japan running news

The SG Holdings men's corporate team announced on Oct. 1 that long-distance athletes Hyuga Endo and Yuichiro Nishikawa have joined its roster after leaving the Sumitomo Denko team. Endo, 28, won the Junior Olympics 3000 m while at Koriyama Nishi J.H.S. before going on to Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. where he was the the top Japanese placer in the 5000 m at the National High School Championships 2 years in a row. After graduating from Gakuho Ishikawa he joined the Sumitomo Denko team, winning the National Championships 5000 m in 2021. He won gold at the 2023 Asian Championships and represented Japan at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. "I will give everything I have as part of the team and work hard toward helping it win the New Year Ekiden," he said of his new environment. Of his personal goals he said, "I want to focus on the 5000 m and reach new levels to compete internationally." Nishikawa, 28, was a member of Tokai University 's winning teams at the H...

After a day off for New Year's Eve, the peak of championship ekiden season rolls on first thing on Jan. 1 with the 70th edition of the New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championship race. The top 40 teams in the country race 100.0 km in 7 legs in Gunma, starting at 9:15 a.m. sharp on New Year's Day. Unedited raw camera feeds from the live broadcast will be streamed live on Youtube above starting at 9:10 a.m., with the official TBS broadcast starting at 8:30 a.m. and streaming of the broadcast on TVer . During the race live results will be posted here . Every team has to requalify for the New Year Ekiden by running one of the 6 regional corporate ekidens in early November. Usually they're pretty similar in length and elevation change at around 80 km, making a rough comparison of where teams stand fairly straightforward. This time the East Japan race was only 74.6 km and the Kyushu race 89.3 km, meaning that going by average pace the East Japan teams had an advant...

Following last weekend's East Japan and Kyushu Region corporate ekidens , qualification for the New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championship wrapped up Sunday with 3 other qualifying races covering 4 corporate regions. As in East Japan and Kyushu, one extra slot per region was available in honor of the New Year Ekiden's 70th running to the top team finishing outside the designated number of qualifying spots in that region as long as the they finished within 10 minutes of the last team in the regular qualifying bracket. In the combined Chubu and Hokuriku Region race, Toyota Boshoku took over the lead on the 3rd leg and never looked back, leading the 6 qualifying teams by 57 seconds in 3:54:00 for the 7-leg, 80.5 km course. Just over 2 minutes back from 6th finisher NTN , the Toenec team scored the special qualification slot in 4:00:35 for 7th. Perennial top Hokuriku placer YKK had a relatively narrow win over Sekino Kosan 4:00:12 to 4:01:00, both teams going on t...

At the Tokai University Time Trials meet June 8 at Tokai's Shonan Campus Field in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, Kazuto Iizawa , 23, of the Sumitomo Denko corporate team, ran 3:35.62 for 1500 m, the second-fastest time ever by a Japanese man. His time improved on his already all-time Japanese #2 3:35.77 from the May 12 Kinami Memorial Meet and missed the 3:35.42 national record held by Kazuki Kawamura , 26, by just 0.20. Including the PB he ran his senior year at Tokai, it was Iizawa's third time coming in at all-time Japanese #2. "It felt like my legs completely locked up with 30 m to go," he said post-race. "It's really disappointing." His coach at Sumitomo Denko, Yasuyuki Watanabe , was positive about Iizawa's performance, saying, "That was really close. He'll get the NR next time." The race happened on Watanabe's 51st birthday. "I'd wanted to give Coach Watanabe the NR as a birthday present," joked Iizawa. Next on his sch...

The Sumitomo Denko corporate team has announced that Takuma Sunaoka has joined its men's long distance program. Sunaoka, 24, is a native of Tokyo. At Saitama's Seibo Gakuen H.S. he didn't make a mark at the national level but ran a respectable 14:14.75 for 5000 m. After entering Josai University he began to improve, and during his third year there he made his collegiate ekiden debut at the National University Men's Ekiden. Placing an excellent 2nd on the 1st leg in that run, he was put on the 1st leg two months later at the Hakone Ekiden, where he ran well for 7th. In December, 2021 at the Edion Distance Challenge he ran 13:19.96 for 5000 m, at the time the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese-born collegiate runner, and attracted attention for his track speed. Sunaoka was recruited by the Konica Minolta corporate team after graduating, and in January this year was 3rd on the New Year Ekiden 1st leg. At the end of March he quit Konica Minolta and started training at Josa...

After falling out of the top 10 for the first time in 3 years to 13th at this year's Hakone Ekiden, Waseda University is set to name Olympian, former GMO corporate head coach and Waseda alum Katsuhiko Hanada , 50, as its new head coach. Former head coach Yutaka Sagara , 41, is expected to remain on as head coach. Under the new arrangement Waseda hopes to regain its former stature. Having left GMO at the end of March, Hanada is already overseeing Waseda team training at the university's Tokorozawa campus in Saitama. Asked about his role, Sagara commented, "Nothing has been finalized yet." But according to an involved source, the decision about Hanada is final and only a few last details are still under discussion. Hanada ran well at the Hakone Ekiden during his collegiate years and was part of Waseda's winning team his third year at the school. After joining the S&B corporate team, he competed on the track at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 2000 Sydney Olympi...

Future Waseda University and Sumitomo Denko corporate team head coach Yasuyuki Watanabe 's final run on the Hakone Ekiden Second Stage, taking Waseda from 9th to 1st.

Ekiden season rolls on. Sunday in Fukushima is the 34th running of the East Japan Women's Ekiden , a miniature version of January's National Women's Ekiden featuring teams made up of the best J.H.S., H.S., university, corporate and club runners from each of the 18 prefectures in eastern Japan. Most notable on the entry list is Tokyo's Hitomi Niiya , all-time Japanese #3 for 10000 m and working her way back from a five-year retirement in hopes of making the Tokyo 2020 team. Fuji TV will broadcast the race live from noon to 2:30 p.m. Japan time. Following last weekend's East Japan and Kyushu corporate men's regional New Year Ekiden national championships qualifiers, the Kansai and Chugoku regions hold their qualifiers Sunday in Wakayama and Hiroshima. Top-placing teams from each region will go on to the New Year Ekiden on January 1st, with Sumitomo Denko and Chugoku Denryoku , featuring 2018 Hokkaido Marathon winner Naoki Okamoto , the favorites. The Kan...

https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20170411-00000009-sph-spo translated by Brett Larner Long distance runner Hyuga Endo , 18, joined the Sumitomo Denko corporate team this month after graduating from Fukushima's Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.  Endo won the National Sports Festival 3000 m his first year of high school and the 5000 m both his second and third years.  A leading candidate to become the star of the next generation, Endo has suppressed the desire to run the Hakone Ekiden and instead chosen to go the corporate road in a quest "to win a medal" at the Tokyo Olympics.  Sumitomo Denko head coach Yasuyuki Watanabe , 43, is planning in the long-term, saying, "I want him to have a long career." Wearing a brand-new suit, Endo took part in the company's entrance ceremony for new employees.  "I'm glad that's over," he laughed afterward. Thanks to a phenomenal last kick, Endo was undefeated at the National Sports Festival all three years of h...

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/1766072.html http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20170116-00000213-sph-spo translated and edited by Brett Larner The Sumitomo Denko corporate men's team announced on Jan. 16 that Kensuke Takezawa , 30, a 2008 Beijing Olympian in the 5000 m and 10000 m, has made the decision to retire from competition.  Via a statement from the company Takezawa said, "I will retire from active competition at the end of this season.  The last few years I haven't been able to produce good results, but the strong, heartfelt support and encouragement I've received from everyone has made it possible to keep going this long.  I sincerely thank you all.  Please continue to cheer on the Sumitomo Denko team." Takezawa graduated from Hyogo's Hotoku Gakuen H.S. before going to Waseda University , where he set the still-standing collegiate 5000 m record of 13:19.00 and as a fourth-year in 2009 broke the Hakone Ekiden Third Stage re...

by Brett Larner 日本高校記録！ 7分59秒18 pic.twitter.com/LxtOmTBsPa — 岡村新也 (@n2GVFoktHb5AuKw) October 16, 2016 Ekiden season is underway but there is plenty of track action along the way as teams get ready for the main road races.  A week after his third-straight National Sports Festival track title , 12th-grader Hyuga Endo (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) became the first Japanese high schooler to break 8 minutes for 3000 m when he won Hyogo's Sumitomo Denko Cup in 7:59.18 by a margin of more than 20 seconds.   Opening with a 2:36.82 first 1000 m , Endo slowed to 2:42.50 in the middle of the race, still on track to break 8 overall but behind pace over the next 600 m.  One of Endo's main strengths to date has been his kick over the last lap, and here a 59.92 second last lap was just enough to get him under.  Endo's time was a new high school national record and the second-fastest ever by a Japanese junior.  With a steady string of new PBs from 1500 m to 5000 m over the l...

http://www.sankei.com/west/news/150524/wst1505240046-n1.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Holder of the 13:19.00 collegiate national record for 5000 m, Kensuke Takezawa (Team Sumitomo Denko) won Sunday's Kansai Corporate Track and Field Championships men's 5000 m in 13:59.67 with a surge over the last 300 m.  Having just come off a long season off due to an Achilles tendon injury Takezawa nodded as he said, "I'm almost back.  I've grown since last year." Starting this spring, Takezawa's former coach at Waseda University, Yasuyuki Watanabe , has joined the Sumitomo Denko team as head coach, reunited the pair.  A member of the 2008 Beijing Olympics team, Takezawa, still just 28,  was optimistic of making a full comeback as he said, "Coach Watanabe understands me better than anybody.  Having him around changes my mentality."  Translator's note: Two weeks ago Takezawa ran 13:37.89 for 4th at the Golden Games in Nobeoka meet, h...

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2015/04/07/kiji/K20150407010124520.html translated by Brett Larner At a Sumitomo Denko men's corporate team press conference in Osaka, Yasuyuki Watanabe , 41, who took over as the team's head coach at the start of this month, vowed to make eliminating injury among the athletes under his guidance one of the key themes of his tenure as head coach.  Having seen his own career cut short by an Achilles tendon injury while still in his 20s, Watanabe told the media that he wants to tailor his coaching to suit the needs and abilities of the individual athletes, saying, "In Japan we train on the roads and run a lot of races.  It is critical that we reduce the risk of injury to nearly zero.  I want to make it so that athletes can train 365 days a year."  Sumitomo Denko president Masayoshi Matsumoto commented, "Ekidens are interesting but not a worldwide event.  Japan has become like the Galapagos."  Matsumoto indicated his ...

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20150309-OHT1T50100.html http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/feature/hakone/20150309-OHT1T50174.html translated and edited by Brett Larner On March 9 Waseda University held a press conference at its Shinjuku campus in Tokyo to announce the transfer of leadership at the end of the month from ekiden team head coach Yasuyuki Watanabe , 41, to incoming head coach Yutaka Sagara , 34.  Watanabe, who spent 12 years leading Waseda including one year as assistant coach, had a light and relaxed expression as he said, "I did all I had to do, and that's why I am stepping down now." Watanabe developed two Waseda runners, 2008 Olympian Kensuke Takezawa (now 28, Team Sumitomo Denko) and 2013 World Championships team member Suguru Osako (now 23, resigning from Team Nissin Shokuhin at the end of this month) into world-class athletes, and under his leadership in the 2010-11 season Waseda achieved an unprecedented triple crown of course record wins at a...

http://www.sei.co.jp/news/press/13/prs079_s.html translated and edited by Brett Larner The Sumitomo Denko corporation is proud to announce today that Beijing Olympics 5000 m and 10000 m Olympian Kensuke Takezawa , with bests of 13:19.00 and 27:45.59, has joined the company as a member of its men's long-distance running team.  "I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to make a new start now at Sumitomo Denko," Takezawa said.  "A lot of people have supported and encouraged me through some difficult times, and from the heart I offer my sincerest gratitude for being able to stand here today for this announcement.  Since the Olympics I haven't been able to become the kind of internationally-competitive athlete I hoped to become, but in this new environment I will dedicate myself to becoming the best I can be, not just as an athlete but as a human being. I ask for your continued support and encouragement." Sumitomo Denko head coach Toshihiro Matsumoto  c...