japan running news

The first two regional qualifying races for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships happened Monday in the two most competitive regions, the Tokyo-area East Japan region and Fukuoka-centered Kyushu region. The New Year Ekiden is pretty much the only major ekiden that doesn't have a seeded podium that guarantees top-placing teams a place at the follow year's race, meaning even the best of the best have to go through the formalities of a regional qualifier and all the disruption it brings to whatever fall racing schedule Japan's top corporate men might be trying to put together. 12 places were available in the East Japan race and 9 in Kyushu, and in honor of the New Year Ekiden's 70th anniversary one more slot was available in both regions to the next team to finish if they made it to the line within 10 minutes of the last regular qualifier. Logisteed took the top spot in East Japan thanks in a big way to a brilliant run on the race's lo...

Increasingly heavy rain throughout the day couldn't hold back four meet records at the 57th Mikio Oda Memorial Meet Saturday in Hiroshima, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze label meet. On the field, NR holder Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) set a new MR of 63.45 m on her 3rd attempt, then took that up to a winning 64.50 m on her 5th attempt. On the track, Rose Wangui of Sera H.S. won the U20 women's 3000 m by over 23 seconds in a MR 9:03.03, over 10 seconds under the old MR. Australian Georgia Winkcup took 5 seconds off the women's 3000 mSC MR, winning in 9:46.27 by almost 10 seconds over Manami Nishiyama (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo). The top 7 in the men's 1500 m all broke the old MR, with Nanami Arai (Honda) getting the win in 3:40.24 with the top 5 all under 3:41. In other races, quadruple U20 NR holder Keita Sato of 2023 Hakone Ekiden champ Komazawa University scored the first major win of his career on the track, holding back in the 1st half of the men's 500...

Entry lists were announced Feb. 6 for the 2019 National Cross Country Championships , to be held Feb. 23 in Fukuoka's Uminonakamichi Kaihin Park. The senior men's 10 km field of 165 is led by last year's 5000 m national champion Hazuma Hattori (Toenec), 2019 Marugame Half Marathon 4th-placer and new Aoyama Gakuin University captain Takato Suzuki , and Fukuoka native Shota Onizuka who ran the First Stage on 2019 Hakone Ekiden champion Tokai University's winning team. The senior women's 8 km features Yuka Hori , Fifth Stage record breaker at last year's National Corporate Women's Ekiden for national champion Panasonic, her teammate and Third Stage winner Nanami Watanabe and 2018 Asian Games 5000 m 6th-placer Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera). 102 women are scheduled to run. The national championships will also include junior men's 8 km and junior women's 6 km races. JAAF marathon development project leader Toshihiko Seko commented, "The...

It was one of those magical Marugame days when everything, almost everything, went right, when despite an uphill second half everyone, almost everyone, ran a PB they'll probably never touch again. Defending Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon winner Betsy Saina (Kenya) taking over a minute off her best to beat the debuting Ayuko Suzuki (Japan Post) to the line 1:07:49 to 1:07:55, Suzuki's time landing her at all-time #3 on the Japanese charts. 41-year-old 3rd-placer Sinead Diver (Australia) running a masters' world record 1:08:55. And more down the line. And on the men's side, Abdi Nageeye (Netherlands) knocking almost two minutes off his best to outrun former Ageo City Half Marathon course record holder Simon Kariuki (Nihon Yakka Univ.) over the last 5 km for a national record 1:00:24 to Kariuki's 1:00:43 PB. 3rd-placer Jack Rayner (Australia) narrowly holding off a fast-closing pack of five Japanese collegiate and corporate men in 1:01:36 with a...

For years the Hakone Ekiden has been a Day One blowout, the uphill Fifth Stage that ends it basically deciding the winner on Day Two. Last year 2014 winner Toyo University won Day One only to fall victim to the superior depth of Aoyama Gakuin University , which ran Toyo down to score a fourth-straight win at Japan's biggest race. This year Toyo again took the  Day One title, opening an almost insurmountable 5:30 lead over AGU. Bigger problems faced it, though, in the form of #1-ranked Tokai University just 1:14 behind. Tokai head coach Hayashi Morozumi was one of Japan's most successful high school coaches while at Nagano's Saku Chosei H.S. , beneficiaries of his cross-country-based principles including current marathon national record holder Suguru Osako . Since arriving at Tokai it has taken him time to get his system up and running for college-aged athletes, the last few seasons exceeding AGU on paper but coming up short at the main event. But today was Tokai...

Leading start to finish, 2015-2016 Izumo Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University overcame last year's winner Tokai University and a tough challenge from Toyo University to win Izumo's 30th anniversary edition. In hot and sunny conditions that followed the passing of Typhoon #25 AGU's Taisei Hashizume got things rolling, opening a six-second lead over Toyo's Akira Aizawa on the 8.0 km First Stage. Tokai's Yuichiro Nishikawa was 20 seconds back in 6th. Takato Suzuki increased AGU's lead on the 5.8 km Second Stage with a 16:26 stage win. Indoor mile national record holder Ryoji Tatezawa was next-fastest in 16:29, running down four teams including Toyo to put the defending champs into 2nd. The lone crack in Toyo's armor, Kazuya Nishiyama ran only 16:54 to drop Toyo back to 3rd some 34 seconds off the lead. Back in 4th place, Takushoku University captain Workneh Derese ran a 25:17stage best on the 8.5 km Third Stage to overtake both Toyo and Tok...

A wet and windy Saturday night featured high-level track time trial action all across the country. With the approach of the powerful Typhoon #24 the Saga Long Distance Time Trials meet was canceled, leaving Kyushu's runners home to wait the storm out. To the northeast, Hiroshima's Chugoku Jitsugyodan Long Distance Time Trials meet was far enough away to still be ahead of the worst of the wind and rain. Takuya Fujikawa (Chugoku Denryoku) ran the fastest 5000 m time their in 13:55.73, with up-and-coming marathoner  Kohei Futaoka (Kyudenko) leading the 10000 m results in 29:12.00. Further to the northwest, Yuma Hattori (Toyota) returned from a solid 1:01:40 PB at the Czech Republic's Usti nad Labem Half Marathon two weeks ago to win the Tokamachi Distance Carnival 's 10000 m. Hattori outkicked Kenyan teammate David Muhuhu (Toyota) to win in 28:39.57, the fastest time by a Japanese runner in Tokamachi's 30-year history. His alma mater Toyo University was a ma...

Japan's biggest university meet kicked off Thursday at a new home in the wildlands of suburban Kanagawa. Day 1 of the 97th Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships started off hot, humid and sunny, shifting toward cool and windy as the afternoon wore on. Not ideal for the day's main final, the women's and men's 10000 m. The women's 10000 m was probably the best race of the day. #1-ranked Natsuki Sekiya (Daito Bunka Univ.), the only woman in the race with a PB under 32:30, predictably took control early, challenged mid-race by the talented Rino Goshima (Chuo Univ.) but effortlessly dropping her after 7000 m. An unexpected challenge to Sekiya's second-straight Kanto 10000 m title came from unknown mid-33 runner Yukina Ueda (Tsukuba Univ.). As the other competition dropped away Ueda stayed locked to Sekiya looking fresh and ready to go. But in the back straight on the final lap Sekiya inched away, opening a 5-second lead to win in 33:29.53. Ue...

For the second Universiade in a row Japan pulled off a near-sweep of the half marathon medals, taking all three men's individual medals, women's gold and bronze and both team golds. Komazawa University's Kei Katanishi and Naoki Kudo went 1-2, leaving national university half marathon champion Kengo Suzuki over 30 seconds behind to hold off Uganda's John Kateregga for bronze. Wataru Tochigi took 6th to make it 4 Japanese men in the top 6, the only misstep coming from Takato Suzuki of national champion Aoyama Gakuin University who finished only 12th after scratching in the 10000 m. Not so for women's gold medalist Yuki Munehisa . Munehisa had led most of the women's 10000 m only to get dropped in the last kilometer and wind up outside the medals in 4th. In the half marathon she was bound and determined not to end up the same way again, doing all the heavy lifting to drop Turkey's Esma Aydemir with teammate Saki Fukui in a supporting role. Munehisa ...

Following up on Ai Hosod a's bronze medal in the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade women's 10000 m yesterday, Rio Olympian Kazuya Shiojiri capped the second day of athletics competition with 10000 m bronze of his own. Always near the front, Shiojiri helped shape the lead quartet that included defending silver medalist Nicolae Soare (Romania) and Ugandans Sadic Bahati and John Kateregga . All four took turns leading at a steady pace between 2:53 and 2:54/km before Kateregga fell off in the second half. Shiojiri lost a few meters to a short surge by Soare near 7000 m and, although he didn't lose ground, couldn't quite regain his footing. By the time the last duel between Bahati and Soare started Shiojiri was out of range, settling for bronze. Both of the lead pair clocked new PBs despite the humid conditions, Bahati scoring gold in 29:08.68 and Soare silver again in 29:12.76. Shiojiri rolled in 8 seconds back in 29:20.96 to take Japan's second medal of the Games...

The IUAU has announced a 38-member team for the Aug. 23-28 Summer Universiade in Taiwan, with 24 men and 14 women representing 26 universities. Rio Olympian Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ.) leads the team in men's long distance, with newly sub-10.10 Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) an expected favorite in men's sprints. Javelin throw and heptathlon collegiate record holders Haruka Kitaguchi (Nihon University) and Meg Hemphill (Chuo University) lead the women's team. The complete team roster: Men Sprints Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin University) Yusuke Tanaka (Nihon Wellness University) Jun Yamashita (Tsukuba University) Sho Kitagawa (Juntendo University) Takamasa Kitagawa (Juntendo University) Shusei Nomoto (Waseda University) Taio Kanai (Hosei University) Ryo Kajiki (Josai University) Long Distance Wataru Tochigi (Juntendo University) Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo University) Takato Suzuki (Aoyama Gakuin University) Kengo Suzuki (Kanagawa University) Nao...

by Brett Larner Karoki photo by Tsukasa Kawarai 世田谷246ハーフ 1. クイラ (コニカミノルタ) 1:02:27 大会新 pic.twitter.com/JUGqtXhD6z — EKIDEN_MANIA (@ekiden_mania) November 13, 2016 Marathons and ekidens aside, this weekend also saw high-level half marathon and track action.  At Tokyo's Setagaya 246 Half Marathon Japan based-Kenyan Paul Kuira (Team Konica Minolta) scored the third win in four half marathons in his career to date, setting a course record 1:02:27.  Kuira and university runners Takato Suzuki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and Yusuke Nishiyama (Komazawa Univ.) went out fast, ahead of the pack within the first few km and staying together through 15 km before Kuira put them away.  For Kuira it was a solid tuneup for his marathon debut in three weeks at the Fukuoka International Marathon.  For Suzuki, 2nd in 1:02:55, it was his first time breaking 1:03 in the half marathon, a result sure to elevate his position on the deep roster of Hakone Ekiden favorite Aoyama Gakuin U...

http://www.athleticsasia.org/index.php/k2-component/110-japan-leads-day-one-of-the-17th-asian-junior-athletics-championship-2016

by Brett Larner Championship ekiden season has come and gone, but Sunday saw high-level action at two popular and long-running ekidens at opposite ends of Japan.  In western Japan, course record-setting 2015 National High School Ekiden champion Sera H.S. of Hiroshima definitively took the win at the 79th Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden , beating Mazda , Chugoku Denryoku , JFE Steel , Chudenko and other corporate team competition with ease.  Sera third-year Paul Kamais opened a lead of over two minutes with a course record 42:04 for the 15.1 km First Stage, and from there Sera never lost the top position.  Mazda came the closest, closing to within 3 seconds by the end of the Fourth Stage, but a Fifth Stage win by Sera's Taiju Nakashima put them back out front with a margin that Sera's remaining two runners held onto until the end.  Sera covered the seven-stage, 84.4 km course in 4:07:29, the best-ever by a high school team, with Mazda ending up nearly two minutes back ...