japan running news

A fixture on runners' schedule for 79 years, the Fuji Mountain Race took place July 24 in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi. 3521 runners from across the country and around the world took on the challenge of racing up Mt. Fuji. The event is divided into 2 distances, the Summit Course of 21 km with 3000 m of ascent, and the Fifth Stage Course of 15 km with 1480 m climb. The Summit Course turns steep after the Seventh Stage, with runners slipping and stumbling on the loose rock on the trail as they near the peak. In the Summit Course race Ruy Ueda , 32, won for the second year in a row. Yuri Yoshizumi , 40, achieved an 8th-straight victory in the women's summit race. A local Fujiyoshida resident, post-race Yoshizumi said, "I mostly train on Mount Fuji too. All the local people cheering me on helped me to push harder." Takashi Mino won the men's title in the Fifth Stage Course, with Mirei Sugai taking the women's title. 79th Fuji Mountain Race Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, 24 ...

The 76th edition of one of Japan's most iconic races happened Friday at the Fuji Mountain Race in Yamanashi. In the summit race, 21 km up the slopes of Mt. Fuji starting near 800 m and peaking around 3700 m, international-level mountain runner Yuri Yoshizumi won a fifth-straight women's title. Her time of 3:16:53 was the slowest of her wins by just over a minute but still put her almost 13 minutes ahead of runner-up Rieko Koshi , last year's short course winner making her debut at the longer, tougher distance. Ryunosuke Omi won the men's summit title in 2:41:31, 5 minutes up on 2nd-placer Taiga Yamaguchi . Defending men's champ Hiroki Kai was only 6th in 2:55:50, with last year's short course runner-up Jumpei Yamaguchi doubling back from a 100 km NR last month at Lake Saroma to take 12th in 3:00:30. Post-race Yamaguchi said, "I think I want to stick to road racing." Two-time winner Shun Gorotani finished far down the field behind Yoshizumi in 3:...

Like Saturday's National Cross Country Championships going ahead in the face of the COVID-19 coronavirus scare, the Tokyo Tomin Ekiden, the championship ekiden for Tokyo citizens representing their home districts, held its 73rd running Monday along the Arakawa river in the northeastern suburb of Katsushika. 23 teams fielded 6 runners apiece, each of them covering the same 5.0 km stage under beautifully sunny early spring skies. The First Stage was the fastest of the day, with Takuya Saito of Meguro covering it in 15:00. Starting 40 seconds back in 7th, Shibuya 's second runner Gary Wilberforce moved into the top spot just past halfway and pushed on to open a 22-second lead over the Hamura team and win his stage on time. That dropped to 15 seconds on the Third Stage, but with another stage win from fourth runner Issei Mori Shibuya's lead grew to 1:03. On the Fifth Stage it fell again to 46 seconds due in large part to a stage win from 2nd-place Adachi 's fift...

Starting in front of Fujiyoshida City Hall in Yamanashi prefecture, the 72nd Fuji Mountain Race took place July 26 with 4043 people entered in its summit and Fifth Stage divisions. Due to bad weather at Mt. Fuji's peak the summit division was cut off at the Fifth Stage, covering the same 15 km course with 1480 m elevation gain as the Fifth Stage division. Yuki Yamada (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) won the summit division race for the first time in 1:17:26, two-time women's champion Yuri Yoshizumi (Medifoam) making it three in a row in 1:37:23. Takuya Saito (Nichizei Business) and Kaori Yoshida (Team RxL) topped the men's and women's Fifth Stage division races, Saito winning for the first time in 1:22:10 and Yoshida running 1:37:10 to win for the second year. The winner of the men's Fifth Stage race last year, Yamada was set to take on the summit race for the first time this year. Disappointed at having to settle with a win over a course cut off at the Fifth Stage, h...