japan running news

The Feb. 1 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon is coming in hot this year with what's got to be a shot at the 2:04:55 Japanese NR. Up front is the king of this year's Hakone Ekiden, collegiate marathon NR holder Asahi Kuroda of 2026 Hakone champ Aoyama Gakuin University . Last year at Beppu-Oita AGU's Hiroki Wakabayashi ran a 2:06:07 debut to break the collegiate marathon record. 3 weeks later Kuroda bettered that with a 2:06:05 in his debut in Osaka. He comes in fresh off the greatest run in Hakone history, taking 2 minutes off Wakabayashi's CR for the massive uphill Fifth Stage in a run that Letsrun.com estimated was worth a 57:30-58:00 half marathon. Make of that what you will, if you accept 58:00 that's worth sub-2:02 in the marathon. Call it 59:00 and you're still talking sub-2:04. Can he possibly live up to the hype? Beppu-Oita is basically not that kind of race, but looking at the rest of the front end of the field they've got to be thinking that way. 2:...

The bar was raised again for the Hakone Ekiden's 100th running on Jan. 1-2. Wednesday night at the Meiji-Aoyama Gakuin-Rikkyo-Chuo-Hosei pentangular MARCH Taikosen 10000 m meet in Machida, Tokyo, hosts Aoyama Gakuin University dominated with 10 of its members running new sub-29 PBs, 6 of them going sub-28:30. AGU 4th-year Issei Sato led the way with a meet record 28:11.00 to win the fastest heat, 2nd-year Asahi Kuroda following up great runs at both the Izumo and National University ekidens with a 28:15.82 PB for 3rd and 4th-year Genta Kuramoto just getting under 28:20 with a 28:19.31 PB for 4th. 2023 Hakone runner-up Chuo University and some of the other teams that just ran the Ageo City Half Marathon on Sunday had a lighter presence, but 2 Chuo runners did go sub-28:30, 4th-year Jin Yuasa taking 2nd behind Sato in a PB 28:12.17, and 3rd-year Haruki Abe running a 28:26.58 PB for 6th. The fastest finishers from Rikkyo University and Hosei University both clocked PBs, R...

The Yaizu Minato Half Marathon took place Apr. 2 in Yaizu, Shizuoka, its second year back after coronavirus pandemic-era cancelations in 2020 and 2021. In windy conditions 2023 Hakone Ekiden champion Komazawa University 4th-year Ibuki Kaneko took the overall win in 1:04:31, beating 4th-year Hayato Shiki of Aoyama Gakuin University by 6 seconds. Local Ayumi Sano won the women's race in 1:22:21. The Yaizu Half has long been a fixture on the collegiate circuit, attracting many of the top university men's ekiden teams. It Doubles as the National University Pair Marathon Championships, with each university scored on the combined times of its top two placers. Aoyama Gakuin won this year, with individual runner-up Shiki and 2nd-year Tomoki Aramaki , 6th in 1:05:04 to give AGU a total of 2:09:36 for the win. Komazawa and last year's Pair Marathon winner Toyo University tied for 2nd in 2:10:16. 38th Yaizu Minato Half Marathon Yaizu, Shizuoka, 2 Apr. 2023 Men 1. Ibuki Kaneko ...