for everyone who didn't make the top 10 at the Hakone Ekiden's 100th running this past January that means a trip to western Tokyo's Showa Linen Park this Saturday to line up on the runway of the air defense base next door to try to qualify for the 101st Hakone Ekiden . The 43 Tokyo-area universities at the Hakone Ekiden Qualifier Half Marathon , the Yosenkai, each run 10-12 athletes and are scored on the total times of their first 10 finishers. The 10 fastest teams go to Hakone, and the rest go home except for the 10 fastest individuals from non-qualifying universities, who get the privilege of running as part of a select team. NTV will broadcast the Yosenkai and its dramatic announcement ceremony live starting at 9:25 a.m. local time Saturday. If you've got a VPN you should be all set. If not, try mov3.co/ntv . JRN will be on-site at the Yosenkai to cover it live. Chuo University , Tokai University and Tokyo Kokusai University look sure ...

Nihon University's Tsunehiro Nagano, left, on anchor stage of 1943 Hakone Ekiden On January 2nd and 3rd, 2024, the Hakone Ekiden celebrates its official 100th running. But much like the Boston Marathon's official 100th running in 1996 which included a military relay in 1918 as an edition of the race, there are questions about what's being counted in that total. Launched in 1920 by Japan's first Olympic marathoner Shizo Kanakuri as a way to cultivate the next generation of marathoners, throughout its history the Hakone Ekiden has followed more or less the same general route, starting in the area of Tokyo Station, heading south to the Shonan seaside, turning west toward the mountains, then making a tough climb on the final leg of its first day to the mountain town of Hakone on the shores of Lake Ashi. On its second day it makes a return trip along the same route, starting with a brutal downhill, then following the shoreline before turning to head into central Tokyo and ...

By Brett Larner Sunday was a break in the elite Japanese marathon calendar, but there were at least seven quality amateur marathons across the country, two with over 10,000 finishers ranking them among the world’s largest full marathons . Winning times were as fast as 2:20:32 for men and 2:38:51 for women, with one race featuring a rare European winner. A nationwide breakdown of the Feb. 19 marathons: Kyoto Marathon , Kyoto Total finishers: 15,714 Men: 1. Kosuke Murasashi 2:20:32 Women: 1.Yuria Ikuno 2:45:15 Kumamoto Castle Marathon , Kumamoto Total finishers: 10,944 Men: 1. Haruki Okayama 2:22:45 Women: Chigusa Yoshimatsu 2:56:20 Kochi Ryoma Marathon ,  Kochi Total finishers:  9,589 Men:  1. Daisuke Ikemoto 2:28:06 Women:  1. Chiho Matoba 2:58:51 Kitakyushu Marathon , Fukuoka Total finishers: 9,434 Men: 1. Shuji Tsukamoto 2:22:31 Women: 1. Marie Imada 2:38:51 Okinawa Marathon ,  Okinawa Total finishers:  8,303 Men: ...

http://www.sankei.com/west/news/170202/wst1702020048-n1.html translated by Brett Larner At the Jan. 29 Osaka Half Marathon , Osaka Prefecture police officer Shunsaku Shibata , 23, won the men's division in a course record 1:03:05.  Breaking his PB by more than 3 minutes, Shibata now turns his attention to making his marathon debut.  Interviewed after the race he expressed a strong desire "to make the Tokyo Olympics." Shibata graduated from Hotoku H.S. and Senshu University , enrolling with the police in April, 2015.  After studying at the Police Academy and undergoing training at the Miyoshima Police Station he was assigned to the Riot Police Company #1 in October last year.  Shibata had run long distance seriously since high school and his third year of university he had the chance to realize his dream of running the Hakone Ekiden, but shortly before the race he strained a ligament and was cut from the team.  Even as a police officer he felt that he "wan...

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2016/12/05/kiji/K20161205013852630.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Senshu University announced on Dec. 5 that assistant coach and Senshu alum Atsushi Hasegawa , 32, has been promoted to head coach, replacing resigning head coach Kunimitsu Ito , 61.  Ito is a two-time Asian Games gold medalist on the track and ran 2:07:57 at the 1986 Beijing International Marathon.  He was head coach at the Kanebo corporate team prior to taking his position at Senshu.  Under Ito's leadership Senshu made the Hakone Ekiden only once, in 2014.

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/shakai/201502/0007744581.shtml translated by Brett Larner At the first edition of the Himeji Castle World Heritage Site Marathon on Feb. 22, senior patrol officer Makoto Yukitomo , 33, of Suma Police Station Department 3 will run as an invited elite athlete.  In his student days at Senshu University Officer Yukitomo ran the most competitive stage at the prestigious Hakone Ekiden, the Second Stage, two years in a row.  As a rookie police officer living in the Himeji police dormitory his regular running course was around Himeji Castle.  "It's fun to run on familiar old ground," he said in anticipation of the starting gun. Officer Yukitomo was born in Yanai, Yamaguchi.  A member of his junior high school's kendo club, at a school sports day running event he caught the eye of the track coach who convinced him to become a long distance runner.  With a good track record of results in hard training he was recommended to and accepted...

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20150215-OHT1T50273.html translated by Brett Larner 4th in the marathon at the Seoul Olympics and Barcelona Olympics, Takeyuki Nakayama , 55, ran Sunday's Senshu International Marathon as a specially invited guest.  Nakayama ran 2:54:26, finishing 19th in the general men's division and far surpassing his goal of 3:30.  "I started up front, so I went out at a faster pace than I was planning," he said with a smile.  "I figured that if I kept running like that I'd break 3 hours, so that's what I did." In 1985 Nakayama set the then Japanese national record of 2:08:15.  Along with Toshihiko Seko and twins Shigeru Soh and Takeshi Soh he was one of the leaders of the Japanese marathon world.  Nakayama won the Senshu International Marathon in 1996 in 2:17:28.  "There was a headwind the whole way," he recalled.  "When I saw the bridge [at 40 km] I was totally exhausted." These days the freelanc...

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20120328-OHT1T00004.htm translated by Brett Larner Senshu University announced on Mar. 27 that former Team Kanebo head coach Kunimitsu Ito , 57,  will take over as head coach of its track and field program effective Apr. 1.  A legendary marathoner, Ito ran a best of 2:07:57 during his days as an athlete.  Athletes he has coached include marathon national record holder Toshinari Takaoka .  He retired from his position as head coach at Kanebo in October last year. Translator's note: Senshu Univ. missed qualifying for the 2012 Hakone Ekiden.