japan running news

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20130210/ath13021015250001-n1.html http://www.saga-s.co.jp/news/saga_sports.0.2395607.article.html translated and edited by Brett Larner 2009 double 1500 m and 5000 m national champion Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) easily won the Feb. 10 Karatsu 10-Mile Road Race in Karatsu, Saga, beating Kenyan sub-60 half marathoner Mekubo Mogusu (Team Nissin Shokuhin) while looking relaxed and fresh. Indifferently evaluating his winning time of 46:56, Ueno said, "I just ran at the pace I had planned." A member of the historic S&B corporate team set to disband at the end of March, Ueno will run his final race in the S&B uniform at the Mar. 17 National Corporate Half Marathon Championships in Yamaguchi. He called his performance in Karatsu "just a training run" for the half, looking confident as he said, "I'm in the middle of doing really hard training, so the time I ran today says I should do great in the half too....

by Brett Larner updated 1/19/13 with start list The partner event to last weekend's National Women's Ekiden, the final men's championship ekiden of the season takes place this Sunday with the 18th National Men's Ekiden in Hiroshima.  Like the women's event, the National Men's Ekiden features 47 teams from each of Japan's prefectures made up of top junior high school, high school, university and corporate-league runners.  Although there is less cross-division competition than in the National Women's Ekiden, the three high school stages and two junior high school stages in the National Men's Ekiden have often been the site of the first national appearance of future stars while the 8.5 km Third Stage and 13.0 km anchor stage always feature the rare sight of the top New Year Ekiden pros and Hakone Ekiden collegiate runners going head to head.  The National Men's Ekiden is broadcast live nationwide and commercial-free on NHK starting at 12:15 p....

by Brett Larner complete results coming soon Three major half marathons across Japan started off the morning of Mar. 4 in style.  At the 63rd Kanaguri Hai Tamana Half Marathon , Komazawa University graduate Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei) ran a solo 1:01:25 course record, the all-time #8 Japanese mark on an unaided course and bettering the 1:01:31 mark set by Fukatsu's former Komazawa teammate Yusuke Takabayashi  (Team Toyota) last month at Marugame.  Fukatsu ran together with Kenyans Kiragu Njuguna  (Daiichi Kogyo Univ.) and Dishawn Karukuwa Maina  (Team Aisan Kogyo) before dropping them in the second half of the race to win by over a minute.   Hiroko Miyauchi  (Team Kyocera) won the women's 10 km in 33:09, with Shuhei Kondo  (Oita Tomei H.S.) winning the high school boys' 10 km in 29:38. At the Shizuoka Sunpu Half Marathon , Shinichi Yamashita  (Takigahara SDF Base) won in a conservative 1:04:58 over Teikyo University's Katsunori Wa...

by Brett Larner Two of Japan's big spring 10-milers took place this weekend, the Himejijo Road Race on Saturday and the Karatsu Road Race on Sunday.  In Himeji, two-time 5000 m national champion Kazuyoshi Tokumoto  (Team Nissin Shokuhin) won his second road race of the year, outkicking Takuji Morimoto  (Team Chugoku Denryoku) to win the men's 10 mile race in 47:34.  It was also his second time winning Himejijo, having taken top honors at the 2006 race.  Tokumoto plans to run next month's Biwako Mainichi Marathon before leaving Nissin to take a university coaching position.  In the women's 5 km, Yoko Aizu  (Team Shikoku Denryoku) had an easy win in 16:17, 11 seconds ahead of teammate Yuka Tagahara . Sunday's Karatsu Road Race proved to be the bigger of the two.  In the men's 10 mile race, Komazawa University graduate Sota Hoshi  (Team Fujitsu) had the first big result of his pro career, outkicking double 1500 m and 5000 m national champion...

http://www.oita-press.co.jp/localNews/2012_132608542166.html http://www.373news.com/modules/pickup/index.php?storyid=37548 http://www.nagasaki-np.co.jp/kiji/20120110/05.shtml translated and edited by Brett Larner Japan's southernmost main island Kyushu was the site of most of the long weekend's road action. The 49th South Japan Long Distance Meet took place Jan. 8 in Kagoshima on a road loop course inside Kagoshima Sports Park.  A track 10000 m until last year, the open men's 10 km division saw   Takashi Ichida  (Daito Bunka Univ., formerly of 2010 national champion Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) take the win in 29:35.  His identical twin brother Hiroshi Ichida  (also Daito Bunka Univ. / Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) was close behind in 2nd in 29:38 with Chihiro Suzuhigashi  (Kokubu SDF Base) also cracking 30 minutes as he took 3rd in 29:59.   Click here for top results . A record 951 people competed in the Oita City Half Marathon on Jan. 9 on a cour...