japan running news

After making a post-corona return last year it time for its 75th anniversary year, the Towada Hachimantai Ekiden returned this year for its 76th. Without enough teams entered the women's race was canceled, but 15 teams of 5 men each raced the 5-stage, 71.4 km race in Akita on Aug. 7. Daichi Kimoto got the Hokuriku Corporate Select Team off to a good start with a 36-second lead on the 13.0 km First Stage, but the Komori Corporation B team's Benard Langat cut that down easily with a 36:33 CR for the the 13.0 km Second Stage, putting KCB 2:07 ahead. That didn't last, though, as the Komori Corporation A team's Antipas Kibet dropped a 46:20 CR for the 15.7 km Third Stage to put his team into the lead by 2:03. KCA's fourth runner Takuma Shibata turned that into an unbreakable 3:37 lead with a stage win, leaving anchor Yusuke Baba to bring them home for the win in 3:51:14. The winner on the uphill Fifth Stage last year, Comodi Iida 's Akihiro Kaneko did it ag...

The Kasumigaura Marathon and 10-Miler took place Apr. 16 in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki. In the most competitive race of the day, Yushin Akatsu kept 2023 Hakone Ekiden winner Komazawa University 's streak of road race domination this season going with a win by 15 seconds in 48:07. Komazawa's Shura Miyagi was the second collegiate finisher at 4th overall in 48:45. Considering that neither Akatsu nor Miyagi made Komazawa's entry roster of ten starters and six alternates for Hakone in January, their success at Kasumigaura showed just how hard other schools are going to have to work this fall to stop Komazawa from becoming the first program ever to sweep all three major university ekidens in a single season two years in a row. In the women's 10-miler, Takushoku University took the top two places, Yuko Umeki getting the win in 58:02 and teammate Mayuko Ii 2nd in 58:57. In the men's marathon, former Nihon University Hakone runner Benjamin Ngandu won by nearly 5 minutes ov...

The 72nd Towada Hachimantai Ekiden took place Aug. 7 on a course linking Towadako and Hachimantai. 17 teams competed in the five-stage, 71.6 km men's race, where the Komori Corporation team scored its second-straight win in 3:50:26. The top local team, Akita T&F Assocation , was 9th. Six teams ran the five-stage, 28.1 km women's race. After getting caught on the anchor stage last year,  Tohoku Fukushi University  took the lead on the Second Stage and frontran the rest of the way to win its first-ever title in 1:38:31. 72nd Towada Hachimantai Ekiden Akita, 8/7/19 men: 17 teams, 5 stages, 71.6 km women: 6 teams, 5 stages, 28.1 km complete men's results complete women's results Men Top Team Results 1. Komori Corporation - 3:50:26 2. Yachiyo Kogyo - 3:52:40 3. Konica Minolta - 3:53:19 4. Tokyo Police Department - 3:55:00 5. NTN - 3:56:13 Top Individual Stage Results First Stage (13.2 km) - Hiroto Kanamori (Komori Corp.) - 41:00 Second Stage (13.0 ...

MGC Race finalist Mao Ichiyama (22, Wacoal) took 22 seconds off her PB to win the Hakodate Half Marathon in 1:08:49, moving up to all-Japanese #8 in the record books. Also MGC Race-bound, her teammate Yuka Ando , 25, was 2nd in 1:09:47 to give the Wacoal team a 1-2 finish. Men's MGC Race finalist Ryu Takaku (26, Yakult) was the top Japanese man overall at 2nd in 1:02:43. The Wacoal team seems to thrive at northern latitudes. Ichiyama secured her place at the MGC Race at April's London Marathon. "I've been feeling better and better since London and I want to keep taking chunks off my time," Ichiyama said. Ando was cool and professional after having been beaten by her younger teammate by 58 seconds. In June she had suffered a bit from overtraining, but, she said, "I'm doing the workouts in our training camp and bit by bit things are getting more responsive." Along with Ichiyama and Ando, the Wacoal team also has veteran half marathon national ...

Japan's most obscure elite-level marathon, the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon has announced its elite field for its 57th running on Feb. 10. Generally a developmental-level race with winning times in the 2:11 to 2:13 range, Nobeoka serves as a springboard for early career marathoners to move on to bigger things. Which hasn't stopped local Ryoichi Matsuo (Asahi kasei) from making it an annual event on his calendar, with wins in 2016 and 2017 and 2nd-place in an exciting sprint finish last year. Matsuo is back again this year to try to become only the second man in the race's history to win it three times. His main competition is Josai University ekiden team assistant coach Shingo Igarashi , 2nd in Osaka last fall and racing Nobeoka after training run efforts at the Xiamen and Dubai marathons in January. With a 2:15:02 best in Tokyo two years ago Takuma Shibata (Komori Corp.) should also factor in. The most interesting first-timer is Masamichi Yasuda (Aichi Seiko), a ...

The 71st Towada Hachimantai Ekiden took place August 7 in Kazuno, Akita on a course from Lake Towada to Hachimantai. For the first time the Towada Hachimantai Ekiden featured a women's race. Four teams competed over the five stage, 28.1 km course, with the  Shiseido  team taking 1st in 1:36:02. 21 teams raced the five stage, 71.6 km men's race, where Komori Corporation ran 3:45:16 to score its first win in 9 years and fifth title in event history. The top placing team from Akita was the Akita T&F Association at 11th. 71st Towada Hachimantai Ekiden Kazuno, Akita, 8/7/18 complete women's results complete men's results Women - 4 teams, 5 stages, 28.1 km Top Team Results 1. Shiseido - 1:36:02 2. Tohoku Fukushi Univ. - 1:36:13 3. Team Tohoku Fukushi - 1:39:49 Stage Best Performances First Stage (5.5 km) - Aoi Makara (Shiseido) - 17:44 Second Stage (7.4 km) - Yumi Yoshikawa (Shiseido) - 23:50 Third Stage (3.1 km) - Kana Miura (Tohoku Fukushi Un...