japan running news

Shinya Wada 's T11 marathon world record, 24-year-old duo Kazuya Nishiyama and Yohei Ikeda running the two fastest Japanese debut marathons ever, and South African Stephen Mokoka and Mongolian Jamsran Olonbayar each coming within 10 seconds of their NR made the Osaka Marathon something special this year. But they weren't the only records and near-misses on the Japanese scene this weekend. In Spain, women-only half marathon NR holder Rino Goshima of 2022 National Corporate Women's Ekiden champ team Shiseido ran a 30:55 road 10 km NR for 3rd in the Maraton de Castellon's mixed-gender 10 km race . With the previous record having stood at just 31:44 for a women-only race and 31:49 for a mixed race it was a pretty soft record to break, but given how often top-level Japanese women run under that, even under 31 minutes, on the long stages at ekidens it was good to see someone take a serious swing at putting a quality mark in the books. Her teammates Tomoka Kimura and ...

At a press conference on Feb. 19, Soichi Kataoka , mayor of Soja, Okayama, said that the Feb. 23 Soja Kibiji Marathon will go ahead as scheduled. As concern over the COVID-19 coronavirus continues to spread throughout Japan races scheduled for the next few weeks have been canceling one after another. Kataoka bucked the trend, saying that organizers would take every step possible such as distributing disinfectants at the race venue to make sure it could be staged safely. "What is this trend of canceling everything that brings people together?" he said. The Soja Kibiji Marathon has 21,000 entrants from across the country, of whom 18,000 live within Okayama prefecture. It has no entrants residing abroad. If the situation worsens, for example if cases of infection with the virus within Okayama are confirmed before Sunday, Kataoka indicated that additional measures including cancelation will be considered. At the same time, other events within Okayama have had cancelations....

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/region/news/130109/oky13010902020003-n1.htm translated by Brett Larner On the occasion of its 15th anniversary running, the Feb. 24 Soja Kibiji Marathon in Soja, Okayama will for the first time be selling naming rights to the event.  Race organizers will accept bids from potential sponsors through Jan. 15, with target bids beginning at 2,500,000 yen for the half marathon division and 2,000,000 yen for the 10 km division. Sponsors' company names and logos will be printed on all entrants' number bibs. Both the half marathon and 10 km are JAAF-certified courses.  The 10 km bears the subtitle "The Hitomi Niiya 10 km" in honor of Soja native and London Olympics 5000 m and 10000 m runner Hitomi Niiya  (Team Univ. Ent.).  In addition to the half marathon and 10 km divisions, the event also includes uncertified full marathon, 3 km, 5 km and 700 m family run divisions.  Entries are open until Jan 18.  Public promotion of the event be...