japan running news

The Asian Games were the main event happening over the last week, but there was other news happening on the roads and track in Japan and overseas. Like the road mile and road 10 km, the road 5 km is still a distance where the NR are pretty soft. The men's NR got a bit of a boost at Sunday's Adizero 5k Tokyo Challenge , where Itta Tameike and Riki Koike both went under the 13:30 NR set in May last year, Tameike getting the new NR in 13:25 and Koike right behind in 13:26. Shadrack Kipkemei took the overall win in 13:15, with Tameike 6th behind 4 other Japan-based Kenyans. The Adidas-sponsored event didn't have an elite women's field, with Natsumi Ishizaki winning the women's race in 18:05. The same day at Waseda University's campus in the western Tokyo suburbs, Raphael Dapash and Naoki Yoshikura raced to the line in the Road of Waseda 5 km , both clocking 13:38 with Dapash officially taking the top spot. Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage specialist Shinsaku Kudo r...

A late update on last weekend's main domestic Japanese road results. At the Niigata Half Marathon , Meiji University 's Shota Morishita dominated with a win by 34 seconds over teammate Hibiki Kikkawa in the men's race, clocking 1:03:26. Ayami Hirano of the Noritz corporate team had an even bigger margin of victory in the women's race, running 1:14:28 and finishing 1:14 up on 2nd-placer Mayuka Fujita from Route Inn Hotels . Complete results . The Matsue Ladies Half Marathon , which doubles as the National University Women's Half Marathon, saw one of the tightest finishes in its history after three-straight years of pandemic-era cancelations. Panasonic 's Yuki Nakamura beat top collegian Hikaru Kitagawa of Osaka Geijutsu University by 2 seconds to win in 1:10:48. A corporate leaguer also took the 10 km division, with Yuna Takahashi from the Shimamura team winning by over 6 minutes in 33:47. Surprisingly, Kitagawa's time of 1:10:50 was the fastest-ev...

Both the Sendai Ikuei H.S.  girls and the defending champ  Sera H.S.  boys led start-to-finish to win today's National High School Ekiden , Sendai Ikuei becoming the first team in the 33-year history of the girls' event to win the national title five times, and Sera extending its record as the only team in the boys' race's 72 years with double-digit wins to eleven. Cold and windy conditions with off and on snow meant no new stage records, but in both races there were  still fast times. 3rd last year, Sendai Ikuei put its three strongest runners first, leaving the last two stages to debuting first-years. Opening runner Nanaka Yonezawa  ran 19:15 for her 6.0 km stage to put Sendai Ikuei 30 seconds out front. Second runner Kokone Sugimori added 26 seconds to that, running 12:41 for 4.0975 km, with third runner Natsumi Yamanaka  putting in another 19 seconds with a 9:53 stage best on her 3.0 km leg. First-year Kurea Watanabe  added 1 last second on the 3....

At Sunday's National High School Ekiden  in Kyoto, Hiroshima's Sera H.S.  boys will be aiming for their tenth victory in fifty appearances. In their last win five years ago, the Sera boys set the current course record of 2:01:18 for 42.195 km in seven stages. With a 5000 m average time that makes it the fastest Sera team in history, can Sera mark its 50th National High School Ekiden with a milestone achievement? 3rd-year captain Konosuke Shintani and 2nd-years Cosmas Mwangi , Shota Morishita and Shota Shiode have all broken 14 minutes for 5000 m, the benchmark for a top national-level high school time . The average 5000 m PB of its seven fastest runners, 14:01.64, is the best in its fifty appearances to date. "The entire team has raised its level," commented head coach Shoji Shintaku . "There is no weak link. All they need is strength to go with their speed." But Sera's main rivals are just as strong. Defending champion Sendai Ikuei H.S.  of Miyagi r...