japan running news

As if the results in Marugame weren't enough, university runners played a major role in the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon too. Expectations were that last year's Osaka Marathon winner Kiyoto Hirabayashi , captain of this season's Izumo Ekiden and National University Ekiden winner Koku Gakuin University and who set the collegiate and debut marathon records of 2:06:18 in winning Osaka, was going to dominate the race and the massive lead pack keyed off him most of the way. By Beppu standards pacing was fast, skimming just under 3:00/km through a 1:03:17 first half and 1:29:48 at 30 km. The lead pack was still 9-deep at that point, with Kenyans Vincent Kipchumba and Dominic Nyairo , last year's winner Derese Workneh , and 6 Japanese men, 2 from Koku Gakuin, 2 from Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University and 2 from the corporate leagues. Hirabayashi was quick to attack after the pacers stopped at 30 km, shaking off everyone except Kipchumba, 2:06:57 man Shohei Otsuk...

Japan's two big races this weekend both have a lot of excitement around them, but cold rain threatens to hold back the quality of performances people are hoping for. At the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon there are 19 men with times in the 58-60 minute range within the last 3 years, and among them sometime training partners Tomoki Ota and Kotaro Shinohara , 1:00:08 and 1:00:11 in Marugame 2 years ago, will be taking a serious shot at the 1:00:00 Japanese national record. Shinohara told JRN that he is targeting 59:45, and that Ota is his only real competition to get the NR. The rain forecast looks light with headwinds in the first half and tailwinds on the return trip, so between that and a front group including Alexander Mutiso , Cleophas Kandie , Bedan Karoki and Emmanuel Maru it's possible one of them, or someone else, will turn in Japan's first sub-60. The women's race features Dolphine Omare , Pauline Kamulu and Dominique Scott in the 66-67 minute ...

With just over 2 weeks to go the Feb. 2 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon has finally announced its elite field. It looks pretty good at the front end at first glance, but #1-ranked Vincent Kipchumba hasn't finished a marathon since his 2:04:28 best in London 4 years ago and has only run one race, a 29:05 10 km in 2023. #2-ranked Kiyoto Hirabayashi of Koku Gakuin University , winner in Osaka last year in a collegiate and debut record 2:06:18, is very unlikely to actually start, and #3-ranked Yohanes Ghebregergis likewise hasn't run a marathon since his 2:06:28 best in 2021 and only a single half marathon, 1:02:15 last spring, since then. So, that leaves a pretty tasty matchup between 2021 Tokyo Olympics alternate Shohei Otsuka , 2:06:57, last year's winner Derese Workneh , 2:07:58 in his Beppu-Oita victory, and Tesfahun Akalnew , 2:07:59. Another 5 people are at the 2:08 level, and then there are a truckload of 1:01 half marathoners taking a shot at the marathon distance. Ru...

Four of last year's top five women will be back at the Osaka Marathon , with 2023 winner and CR breaker Helen Tola Bekele returning to face runner-up Beyenu Degefa , Lisa Weightman , and new additions Fancy Chemutai , 2:18:11 in Valencia 2022, and Viola Jelgata Kibiwot , 2:22:57 in Frankfurt last fall. Misaki Ichida was the 2nd Japanese woman last year in 2:25:51 for 5th, and she's the top-ranked domestic name this year at 8th in the field. You wouldn't know Osaka is the third of four big men's marathons in Japan in the course of four months, as 49 sub-2:10 men are entered. It's a completely different field from last year, with the top returning runner being Shohei Otsuka , 8th last year in 2:06:57. Japanese men have to run 2:05:50 to have a chance of taking the third Olympic team spot away from Suguru Osako , and top three-ranked Stephen Kissa , Adeladlew Mamo and Yihunilign Adane are all positioned from 2:04:48 to 2:05:53 to help enable that. Realistically, ev...

  Could this be the biggest weekend of road racing Tokyo has ever seen? Maybe. Saturday is the qualifying half marathon for the 100th Hakone Ekiden . Sunday is the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon , but that’s just a minor counterpoint running simultaneously with the main event, the 2nd Marathon Grand Championship race , Japan’s marathon trials for the 2024 Paris Olympics. TBS will show the men’s race starting at 8:00 a.m. local time with streaming on  TVer , which should be viewable internationally with a VPN. NHK is handling the women’s race ad-free at 8:10 a.m., with streaming on NHK+ . You can try mov3.co/ntv and mov3.co/nhk too. JRN will cover it all live on @JRNLive . Japan first held a single-race Olympic trials race in 2019 ahead of the home soil Tokyo Olympics, and it was the toughest marathon ever to qualify for. The basic standards were the same for women this year, sub-2:24:00 or two races averaging 2:28:00, but even tougher for men, sub-2:08:00 or two races averaging...

With Sunday's Tartan Ottawa International Marathon the qualifying window for the Oct. 15 MGC Race , Japan's marathon trials for the 2024 Paris Olympics, came to a close. When the JAAF introduced this format for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, a total of 15 women and 34 men made the tough standards. This time, with identical standards for women and even tougher ones for men , 29 women and 67 men made it, double the numbers on both sides. At the MGC Race, the top two finishers will earn guaranteed places on the Paris team. The 3rd placer will have a provisional spot, with the 4th and 5th placers named provisional alternates. If anyone runs under TBA time standards at one of the winter 2023-24 domestic marathons they'll have the chance to steal the 3rd spot on the team from the 3rd placer at the MGC Race, keeping those races relevant and the whole lead-up to the Olympics exciting. Among women, all three members of the Tokyo Olympics marathon team, Mao Ichiyama (Shiseido), Ayuko Su...

With five 180˚ turnaround points and serious hills in its last 12 km the Osaka Marathon course isn't the fastest around, but that didn't hold back record-breaking runs in both the women's and men's races. Great conditions, 5˚~7˚C, light clouds and very light winds definitely helped. The women's race went steadily on 2:22 pace, an early group of six shaking down to just four, Japan's Momoko Watanabe (Tenmaya), favorite Vivian Kiplagat (Kenya) and Ethiopian duo Helen Bekele Tola and Beyenu Degefa , by 30 km with Australian a few seconds behind. Bekele made the winning break, pulling away to win in a course record 2:22:16. Watanabe, who came into the race with a best of only 2:30:42 PB, led Degefa in the home straight but lost out in the last kick. Degefa was 2nd in 2:23:07 and Watanabe 2:23:08 for 3rd, clearing the 2:24:00 auto-qualifying standard for MGC Race Olympic marathon trials qualification. Only getting faster with age, the 43-year-old Weightman ran K...

Along with yesterday's announcement of the Jan. 29 Osaka International Women's Marathon elite field , organizers have also announced the fields for the simultaneous Osaka Half Marathon . With athletes from 9 countries it's the most international field in the event's history, a welcome sign as other races like the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon a week later continue to restrict entries to residents of Japan. Osaka Half Marathon Elite Field Highlights Osaka, 29 Jan. 2023 complete field listing times listed are best in last 3 years except where noted Women Zeyituna Husan (Denso) - 1:09:24 (Sanyo 2020) Desta Burka (Denso) - 1:09:31 (Sanyo 2021) Kaede Kawamura (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:10:17 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022) Shuri Ogasawara (Denso) - 1:10:25 (Sanyo 2020) Mirai Waku (Univ. Ent.) - 1:10:26 (Sanyo 2020) Yukina Ueda (Daihatsu) - 1:10:49 (Osaka 2020) Wuga He (China) - 1:10:54 (Philadelphia 2022) Hanae Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) - 1:11:08 (Sanyo 2021) Hina Yanagitani (Wacoal) - 1...

The first two regional qualifiers for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships happened Nov. 3 in Saitama and Kyushu. At the East Japan Race in Saitama, 2021 New Year Ekiden winner Fujitsu outran 2022 champ Honda by 40 seconds for 1st. Honda started and finished strong with stages wins from its lead and anchor runners Hideto Kosode and Naoki Koyama , but Fujitsu had a solid lineup mid-race led by a stage record win on the Fourth Stage by Ken Yokote that gave it the lead it needed for the win. Most of the big names qualified without any surprises. Local supermarket chain Sunbelx did surprise, spending much of the race as high as 3rd before finishing an excellent 5th overall. Down near the 12th-place cutoff for New Year qualification, Saitama Ika Daigaku Group had a nail-biter as it dueled with the Comodi Iida supermarket team, ND Software and Komori Corporation to stay in the ring for its second-ever qualification. Despite a sub-par run from #1 man...

On Mar. 31 the JAAF recognized the winners of the new Japan Marathon Championship Series I at an award ceremony in Tokyo. Marathoners were scored on their best two performances from December, 2020 through March, 2022, with preference given to results from domestic races. The overall #1-ranked woman and man were named to Japan's team for this summer's Oregon World Championships , with anyone in the top 8 who hadn't otherwise already qualified for next year's MGC Paris Olympic marathon trials given a place on the trials starting line . A total prize pool of ¥20,000,000, roughly $165,000 USD at the current dismal exchange rate, was divided between the top three women and men, with the top-ranked athletes receiving ¥6,000,000, about $50,000, 2nd-place receiving ¥3,000,000, around $25,000, and 3rd-place ¥1,000,000, or $8,000. ✨ #JMCシリーズ アワード✨ シリーズチャンピオンには600万円、2位の選手には300万円、3位の選手には100万円が賞金として贈られました🙌 👇ライブ配信中👇 https://t.co/M7l5bFKrHQ #JMCシリーズ #マラソン pic.twitter.com/ryDkQ...

It's still kind of hard to believe that it's come and gone, but you couldn't have asked for a more symbolic choice to win the Fukuoka International Marathon 's final running. Coming to Japan from Kenya in his teens to attend Fukuoka Daiichi High School, finding guidance from Olympic marathoner Arata Fujiwara  and working his way up the Fukuoka podium every year,  Michael Githae  (Suzuki) came through to become the final Fukuoka champion in 2:07:51. In JRN's Inside the Outside - When the World Came to Fukuoka  Githae said, "This is my last chance. I'm going to run my best." Just before the start of the race Fujiwara, a 3rd-placer and twice sub-2:10 in Fukuoka, told JRN, "He's really confident. I think his training was better last year when he ran 2:08, but he really believes he's going to do it this time. In these conditions I think it'll go around 2:07:30, which would be in his favor." The pace went out hotter than that, with a 14...

All good things must pass. Tomorrow is the final running of the  Fukuoka International Marathon , Japan's most iconic marathon and last remaining elite men-only race. On paper it has a field to rival the one that broke records at February's final running of the  Lake Biwa Marathon , and with excellent conditions on the forecast and the attitude on display at the pre-race press conference it looks like Fukuoka might get the sendoff it deserves.  Former half marathon and marathon NR holder Yuta Shitara  (Honda) was confident and mature in his answers at the presser, saying his training has been the same as in previous marathons, that he is in Fukuoka to win, and that he plans to run a controlled first half and then push the second. Shitara also announced a sponsor change from Nike, which which he's had a relationship since college, to Puma. Shitara's twin brother Keita Shitara  (Hitachi Butsuryu), 2:12:13 in Tokyo last year, is also in the race, creating the like...

Meet 4 of 5 in this year's Hokuren Distance Challenge series took place Wednesday in Kitami, Hokkaido. The men's 5000 m A-heat was the race of the day, with Tokyo 2020 steeplechase squad members Ryuji Miura  (Juntendo Univ.) and Ryoma Aoki  (Honda) going 1-2 in PBs of 13:26.78 and 13:32.31. Still just 19, Miura moved up to all-time Japanese U20 #2 less than a second behind record holder and rival Yamato Yoshii 's record of 13:25.87. Another steepler, although not part of the Olympic team, Yasunari Kusu  (Ami AC) ran a PB of 13:48.40 to win the 5000 m B-heat. Three women went under 15:20 in the women's 5000 m A-heat, Kenyans  Agnes Mwikali  (Kyocera) and Tabitha Njeri Kamau  (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) getting the top spots in 15:15.82 and 15:16.73 and planned Olympic doubler Nozomi Tanaka  (Toyota Jidoshokki) 3rd in 15:17.93. Paralympic team member Misato Michishita  (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) was off the time she ran on Saturday in Abashiri but s...

The test event for the Tokyo Olympics marathon went off as planned May 5 in Sapporo on a course more or less mirroring the first half of this summer's Olympic course. Strong winds from the south meant a slow start over the first 8 km, super fast splits from the turn to the north just before 10 km until after 15 km, and a technical finish into the wind over the narrow and winding last few km through the Hokkaido University campus. After a slow first km, Olympic marathon women's team members Ayuko Suzuki (Japan Post) and Mao Ichiyama  (Wacoal) plus alternate Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) took it out hard with pacing courtesy of one of Ichiyama's male coaches. They stayed together on 1:08 pace until almost 18 km before Suzuki slipped away, Ichiyama kicking to win in a 1:08:28 PB and Matsuda closing hard in 1:08:32 for 2nd, likewise a PB. Ichiyama's time moved her up to all-time Japanese #6, with Matsuda picking up the #7 spot and knocking her coach Miwako Yamanaka  out of t...

With the Japanese academic and fiscal year ending Wednesday, this year saw one last blowout with decently competitive track time trial meets across the country. At the Asahi Kasei  corporate team's home track in Nobeoka , 2016 Rio Olympics steepler Kazuya Shiojiri  (Fujitsu) led five men under the 28:16.00 B-standard for May's 10000 m National Championships, winning in 28:09.10. Olympic marathon team alternate Shohei Otsuka  (Kyudenko) had a bad day of it, off the back in the first lap and finishing last in 29:55.91. Keijiro Mogi  (Asahi Kasei) led start to finish in the slower heat to win in 28:48.58. In suburban Tokyo, National University Ekiden and Hakone Ekiden champ Komazawa University  dominated the fast races at the Setagaya Time Trials meet. Komazawa's Takumi Karasawa  won the 5000 m A-heat in 13:40.90, with teammate Mebuki Suzuki  bouncing back from qualifying for the World University Games half marathon two weeks ago to win the 3000 m A-he...

How Yuya Yoshida 's 2020 started: He was a benchwarming senior at powerhouse Aoyama Gakuin University that had never made its starting lineup for the Hakone Ekiden. How his year ended: He was the Fukuoka International Marathon champion and one of the ten fastest Japanese marathoners ever. In between: The 22-year-old Yoshida came out of nowhere at Hakone in January, planning to give up running when he graduated in March and putting it all into one single run when he got the green light to handle Hakone's Fourth Stage for AGU. And he killed it, crushing the year-old stage record set by then-future 10000 m national record holder Akira Aizawa  and setting YGU up for the overall win. He said afterward that he'd done what he'd set out to do and could walk away from the sport with his conscience clear, but he decided to give it one more go and run February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon as the last race of his career. He crushed that too, running with almost eerie poise ...