japan running news

The 76th edition of one of Japan's most iconic races happened Friday at the Fuji Mountain Race in Yamanashi. In the summit race, 21 km up the slopes of Mt. Fuji starting near 800 m and peaking around 3700 m, international-level mountain runner Yuri Yoshizumi won a fifth-straight women's title. Her time of 3:16:53 was the slowest of her wins by just over a minute but still put her almost 13 minutes ahead of runner-up Rieko Koshi , last year's short course winner making her debut at the longer, tougher distance. Ryunosuke Omi won the men's summit title in 2:41:31, 5 minutes up on 2nd-placer Taiga Yamaguchi . Defending men's champ Hiroki Kai was only 6th in 2:55:50, with last year's short course runner-up Jumpei Yamaguchi doubling back from a 100 km NR last month at Lake Saroma to take 12th in 3:00:30. Post-race Yamaguchi said, "I think I want to stick to road racing." Two-time winner Shun Gorotani finished far down the field behind Yoshizumi in 3:...

One of the only non-championship ekidens to happen this season, the Okutama Keikoku Ekiden was held for the 82nd time Sunday on its traditional hilly road course along a river gorge in the mountains west of Tokyo. One of the oldest and most old-fashioned ekidens in Japan, 43 women's teams of three runners each and 152 men's teams of six runners each competed, women covering a total of 11.1 km and men 44.8 km. In the women's race, running less than 48 hours after racing the 10000 m at Friday's National Championships, Futtsu Select Team  anchor Haruka Yamaguchi  started 49 seconds back from the lead in 5th. With only 3.8 km to work with she ran a new stage record of 12:34 to move into 1st and open a 40-second margin of victory. In the men's race, Akihiro Kaneko got New Year Ekiden-bound Comody Iida corporate team off to a good start with a 21:07 record for the 7.4 km First Stage. Comody Iida held the lead start to finish against Hakone Ekiden regulars Takushoku Un...

Starting in front of Fujiyoshida City Hall in Yamanashi prefecture, the 72nd Fuji Mountain Race took place July 26 with 4043 people entered in its summit and Fifth Stage divisions. Due to bad weather at Mt. Fuji's peak the summit division was cut off at the Fifth Stage, covering the same 15 km course with 1480 m elevation gain as the Fifth Stage division. Yuki Yamada (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) won the summit division race for the first time in 1:17:26, two-time women's champion Yuri Yoshizumi (Medifoam) making it three in a row in 1:37:23. Takuya Saito (Nichizei Business) and Kaori Yoshida (Team RxL) topped the men's and women's Fifth Stage division races, Saito winning for the first time in 1:22:10 and Yoshida running 1:37:10 to win for the second year. The winner of the men's Fifth Stage race last year, Yamada was set to take on the summit race for the first time this year. Disappointed at having to settle with a win over a course cut off at the Fifth Stage, h...

Just ahead of an approaching typhoon former Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage man  Shun Gorotani and established mountain runner Yuri Yoshizumi both repeated their summit climb wins in Friday's 71st edition of the iconic Fuji Mountain Race . Video: Finish: 五郎谷俊 Shun Gorotani（コモディイイダ）が2:39:28で第70回富士登山競走山頂コースを昨年に続いて連覇。昨年の箱根駅伝5区での快走で知られるトップ選手です。 #富士登山競走 #mtfuji pic.twitter.com/MjxrQxNjlI — Dogsorcaravan (@Dogsorcaravan) July 27, 2018 Already having established himself as one of Japan's premier uphill specialists, Gorotani had a lead of over four minutes by halfway into the run up to the peak of Mt. Fuji. Gorotani covered the 21 km, 3000 m+ elevation gain course in 2:39:28, almost 8 minutes off his winning time last year but 14 minutes ahead of runner-up Miki Ushida . Speaking to Dogsorcaravan post-race Gorotani expressed disappointment with his time, saying he couldn't move his legs at all. "I've still got a long way to go," he said. Video: Finish: 吉住友里...

Rio 10000 m Olympian Yuka Takashima (Shiseido) made a good debut Sunday at the Paris Marathon , finishing 8th in 2:26:13. Takashima started fast, on sub-2:21 pace until just before 30 km before fading. Her time was the 4th-fastest this year by a Japanese woman and best so far this season outside Japan, and it put her well within reach of the two-race sub-2:28:00 average route to qualifying for the MGC Race 2020 Olympic trials marathon. Kasumi Yoshida (Nitori) was 11th in 2:38:15 and Kanae Shimoyama (Noritz) 16th in 2:45:34. Yoshiki Koizumi (Raffine) was the top Japanese man at 24th in 2:20:29. Things went less smoothly at the Rotterdam Marathon . Running her third marathon in less than four months in a desperate attempt to get her MGC Race qualifying time this season, Hofu Yomiuri Marathon course record holder  Misaki Kato (Kyudenko) went through halfway on schedule in 1:13:22 before starting to slow, ultimately finishing in 2:47:25 for 15th. On the men's side Yuki Yagi (Y...

Celebrating its 70th running this year, the Fuji Mountain Race took place on Friday, July 28. As in past years, the first 10.8 km from Fujiyoshida City Hall at 770 m elevation to Umagaeshi at 1450 m was a gentle climb on paved roads. From Umageshi runners enter trails, and for the kilometer from Hanagoya at the 7th Station all the way to the 8th Station it becomes a very difficult 40-degree incline climb. After that runners pass through an area of rough volcanic rocks as they approach Mt. Fuji's summit. Peaking out with a net elevation difference of 3000 m, the 21 km Summit Course continues to gain a reputation as Japan's premier mountain race. Last year bad weather forced the race to be stopped at Mt. Fuji's 5th Station, meaning that this year's race would be the first time in two years that  runners would finish at the peak. In this year's 70th running, former Hakone Ekiden uphill Fifth Stage standout Shun Gorotani (Comody Iida) won in 2:31:34, an excellent ...

by Brett Larner Just 17 years old, 2016 Bydgoszcz World U20 Championships men's 5000 m bronze medalist Wesley Ledama of Kenya turned up at Akita's Towada Hachimantai Ekiden running for the Subaru corporate team to rock a new record on the 13.6 km First Stage.  Hammering experienced 32-year-old Ethiopian Kassa Mekashaw (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) into the ground, Ledama took almost a minute and a half off the 39:49 stage record set last year by Kenyan Charles Ndungu (Team Komori Corp.) as he handed off in 1st in 38:28.  Mekashaw likewise broke the record, next into the first exchange zone in 38:35, with Yuki Takamiya (Team Yakult A), the top Japanese man at this year's Tokyo Marathon and winner on Towada's First Stage in 2014, 3rd in 40:27. Both Yachiyo Kogyo and Yakult ran down Subaru on the 13.4 km Second Stage, stage record holder Bernard Kimanyi (Team Yakult A) coming just 2 seconds short of Shota Kai (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) for the lead at the second exchange zon...

by Brett Larner Ritzenhein and Shitara in NYC. Photo by Brett Larner. On a quiet weekend between the end of Japan's road season and the start of track season, three minor road races saw noteworthy results from university runners across the country.  Just two weeks after outkicking 2009 World Half Marathon Championships bronze medalist Dathan Ritzenhein  (U.S.A.) to run a 1:01:48 PB at the NYC Half Marathon, Yuta Shitara (Toyo Univ.) marked the first day of his junior year by beating popular marathoner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) by 44 seconds at the Satta Sakura 10-Miler in Saitama.  Aoyama Gakuin University's Naohisa Matsuda likewise had a big win at the Nihondaira Sakura Road Race, setting a new record of 1:12:22 for the tough 23 km course featuring a nearly 300 m uphill. At the Saga Sakura Half Marathon, Fukuoka University's Takuro Nakanishi , a former member of the pro Team JR Higashi Nihon, won easily in 1:04:19. Superb amateur Hiroko Yoshitomi (F...