japan running news

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2013/01/11/kiji/K20130111004955310.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Their ultimate goal is the stuff of dreams: a medal.  With their current sponsorship set to expire at the end of March, all twelve athletes and staff members on the S&B Foods team appeared at a Tokyo-area press conference on Jan. 10 to formally announce their new contract with cell phone video game maker DeNA.  Team DeNA supervising head coach Toshihiko Seko , who made the Japanese men's Olympic marathon team for Moscow in 1980, Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988, was clear about his grand ambitions for the new project: "We are going to produce athletes who can win a medal in the marathon at the Olympics.  With the Olympics coming to Tokyo in 2020 we're not interested in anything else.  I hope others will share in this dream." As a starting point, the team's first goal is to win the New Year Ekiden national championships within three yea...

http://www.yonden.co.jp/press/re1301/1180944_1968.html translated by Brett Larner The Shikoku Denryoku company regrets to announce that due to the difficulties currently facing the power industry our executive board has been forced to adopt strict efficiency measures throughout the company, and that as a part of these measures the Shikoku Denryoku men's and women's running team will be disbanded at the end of the current fiscal year in March. The running team was founded in April, 1992 as part of our company's 40th anniversary with the aims of: Contributing to the development of sports within the Shikoku region and fostering an atmosphere of interaction and exchange with local residents. Building morale, unity and camaraderie within the company by uniting employees in supporting the team's activities. Over the last 20+ years through its record of achievement in the National Corporate Ekiden Championships and at major marathons, in the number of team members w...

by Brett Larner The last major national ekiden of the season takes place this Sunday in Hiroshima with the 17th running of the seven-stage, 48.0 km National Men's Interprefectural Ekiden Championships .  Like last weekend's women's race the National Men's Ekiden features 47 teams from each of Japan's prefectures made up of runners all the way from junior high school students to pros, and like the women's ekiden it will be broadcast live nationwide and commercial-free on NHK beginning at 12:15 p.m, with the action getting underway at 12:30.  Overseas viewers should be able to watch online for free via Keyhole TV with the password NHK, and English-language commentary will again be available via Twitter @JRNLive . The National Men's Ekiden entry lists are notoriously unreliable as predictors of final starting order, but based on what is available at this point 2010 champion Hyogo Prefecture  is the clear champion, with all seven of its athletes ranked amo...

by Brett Larner 22 year old Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) returned to his home ground of Hyogo Prefecture on Feb. 11 to win the 50th anniversary Himejijo 10 Mile Road Race . As a high school student Takezawa had won the high school division of the 2005 Himejijo 10 Miler, but today's win marks the first victory on the roads of his pro career. As in January's Interprefectural Ekiden duel with half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku), Takezawa stalked leader and course record holder Terukazu Omori (Team Shikoku Denryoku) throughout the race and beat him only in the last sprint. Both men clocked 47:33, over a minute off Omori's course record in cold and rainy conditions, with Toyo University grad Yoshihiro Wakamatsu (Team Tokyo Denryoku) just 2 seconds behind. It was Omori's second year in a row to lose at the line in Himejijo after last year's three-way photo finish with Sato and that year's winner Satoru Kitamura (Team Nissin ...

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/rentoku/sports/200904ace/01.shtml translated and edited by Brett Larner The 57th Hyogo Relay Carnival takes place Apr. 25-26 at Kobe's Univer Stadium Track and Field Grounds . A selection race for this summer's World Championships national team, in the wake of the Beijing Olympics this year's Carnival features the debuts of a range of new aces. One of the most eagerly anticipated is Masato Kihara (Team Kanebo). In his four years at Chuo Gakuin University, Hyogo native Kihara showed remarkable growth. From never once making the top eight in the National High School Championships to being one of the highest placers at last summer's Olympic Trials and likewise on the road in ekidens and half marathons, Kihara has become one of the brightest hopes for the future of Japanese distance running. Yet he still has regrets. Of last season Kihara says, "I didn't meet even a single one of my goals." Entering his senior year as Chuo Gakuin'...

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/flash/KFullFlash20090211070.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Terukazu Omori, Satoru Kitamura and Atsushi Sato in a photo-finish at the 2009 Himejijo 10-Miler. Ten days after finishing two seconds behind half marathon Asian record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) at the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon, the diminuitive Satoru Kitamura (Team Nissin Shokuhin) came out on top at the 49th Himejijo 10 Mile Road Race in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture on Feb. 11. The race came down to a sprint finish between the three runners with the fastest 10000 m times in the field after a slow early pace. Kitamura, Sato and Terukazu Omori (Team Shikoku Denryoku) all clocked times of 47:57, but the rookie Kitamura outleaned Beijing Olympics marathoner Sato and ekiden ace Omori to take the win. Sato was 2nd, with Omori taking 3rd. Sato is planning on running April's London Marathon but commented, "I'm still don't really know how it...

by Brett Larner Half marathon Asian record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) headlines the field at the 49th Himejijo 10 Mile Road Race on the national holiday of Feb. 11, just 10 days after finishing 3rd overall and as the top domestic runner at the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon. As he prepares for the London Marathon Sato will face a wide range of challengers including the runner who finished just behind him in Marugame, Team Nissin Shokuhin's Satoru Kitamura, and 2:07:52 marathoner Tomoaki Kunichika (Team S&B), but his biggest competition is likely to be the only other sub-28 minute 10000 m runner in the race, Terukazu Omori (Team Shikoku Denryoku). The field also includes American Steven Crane, the lone foreigner among the elite runners. 2009 Himejijo 10 Mile Road Race Elite Field times listed are PB marks for 10000 m and half marathon Terukazu Omori (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 27:43.94 / 1:02:14 Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 27:56.86 / 1:00:...

by Brett Larner Two weeks after running a course record 1:00:11 to win the Nagoya Half Marathon in his debut at the distance, Team Nissin Shokuhin's Masai Kenyan ringer Gideon Ngatuny won Kyushu's elite Kumamoto Kosa 10 Mile Road Race, clocking 45:15 and beating runner-up Hailu Mekonnen of Team Honda by 44 seconds. Teammates Samuel Ndungu and Jacob Wajuki of Team Aichi Steel came in together in 46:32 to round out the top positions. Curiously, Kumamoto Kosa organizers scored the four African runners, all of whom are based in Japan and run professionally for Japanese teams, in a separate 'International Division' with a one-minute head start over the 'General Division,' which was made up exclusively of professional Japanese runners including many of the African runners' nominal teammates. Although the International Division ran first and the 'winner' of the General Division, Ngatuny's fellow Nissin runner Kosaku Hoshina, clocked only 46:40, slower t...

by Brett Larner 5000 m national record holder and 30 km world record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica-Minolta) won the Japanese National Track and Field Championships men`s 10000 m for the third straight year at Kawasaki`s Todoroki Stadium on June 26. Under the Japanese Olympic selection system, an athlete holding an Olympic A-standard time will be guaranteed a spot on the Beijing Olympics team if he or she wins an event at this year`s National Championships. With the absence of Waseda University senior Kensuke Takezawa, Matsumiya was the only runner in the field entering the competition with an A-standard qualifying time after running 27:41.75 at last month`s Cardinal Invitational. His 27:51.27 victory here, while itself falling short of the A-standard, met the selection criteria and was enough to secure Matsumiya a place in the Olympic 10000 m. The other eight runners who broke the 10000 m Olympic B-standard in the National Championships are unlikely to be named to the team bu...