japan running news

Just over three weeks out from the race the Hokkaido Marathon organizers have released the elite field for this year's edition. Scheduled for Aug. 25, Hokkaido was in a tough position this year, just three weeks out from the MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials and a few more from the Doha World Championships. Only three women answered the call, but despite the two higher priority races just around the corner the men's field is decent quality. On the women's side, 38-year-old Kaori Yoshida (Team RxL), a past Hokkaido winner, is the top seed with a 2:28:24 best in Nagoya two years ago. Alongside her are relative newcomers Chika Ihara (Higo Ginko) and Mirai Waku (Univ. Ent.) both with times in the low-2:30 range earlier this year. On the men's side, Japan-based Kenyan Michael Githae (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) leads the way with a 2:09:21 for 4th at Lake Biwa last year. Top-ranked Japanese man Shogo Kanezane (Chugoku Denryoku) was one of the people who came closest...

Snow and cold impacted road races across Japan over the weekend, but at the top level almost every event went off as planned. In his marathon debut, Shota Yamazaki (Yakult) downed two-time defending champ Ryoichi Matsuo and debuting training partner Takumi Honda of the locally-based New Year Ekiden national champion Asahi Kasei corporate team to take the top spot at the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon in a three-way sprint finish. Shaking off first-timer Keisuke Tanaka (Fujitsu) late in the race, Yamazaki did all the work in the lead trio with the Asahi Kasei duo hanging off both of his shoulders. Hitting a bridge with 750 m to go Honda surged into the lead with Matsuo following. Yamazaki fell back, looking behind him with 500 m to go and seeming to have settled for 3rd. At 400 m to go Matsuo went to the front and looked to be on track to become only the second man to win Nobeoka three times, but as the pair rounded the final corner Yamazaki came back with a kick that left both...