japan running news

Part of the 2022 Skyrunner Japan Series (SJS), the Ueda Vertical Race and Ueda Sky Race took place May 3 and 4 in Ueda, Nagano. Put on by the Japan Skyrunning Association, SJS is the peak of the domestic mountain running circuit. Founded in 2015 and now in its 8th season, the series has made a fresh start with the Swiss company Norqain as its official timekeeper. The first day of racing featured the Ueda Vertical Race, 5 km with 1000 m of climb. Honoka Akiyama won the women's race in 54:31, Karen Kobayashi taking 2nd and Suzuha Kusuda (Team Sky Kyoto) 3rd. In the men's race Ryunsoke Omi (Team Sky Kyoto) took the top spot in 43:47, with Tomofumi Miyagawa 2nd and Miki Ushida 3rd. The 2021 National Sky Champion, Akiyama joined last year's SJS during its 2nd half. Ueda was her 5th win, 3 of which came in Vertical Kilometer races. "I'd been targeting the course record of 49:54 (set in 2017 by Yuri Yoshizumi ), but I wasn't even close," she said post-race...

2019 Skyrunner World Series men's champ Ruy Ueda won both days of the Tsumagoi Skyrun , a new trail race held in the mountains of Gunma over the weekend with 41 men and 11 women starting each race individually at 30-second intervals. In Saturday's Vertical Race , elite entrants had to do two runs up a 3.8 km trail with 600 m of climb starting at 1470 m elevation, with their final finishing ranking based on the combined times from both runs. On his first attempt Ueda clocked 23:45, beating Mt. Kosha Vertical Kilometer winner Ryunosuke Omi by almost two minutes. On his second run he went even faster, clocking 23:01 to seal up 1st with a total time of 46:46. Omi was 2nd in 50:57, with Shoma Otagiri 3rd in 52:20. Skyrunning national team member Yuri Yoshizumi took the women's race, one of the few people in the elite race not to negative split as she opened with an aggressive 30:49 only to follow up in 31:20 for a total time of 1:02:09. Mt. Kosha winner Takako Takamur...