japan running news

http://www.asahi.com/sports/spo/SEB201101080004.html translated by Brett Larner The ekiden that decides who is #1 in Japan. Once known by that phrase, the curtain is set to fall on the 60+ year history of the Asahi Ekiden . Many famous athletes' careers were born on the winding, hilly roads joining Fukuoka and Kita-Kyushu, but the sound of their footsteps on the seven-stage, 99.9 km course will be heard for the last time on Jan. 10. Team Yawata Iron & Steel won the first running of the Asahi Ekiden in 1950. At the fourth running, Hakone Ekiden champion Chuo University took the win in its first appearance. It was the only time a university team ever won, but following Chuo's victory Hakone-winning teams were invited to do battle against professional teams to decide who was the best in Japan. A Japanese creation, the 'ekiden' began in 1917 with the Tokaido Ekiden as a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Tokyo becoming the national capital. The name of the race, c...

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/item/79701 translated by Brett Larner The next Taniguchi is ready to challenge the marathon! At the Mar. 1 Biwako Mainichi Marathon, Satoru Sasaki (23, Team Asahi Kasei), whose coach Takeshi Soh calls him "like Hiromi Taniguchi," will debut at the 42.195 km distance. Grabbing attention with a stage win on the New Year Ekiden's 5th leg in only his first year as a professional runner, all eyes are fixed upon this new star. His goal is to earn his ticket to August's World Championships in Berlin. Sasaki has been a corporate runner for less than a year, but even at this early stage of his career he has the personality of a craftsman. "Attention? Are you talking about me? Well, regardless, this time I just want to get some idea of what the marathon is all about." He has no bold predictions, choosing his words carefully as he talks about his ambitions. Sasaki began practicing with Team Asahi Kasei at its base in Nobeoka, Miyazaki P...

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/news/20090107k0000m050022000c.html http://www.47news.jp/CN/200901/CN2009010601000557.html translated and edited by Brett Larner On Jan. 6, 20 year old Maki Suzawa (Team Kyocera) won the 29th Yamazaki Women's Road Race half marathon, breaking her PB by 1:07 to take her first victory in 1:11:22. 46 elite women ran the course from the Prefectural Office building in Miyazaki city along Kusunamiki Street to the Miyazaki Prefectural Sports Park . With 200 m to go Suzawa broke from the lead pack of four to win a sprint finish. Madoka Ogi (Team Juhachi Ginko) and Ruth Wanjiru (Second Wind AC), both in training for the Jan. 25 Osaka International Women's Marathon, were 2nd and 3rd, with Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Oki) coming in 4th. Yukari Soh, daughter of marathon great Takeshi Soh, who now coaches her at Team Asahi Kasei, was 10th in her half marathon debut. Temperatures at the start were 15 degrees with 43% humidity and northerly winds at 0.7 m/s. 20...

http://www.iaaf.org/OLY08/news/kind=103/newsid=47356.html The announcers on the Japanese television coverage of the Beijing Olympics men's marathon, including marathon legends Hiromi Taniguchi and Takeshi Soh, and later news coverage stressed that Wanjiru has trained in Japan since his mid-teens but did not mention that after returning to Kenya for training earlier this summer he sent lawyers to notify Team Toyota Kyushu that he would not be returning. Wanjiru gave an interview in Japanese after his Olympic win, thanking the Japanese public for its support. Wanjiru's medal was the first-ever marathon gold by a Kenyan man. Both of Kenya's previous Olympic medalists in the men's marathon, Erick Wainaina (bronze, Atlanta, 1996; silver, Sydney, 2000) and Douglas Wakiihuri (silver, Seoul, 1988) also lived and trained in Japan before winning their medals.

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/local/20080225/20080225_001.shtml translated by Brett Larner Cutting through the strong headwind without struggle to run away to the goal line, Masaya Shimizu 's 4th marathon was his 1st perfect race. "I ran 120% today. Knowing I won by running perfectly is the best feeling I've ever had," the laurel-crowned king of the Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon said with a shaky voice. Shimizu, 27, took a potential disaster and reshaped it into a tool with which to forge his dream race. At the drink station just after the pace makers dropped out at 30 km, he was unable to grab his special drink. "Some dumbass put my bottle too far back on the table to reach. I missed it and didn't have any choice except to just go without it." Instead, he put on a spurt which caught most of the other leaders off guard, breaking up the pack and reducing it from 10 runners to 4. Shimizu led the pack into the biting headwind. "I didn't want to ...

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/local/20080208/20080208_001.shtml translated by Brett Larner On Feb. 7 the organizing committee of the 46th Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon, sponsored by Kyushu Rikuren, Nobeoka City and the Nishi Nihon Newspaper Group, held a press conference at Nobeoka City Hall in Miyazaki Prefecture to announce the elite field for this year's race, to be held on Feb. 24. The invited field includes 24 athletes, 7 more than last year, with total entries standing at 356 runners, also up from last year. The elite field includes several members of local team Asahi Kasei. Muneyuki Ojima, the fastest man in the field with a PB of 2:08:43, will be running his final race before retiring. Also appearing from Asahi Kasei are Fumiyuki Watanabe, who was injured and had to withdraw from last year's race, and Masaya Shimizu. These athletes will all be spurred on by the extra motivation of having watched their teammate Tomoya Adachi win the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon on Feb....

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/local/baseball/20080204/20080204_003.shtml translated by Brett Larner Nothing is sweeter than a hometown win! At the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon on Feb. 3, Tomoya Adachi (22, Team Asahi Kasei) of Oita was the first runner back to the Oita Civic Track, winning his debut marathon in a time of 2:11:59. Moving up from the chase pack as an individual entrant rather than as one of the invited elites, Adachi overtook leader Elijah Mutai (Kenya) just before the 39 km point, maintaining the lead unchallenged all the way to the goal line. Yoichi Watanabe (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) was 6th in 2:15:17 and Tomokazu Sakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) was 9th in 2:17:00. Running in his team's last event before it is disbanded later this year, Tokio Yamazaki of Team Toshiba LSI finished well in 10th place. Mutai dropped out of the race at the 40 km point. Conditions at the start were 10.5 degrees and 68% humidity, with 1.5 m/s NW winds. After breaking the goal ta...

by Brett Larner While much of the rest of Japan struggled with heavy snow, clear skies, cool temperatures and gentle winds greeted the runners in the 42nd Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon in Oita Prefecture. Beppu-Oita, or Betsudai as the race is usually known, has the reputation of being a development for younger runners to break through into the front ranks of Japanese marathoning. This year's race lived up to the event's reputation. A large pack of 16 runners with 2 pacemakers ran together through the first half of the race, passing 5 km in 15:19. 2003 L.A. Marathon winner Mark Yatich was the first to drop off the pack. Race commentators passed along their condolensces to Yatich, whose older brother was killed last week in the ongoing strife within Kenya. By 10 km the pack was down to 14 runners plus the pacemakers, going through the mark in 30:29. 15 km (45:50) and 20 km (1:01:16) passed mostly without event. Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki's Yoichi Watanabe slipped and fell...