japan running news

by Brett Larner photo by Dr. Helmut Winter In a superb race led by Fukuoka Marathon course record-holder Tsegaye Kebede 's world record-pace second half 2:04:38 course record win, relatively unknown 23-year-old Koji Kobayashi (Team Subaru) was the top Japanese man, 14th in a PB of 2:10:40 in his second marathon. While national record-holder Toshinari Takaoka -coached 2:12 runner Hiroki Kadota (Team Kanebo) started the race off in the first pack and 2:11 man Yuki Moriwaki (Team JFE Steel) struggled from the start, Kobayashi, 2:10 runner Takeshi Kumamoto (Team Toyota) and 2:09:16 veteran Takashi Horiguchi (Team Honda) stuck with top American hopeful Dathan Ritzenhein on low-2:07 pace. Kadota soon dropped back to join the pack, but when Ritzenhein accelerated into high-2:06 territory near halfway the pack splintered. Kobayashi, coached by 2:08 man Wataru Okutani at Subaru, was the last to hang on, losing touch just before 30 km but holding on to 2:08 pace through 40 km....

by Brett Larner Takashi Horiguchi in last year's Chicago Marathon. Follow Horiguchi on Twitter. Photo (c) 2011 Dr. Helmut Winter Long one of the races of choice for Japanese athletes looking to run a fast time overseas and the home of Toshinari Takaoka 's 2:06:16 Japanese national record, for the second year in a row the Chicago Marathon is playing host to a group of developmental-level Japanese men.  This year's group is a step above last year's, including one 2:09 man, one 2:10, one 2:11 and two 2:12 runners. The Japanese federation has said that a sub-2:08 in any of the Majors will put the runner into the stable for next year's Moscow World Championships marathon squad, but of the men in Chicago only veteran  Takashi Horiguchi  (Team Honda) looks to be in contention.  After taking eight years to break his 2:12:06 debut time Horiguchi has been on a roll for the last year and a half, PBing twice and becoming one of eight Japanese men so far this year to ha...

http://www.chicagomarathon.com/CMS400Min/uploadedFiles/Chicago_Marathon/Press_Center/Press%20Release%2009-12-12.pdf Along with the six Japanese men in the Chicago Marathon field, 2011 Fukuoka Marathon winner Samuel Ndungu  is a longtime Japanese-based runner, Thomas Frazer  was a member of the Shibuya Ekiden course record-setting team, and Lucy Kabuu  is a graduate of Aomori Yamada H.S. and a former runner for Suzuki Hamamatsu.

by Brett Larner 100 km came down to a lean at the tape as Team Toyota won its first-ever New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championship title in a thrilling sprint finish over 2009 champion Team Fujitsu and 2010 champion Team Nissin Shokuhin . With an unusual number of teams losing key players to injury Toyota's chances looked good pre-race as it held the largest number of sub-28 10000 m, the fruition of several years under the leadership of head coach Toshinobu Sato who had previously turned Team Konica Minolta into one of the country's best. After two good opening stages Third Stage runner Yusuke Takabayashi set a new stage record of 38:02 for the 13.6 km course to put Toyota into the lead, and it remained in the top pack of four throughout the next three stages. Toyota anchor Takeshi Kumamoto started in 3rd and, when quickly overtaken by defending Seventh Stage winner Hiroyuki Ono of defending champion Nissin Shokuhin, latched on to close the small gap...

by Brett Larner 2007 World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist and 10 mile junior world record holder Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Team Suzuki) set a stunning new stage record at the 64th Meigi Ekiden on Feb. 7, the last major ekiden of the season. On a day of ideal conditions Mathathi covered the 9.8 km Fourth Stage, a point-to-point leg with a net elevation loss of 1 m, in 25:55. With a flat conversion to 10 km Mathathi's time would be a stunning 26:27, well ahead of the road 10 km world record of 27:01 set last year by Kenyan Micah Kogo. Mathathi also held the previous Fourth Stage record of 26:19 set in 2007. Takeshi Kumamoto (Team Toyota) likewise set a new stage record, running 17:20 for the 6.2 km Fifth Stage. Despite Mathathi's sensational run, which advanced Team Suzuki to 3rd place, Suzuki finished only 4th. Team Toyota took the win, never lower than 2nd place but battling the entire way against Team Aichi Steel. Kumamoto's stage record run put Toyota into position...