japan running news

by Brett Larner Another weekend, another round of massive track time trials.  The Shizuoka Long-Distance Time Trials meet, always the site of the fastest 10000 m of the fall season, had a tight race up front as Edward Waweru  (Kenya/Team NTN) outkicked John Thuo  (Kenya/Team Toyota) for the win, 27:23.82 to 27:24.41.   Patrick Muwaka  (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) also cleared the 27:45 Olympic A-standard, 3rd in 27:33.14. A large selection of top young Japanese talent ran the same heat to shoot for the A-standard, but the only new athlete to achieve an Olympic mark was 20-year-old Chihiro Miyawaki  (Team Toyota) who ran a PB of 28:01.00, the tenth Japanese man this year to clear the London A- or B-standard.  Only five days after a disastrous university debut at the Izumo Ekiden where he was 13th on his stage, 18-year old Komazawa University first-year Kenta Murayama  was the second Japanese finisher, outkicking pro Takuya Fukatsu  (Team Asahi...

by Brett Larner click here for photos of the race With ideal weather across most of the country, Kenyans Dishon Karukuwa (Team Aisan Kogyo) and Titus Waroru (Chinzei Gakuin H.S.) ran through light rain to take down the course records in the men's half marathon and high school boys' 10 km divisions at the 62nd running of the Kanaguri Hai Tamana Half Marathon Mar. 6 in Tamana, Kumamoto. Back on the roads after running January's Osaka International Women's Marathon, last year's runner-up Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera), one of the nine Japanese women training in Christchurch, New Zealand at the time of the recent major earthquake, took the women's 10 km by a wide margin. The 19 year-old Karukuwa ran 1:02:20 to break the standing half marathon course record by 18 seconds. He was the first Kenyan winner in Tamana history and only the third non-Japanese to ever take the title. Runner-up Yukinobu Nakazaki (Team Toyota Kyushu) ran a strong 1:03:09, fast enough to...

2010 National Sports Festival - Top Results Oct. 3, Chiba Sogo Sports Center Stadium click here for complete results High School Boys' 5000 m - final 1. Titus Waroru (Kenya/Chinzei H.S.) - 13:39.43 2. Genki Yagisawa (Nasu Takuyo H.S.) - 13:57.37 3. Takashi Ichida (Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) - 13:57.76 4. Shogo Nakamura (Ueno Kogyo H.S.) - 13:59.88 5. Norihisa Imai (Gijuku Ishikawa H.S.) - 14:06.98 6. Kazuto Nishiike (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 14:07.58 7. Kenta Murayama (Meisei H.S.) - 14:07.91 8. Naoki Shimada (Hamamatsu Nittai H.S.) - 14:12.48 9. Ryoma Takeuchi (Tokai Oyamagata H.S.) - 14:13.14 10. Kei Fumimoto (Rakunan H.S.) - 14:17.73 Women's 1500 m - final 1. Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) - 4:12.38 - MR 2. Ayako Jinnouchi (Team Kyudenko) - 4:18.22 3. Yukari Soh (Team Asahi Kasei) - 4:18.38 High School Girls' 1500 m - final (10/2) 1. Risa Yokoe (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 4:16.90 - MR 2. Tomoka Kimura (Chikushi Jogakuen H.S.) - 4:17.93 - MR 3. Shiho Takeda (Tokiwa H.S.) - 4:23.39 Men...

2010 National Sports Festival - Top Results Chiba Sogo Sports Center Stadium, Oct. 1 click here for complete results Women's 5000 m 1. Tomoka Inadomi (Team Wacoal) - 15:30.34 2. Risa Takenaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:31.12 3. Noriko Matsuoka (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 15:34.77 4. Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 15:35.95 5. Hikari Yoshimoto (Bukkyo Univ.) - 15:37.72 6. Ayuko Suzuki (Meijo Univ.) - 15:37.83 7. Shoko Mori (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 15:44.62 8. Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) - 15:45.97 9. Saori Yamashita (Team Hokuren) - 15:52.37 10. Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 15:56.93 Junior Men's 5000 m - Heat 1 1. Kazuto Nishiike (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 14:06.46 2. Kenta Murayama (Meisei H.S.) - 14:07.03 3. Shogo Nakamura (Ueno Kogyo H.S.) - 14:07.34 Junior Men's 5000 m - Heat 2 1. Titus Waroru (Kenya/Chinzei H.S.) - 13:58.49 2. Takashi Ichida (Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) - 14:08.23 3. Genki Yagisawa (Nasu Takuyo H.S.) - 14:21.14

by Brett Larner Fresh back from New Zealand where she was spotted at Rikuren's marathon training camp by JRN reader Jason Lawrence, 3000 m, 5000 m and half marathon national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) ran a solo 31:57 10 km course record at the 61st Kanaguri Hai Tamana Road Race in Kumamoto on Mar. 7 to become the first woman to break 32 minutes in the 25 years that the women's 10 km has been part of the event. Running alone and unpressured with her nearest competition nearly a minute behind, Fukushi's time would have put her 4th in last week's much-heralded World's Best 10 km in San Juan, Puerto Rico and is the latest sign that she is back to her best. Last year's winner Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) finished 2nd in 32:43, while Mika Okunaga (Team Kyudenko) was 3rd in 33:29 in a tuneup for next week's Nagoya International Women's Marathon. The course record also fell in the high school boys' 10 km, where Kenyan students took the...