japan running news

The  Tokyo Marathon  announced some withdrawals and additions to the field for next week's race today. Names are as below with reasons given on the Tokyo Marathon website : Men's Marathon Withdrawals Suguru Osako (Japan/Nike) - declines to participate Benard Koech (Kenya/Kyudenko) - in poor condition Hidekazu Hijikata (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - injury Tadashi Isshiki (Japan/NTT Nishi Nihon) - injury Takumi Oishi (Japan/Suzuki) - injury Keigo Yano (Japan/Kao) - injury Tatsuro Oyazaki (Japan/Shindengen) - injury Men's Marathon Additions Hiroaki Furukawa (Japan/Tokyo University Grad School) - 2:16:14 (Kumamoto 2024) Women's Marathon Withdrawals Brigid Kosgei (Kenya) - in poor condition Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) - in poor condition Men's Wheelchair Withdrawals Jin Hua (China) - injury Women's Wheelchair Withdrawals Eden Rainbow-Cooper (Great Britain) - injury Women's Wheelchair Additions Yen Hoang (U.S.A.) © 2025 Brett Larner , all rights reserved

2019 Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon men's winner Amos Kurgat (Chudenko) and last year's women's champ Dolphine Omare (U.S.E.) were back on top with repeat wins this time. Despite a good field with four sub-60 runners the men's race went out too slow for Kurgat's liking. Within the first 5 km he was away, leading by 6 seconds at 5 km and never looking back as he won by over a minute in 1:00:20. The pack behind him came down to a five-way sprint finish, with past Marugame Half winner Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) turning in one of his better runs in years with a 1:01:37 for 2nd. Former Soka University top man Philip Mulwa (GMO) was 3rd in 1:01:38 in his corporate league debut, with top Japanese man Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) 4th in 1:01:40. Omare led start to finish in the women's race, initially with company from the debuting Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) and Ethiopian great Tirunesh Dibaba through 5 km in 16:06 but soon leaving both behind. Omare ca...

On June 3 it was revealed that 2013 Moscow World Championships women's 10000 m 5th-placer Hitomi Niiya , 30, will run the women's 3000 m at the June 9 Nittai University Time Trials as part of the Nike Tokyo Track Club. Her first race in over four years, the race represents her first step on the road to a comeback in time for the 2020 Tokyo Oympic Games. According to a club spokesperson, Niiya began running again last summer. Her goal at Nittai to clear the 9:50 qualifying time for July's Hokuren Distance Challenge series in Hokkaido, where she will run the 5000 m in order to secure the 15:40.00 standard for the 2019 National Championships. A native of Soja, Okayama, while at Kojokan H.S. Niiya won the 6.0 km First Stage at the National High School Ekiden three years in a row. Two of those runs broke the course record, with her time of 18:52 still standing as the course record. No other runner has ever broken 19 minutes. Together with her future London Olympics teamma...

an Abbott World Marathon Majors press release The Abbott World Marathon Majors Series XI Champions were officially crowned in London following the conclusion of the 2018 Virgin Money London Marathon. Tim Hadzima, General Manager of the Abbott World Marathon Majors said: “It has been another sensational series for Abbott World Marathon Majors. We started in London with a women’s world record from Mary Keitany in 2017 and continued with some astonishing races in each of our six cities.” Eliud Kipchoge won his third consecutive AbbottWMM title after winning the 2017 BMW Berlin Marathon and the 2018 Virgin Money London Marathon to give him 50 points. Second behind Kipchoge was his fellow Kenyan Geoffrey Kirui with 41 points. Kirui won 25 points with victory at the 2017 IAAF World Championships Marathon and added 16 more with second in the 2018 Boston Marathon. In third was Japan’s Yuki Kawauchi with 25 points after his victory in the 2018 Boston Marathon. Kawauchi was tied in joi...

2014 Copenhagen World Half Marathon team members Masato Kikuchi (Team Konica Minolta) and Risa Takenaka (Team Shiseido) lead the best-ever Japanese contingent at Sunday's Great North Run half marathon, appearing with support from JRN. 2014 Great North Run Newcastle, U.K., 9/7/14 click here for complete entry list Men Mike Kigen (Kenya) - 59:58 Mo Farah (Great Britain) - 1:00:10a / 1:00:59 Mark Kiptoo (Keya) - 1:00:29 Ezrah Sang (Kenya) - 1:01:03 Stephen Kiprotich (Uganda) - 1:01:15 Masato Kikuchi (Japan/Team Konica Minolta) - 1:01:17 Paulo Roberto de Almeida Paula (Brazil) - 1:02:30 Thomas Ayeko (Uganda) - 1:02:32 Keisuke Tanaka (Japan/Team Fujitsu) - 1:02:38 Hiroaki Sano (Japan/Team Honda) - 1:02:40 Sho Matsueda (Japan/Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 1:02:41 Ian Hudspith (Great Britain) - 1:02:53 Tariku Bekele (Ethiopia) - 1:02:59 Jonathan Mellor (Great Britain) - 1:02:59 Takamitsu Hashimoto (Japan/Team Komori Corp.) - 1:03:13 Luis Feiteira (Portugal) - 1...

30th Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km Road Race Nijmegen, Netherlands, 11/17/13 click here for complete results Women 1. Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 48:43 2. Berhane Adere (Ethiopia) - 50:59 3. Ayame Takagi (Japan/Meijo Univ.) - 51:08 4. Honoka Yuzawa (Japan/Meijo Univ.) - 51:27 5. Miranda Boonstra (Netherlands) - 51:41 6. Kim Dillen (Netherlands) - 51:53 7. Mio Muraoka (Japan/Meijo Univ.) - 51:56 8. Yurina Yokoyama (Japan/Meijo Univ.) - 52:38 Men 1. Leonard Komon (Kenya) - 42:15 2. Nicholas Kipkemboi (Kenya) - 42:32 3. Daniel Chaves da Silva (Brazil) - 43:49 4. Jesper van der Wielen (Netherlands) - 44:33 5. Tom Wiggers (Netherlands) - 44:42 © 2013 Brett Larner all rights reserved

by Brett Larner Scratches from the upper end of the entry lists for tomorrow's Great North Run include Koen Raymaekers  (Netherlands) and Andy Vernon  (Great Britain) in the men's race and #1-ranked Brit Gemma Steel , Irene Jerotich  (Kenya), Jen Rhines  (U.S.A.), Laura Whittle  (Great Britain) and Abigail Bayley  (Great Britain) in the women's race. 2013 Great North Run Start List Highlights Newcastle-South Shields, U.K., 9/15/13 Men Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) - debut Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) - 58:55 (Phoenix, 2006) Mo Farah (Great Britain) - 1:00:22 (New York 2011) Collis Birmingham (Australia) - 1:00:56 (Marugame 2013) Daniele Meucci (Italy) - 1:01:06 (New York 2013) Arata Fujiwara (Japan/Miki House) - 1:01:34 (Marugame 2012) Tomohiro Tanigawa (Japan/Team Konica Minolta) - 1:02:17 (Marugame 2013) Yuki Kawauchi (Japan/Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:02:18 (Marugame 2012) Jonathan Mellor (Great Britain) - 1:02:59 (New York 2012) Ryota Mat...

by Brett Larner photo by Mika Tokairin split chart courtesy of Dr. Helmut Winter Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for Hitomi Niiya . She received little more than passing mention, if that, in most English-language coverage of Sunday's Moscow World Championships women's 10000 m, but she deserves a lot of credit for making the race regardless of its predicable outcome. Prefigured precisely by her meet record 31:06.67 win at June's National Championships, where she took the lead just past 3000 m and ran alone right on national record pace to lap the entire field, and by the London Olympics where she led a significant portion of the race to make the top ten in a PB of 30:59.19, a performance that you would think should have earned her enough respect to be called by her name rather than just "Japanese girl" by at least one prominent American outlet covering Moscow, Niiya took over from struggling American rabbit Shalane Flanagan  after 3000...

by Brett Larner Running in their first road race since clocking 2:08:51 and 2:09:10 at March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, teammates Suehiro Ishikawa  and Masakazu Fujiwara  of the Honda corporate team both cleared the top eight at the May 26 Great Manchester Run , Ishikawa improving on his 8th-place finish at last year's race with a 28:56 clocking for 6th but Fujiwara, a member of Japan's marathon squad for August's World Championships, running 29:32 for 8th after coming down with a cough on race morning.  Double Commonwealth Games gold medalist Moses Kipsiro  (Uganda) won in 27:52 in a tight sprint finish over London Olympics marathon bronze medalist Wilson Kipsang  (Kenya) and multi-world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie  (Ethiopia), who set a 40+ world record of 28:00.  Unusually for a gold label race, athletes from nine different countries placed in the top ten. Tirunesh Dibaba  (Ethiopia) soloed a course record of 30:49 in the women's r...

by Brett Larner Moscow World Championships men's marathon squad member Masakazu Fujiwara and his Honda teammate Suehiro Ishikawa  will make a return to the roads at Sunday's Bupa Great Manchester Run 10 km for the first time since running 2:08:51 and 2:09:10 at March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon.  Appearing through the support of JRN, the two Japanese athletes will face a field including former marathon world record holder and four-time defending champion Haile Gebrselassie  (Ethiopia), London Olympics marathon bronze medalist Wilson Kipsang  (Kenya) and more.  The great Tirunesh Dibaba  (Ethiopia) leads the women's field along with home-soil tops  Helen Clitheroe (Great Britain) and Gemma Steel  (Great Britain) and marathoners Jelena Procopcuka (Latvia) and Christelle Daunay  (France). Fujiwara, the Japanese debut marathon and collegiate marathon national record holder at 2:08:12, will be making his debut on U.K. soil, while Ish...

2012 Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km Nijmegen, Netherlands, 11/18/12 click here for complete results Women 1. Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 47:08 2. Tiki Gelana (Ethiopia) - 48:09 3. Beatrice Mutai (Kenya) - 48:52 4. Lucy Macharia (Kenya) - 49:00 5. Gelete Burka (Ethiopia) - 49:26 6. Aki Odagiri (Japan) - 50:57 7. Merel de Knegt (Netherlands) - 51:43 8. Eriko Kushima (Japan) - 51:49 9. Hikari Yasuhara (Japan) - 52:14 10. Miranda Boonstra (Netherlands) - 52:23 11. Mei Matsuyama (Japan) - 52:59 ----- 19. Ai Furukubo (Japan) - 55:16 Men 1. Nicholas Kipkemboi (Kenya) - 42:01 2. Leonard Komon (Kenya) - 42:18 3. Nguse Amlosom (Ethiopia) - 42:28 4. Kennedy Kimutai (Kenya) - 42:29 5. Abera Kuma (Ethiopia)

by Brett Larner Three Japanese men from two rival companies were on the roads in Europe this weekend competing over the half marathon distance.  At the Great North Run former Meiji University captain Minoru Ikebe  (Team Honda) had the fastest time of the three, running just off his PB in 1:03:48, the fastest time ever by a Japanese man on the Great North Run course even though far off winner 2011 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon winner and London Olympics bronze medalist  Wilson Kipsang 's winning time of 59:06.  Former Team Denso runner and 2012 Olympic Marathon gold medalist Tiki Gelana  (Ethiopia) took 3rd in the women's race behind the outstanding debut of Tirunesh Dibaba  (Ethiopia) and runner-up Edna Kiplagat  (Kenya), the 2011 World Championships marathon gold medalist. In the Czech Republic at the Usti nad Ladem Half Marathon, 2011 World Championships men's marathon team member Yoshinori Oda  (Team Toyota) ran almost 30 seconds off Ikebe'...

by Brett Larner Women`s 5000 m - Heats 2008 National Champion Yuriko Kobayashi narrowly missed out on qualifying for the women's 5000 m finals, finishing 7th in the slower first heat in 15:15.87. As the fastest of the finishers outside the six guaranteed to advance Kobayashi had the best chance of advancing on time to the final, but it was not to be. In the second heat the top six finishers were all more than ten seconds faster than first heat winner Tirunesh Dibaba's time of 15:09.89. All three women who advanced on time came from the second heat; the slowest of these, China's Fei Xue, ran 15:13:25 to eliminate Kobayashi from contention. Japanese national record holder in the 5000 m Kayoko Fukushi was 10th in the second heat, running 15:20.46 and likewise failing to make the cut for the final. The Japanese team member with the fastest time this season, Yukiko Akaba, continued to show the surprisingly poor form she demonstrated in the women's 10000 m, finishing 12th in ...

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/080712/spg0807121021003-n1.htm translated by Brett Larner Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) ran 15:19.74 to finish 10th in the women`s 5000 m at the July 11th Golden Gala Meet in Rome, Italy, the third meet in the Golden League track and field series. Fukushi, who has twice set Japanese national records at the Golden Gala, finished nearly 250 m behind winner Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia). Fukushi commented, “I`ve always had good chemistry with the Golden Gala, but this time was completely pathetic right from the start and never got any better.” In March this year Fukushi suffered an injury to her left calf. At the National Track and Field Championships earlier this month she appeared out of shape, with little of her characteristic edge. The 26 year-old will now head to Chitose, Hokkaido where she will train until the Beijing Olympics. “This race gives me something to focus on during my training,” Fukushi said with a show of optimism, “so I won`t be going home ...