japan running news

WR holder Agnes Ngetich  soloed a fast one at the 54th edition of the Mastercard New York Mini 10k, leading inside the first mile and pulling away the rest of the race to run a 30:07 CR for the win, the fastest time ever on U.S. soil albeit on a slightly net downhill course. On a warm day that saw over 10,000 women finish  Tsigie Gebreselama  was on her own most of the way too, a distant 2nd in 30:53 and 17 seconds up on past champ Hellen Obiri . Further back, 2026 World University Cross Country bronze medalist Amisa Murayama  and 2025 Morinomiyako Ekiden 3rd leg CR breaker Nazuki Sasaki  from 2025 National University Women's Ekiden runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University  made their U.S. debuts. Murayama was targeting the fastest-ever Japanese time at the Mini, 32:37, but struggled on the hills just before 5 km and late in the race, fading to finish 23rd in 34:08. Sasaki, recovering from a stress reaction in her upper back a few months ago, ran a conservative ...

Every year since 2012 that there's been a United Airlines NYC Half , JRN has partnered with the NYRR and November's Ageo City Half Marathon to bring two top-tier collegiate Japanese men to the NYC Half for what's usually been their international debuts. For years we've wanted to extend that program to include top collegiate women, but that has always faced 2 problems. For one, while the half marathon distance is the main focus for Japanese collegiate men due to the stage lengths at the Hakone Ekiden, few collegiate women run it. Those that do run the National University Women's Half Marathon in Matsue, held the same day as the NYC Half. This year, though, we're finally making it happen in a slightly different way. Amisa Murayama and Nazuki Sasaki of 2025 Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national collegiate championship runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University are joining the field for the NYRR's Mastercard New York Mini 10 km on June 6. After running an 18:14 CR ...

When the National University Half Marathon was canceled in 2011 after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan 2 days before the race, JRN talked to the New York Road Runners about bringing 2 collegiate runners to the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon the next weekend as a show of support. It wasn't possible to pull it together in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, but a year later we brought 2 young 2nd-years from Hakone Ekiden CR breaker Toyo University , Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara , who had been the top 2 Japanese collegiate finishers at the Ageo City Half Marathon in November before Hakone. Shitara ran 1:01:48, at the time the fastest-ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, with Otsu running a solid 1:03:15. Thanks to that great start the Ageo-NYC partnership became a regular thing, and except for the pandemic it's continued every year since, expanding this year to June's New York Mini 10 km when 2 runners from Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden runne...

After winning the Morinomiyako Ekiden for the first time in October, Josai University pulled off the double in an anchor stage battle against Tohoku Fukushi University and Daito Bunka University with all three going for their first-ever Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national title. 2024 Morinomiyako and Mt. Fuji double champ Ritsumeikan University got off to a good start with a stage win from lead runner Yua Sato but plummeted to 9th when star 3rd-year Sayuki Ota was only 16th of 24 on the Second Stage. From there it was all Ritsumeikan could do to hang on to a place in the top 5, the same as its result in Morinomiyako this year. In its place, Josai went to the front off a CR of 20:36 for the 6.8 km Second Stage by 1st-year Kyo Honma to go with her opening leg CR at Morinomiyako. It stayed out front until the longest leg of the race, the 10.5 km Fifth Stage, where Sarah Wanjiru of perpetual runner-up DBU easily turned a 47-second deficit into a 47-second lead and Nazuki Sasaki ...

Next up in championship ekiden season is the Dec. 30 Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden , the national title race for Japan's collegiate women and the start of 4 days of top-tier ekiden action over the course of 5 days. Fuji TV has the live broadcast starting at 9:55 a.m. local time on the 30th, with free streaming on TVer if you're in Japan or have a VPN. October's Morinomiyako Ekiden saw a shift in the balance of power, with the Kanto Region's Josai University and Daito Bunka University going 1-2 over Tokai region powerhouse Meijo University , the Tohoku region's Tohoku Fukushi University 4th, and 2024 national champion Ritsumeikan University from Kansai only 5th. Josai, DBU, Meijo and TFU were only 34 seconds apart over the 6-stage, 38.0 km course, so in a longer and more technical race like Mt. Fuji, 7 stages totaling 43.4 km with some serious hills punctuated by a 169 m ascent on the 8.3 km anchor stage, it's too close to call. The big question for Josai is...

Yeah, this was a good one. Last year's CR-breaking Morinomiyako Ekiden winner and national university women's champion Ritsumeikan University had a lackluster run at the Kansai Region qualifying race at the end of September, finishing only 3rd. That turned out to be a sign of where it is this season and not a peaking issue. Ritsumeikan was in 2nd for the first 2 legs in the 6-stage 38.0 km race with good runs from leading duo Sayuki Ota and Yua Sato but only faded from there, ultimately finishing 5th almost 2 minutes off the win. Josai University , the 1998 and 2000 national champ, came in hot with its first 3 runners Kyo Honma , Koharu Kaneko and Yuna Onishi replicating their feat at the Kanto Region qualifying race of all breaking the CR on their stages. Ichigo Ishikawa , a replacement for Kanto lineup member Aoi Takahashi , ran big on the 4th leg to give Josai a 20-second lead over last year's 5th-placer Tohoku Fukushi University , 49 seconds on 2018-2024 national ...

Two classic midsummer ekidens happened during the Paris Olympics, the 77th Towada Hachimantai Ekiden in Akita and the 49th Mount Fuji Ekiden in Shizuoka. We didn't have time to cover them then, but better late than never. The Towada Hachimantai Ekiden was held Aug. 7 on a 5-leg, 71.4 km course from Lake Towada on the Akita/Aomori border to Hachimantai in Kazuno, Akita. For the third time in the race's history, the East Japan Corporate Select Team took the top spot in the men's race, winning in 3:49:05. East Japan was 4th after the 1st leg, with 2nd runner Shota Sugimoto moving them up to 2nd. They fell to 5th on the next leg, but after that a stage win by Neo Namiki and a new stage CR by Yuito Yamamoto on the final two stages put them out front. Yamamoto graduated from Josai University in March. At Josai he won the uphill Fifth Stage at both last year's and this year's Hakone Ekidens, with his new CR there this year earning him the MVP award at Hakone's 1...

Six-time defending national champion Meijo University came to Sunday's Morinomiyako Ekiden national university women's championships with the weakest team since before its reign started in 2017, but with a flawless team performance that saw all six women on the team make top 4 on their stage Meijo beat the odds to go home with a record-breaking 7th-straight national title. Previous dynasty Ritsumeikan University came out hard with stage wins on the first two legs of the 38.0 km race, but a win on the 5.8 km Third Stage by Meijo 2nd-year Asuka Ishimatsu on her 20th birthday turned a 6-second deficit to Ritsumeikan into a 31-second lead. That closed to 15 seconds by the end of the Fifth Stage, but another stage win from anchor Nanase Tanimoto was enough to give Meijo the win by 52 seconds. 2nd eight times in the last 10 years, Daito Bunka University landed there again thanks to a stage win on the 9.2 km Fifth Stage by Sarah Wanjiru and a wicked kick over the last 100 m on ...

Tohoku Fukushi University alumna and 3000 m steeplechase specialist Ayaka Koike (27, Owada Jitaku Sendai) is back training at her alma mater to make the most of the extra year ahead in her bid to make the Tokyo Olympic team. Last September Koike won the 3000 mSC at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in 10:06.06. Having once drifted away from the sport, her win marked a return to its top level nationally. In the wake of the ongoing coronavirus crisis all of her planned races from April have been canceled, but, she has chosen to take that headwind and turn it into a tailwind. "I came back here and set making the Tokyo Olympics as my goal, but to be honest there wasn't really enough time to be ready," she said. "I told a lot of people, 'If I had another year then it'd be pretty interesting.' Now that I've got this year, I can get in really good training. It's not a minus, it's a plus." Due to family circumstances Koik...

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 ...