japan running news

The first major national-level high school ekiden of the season, the 39th Kurayoshi Joshi Ekiden and 44th Nihonkai Ekiden took place Sunday in Kurayoshi, Tottori. Serving as the girls' race with 5 legs totaling 21.0975 km, Kurayoshi saw Osaka's Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. return to the top spot for the first time in 5 years with a 1:08:58 win, its 3rd time ever winning. A total of 51 teams competed in the girls' race, included most of the best programs from across the country. The Kunei Joshi Gakuin girls were 3rd after the first leg, with lead-off runner Yuika Tsuzurahara (2nd-yr) trailing leader Yua Sato (3rd-yr, Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) by only 3 seconds. Second runner Yua Tsukamoto  (3rd-yr) ran the fastest time on her leg, moving up to 2nd behind last year's winner Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. Third runner Rio Kawamura  (2nd-yr) also won her leg and gave Kunei Joshi Gakuin a lead that fourth runner Aika Murai (1st-yr) and anchor Miyu Funaki (2nd-yr) held until the end. To...

The combined 61st Chubu Corporate Ekiden and 51st Hokuriku Corporate Ekiden regional qualifiers for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships took place Nov. 7 in Tahara, Aichi.   Toyota Boshoku won for the first time in 8 years, covering the 7-stage, 80.5 km course in 3:54:16. 2021 New Year Ekiden runner-up Toyota  was 39 seconds back in 2nd, its 7-year winning streak as the king of the Chubu Region coming to an end. Toyota Boshoku didn't take the lead until the final leg, anchor Yuji Onoda , 25, playing the critical role in his team's success. Onoda started the last stage 23 seconds behind Toyota's Atsushi Yamato  but reeled him in within 4 km. Onoda and Yamato were teammates at Aichi's Toyokawa H.S.  and had run together countless times, giving each of them insight into how the other was moving. "Usually I wouldn't be able to overtake him like that," said Onoda. "I figured he must not be in peak condition." That ...

  A 2016 Rio Olympian in the women's 3000 m steeplechase while still in university, Anju Takamizawa , 24, has announced her retirement through a statement issued by her corporate team Shiseido  on Dec. 24. While at Matsuyama University  Takamizawa won the steeplechase at the 2015 and 2016 National Championships. In Rio she was eliminated in the qualifying round. Since then Takamizawa has struggled with injury. On the Shiseido team site Takamizawa commented, "Thank you to everyone who kept supporting me even though I couldn't produce the results I wanted to. I hope that my experiences as an athlete will help inform my future life."  A day later on the 25th, the Japan Post  corporate team announced that Takamizawa's Rio Olympics teammate Hanami Sekine , 24, was also retiring. A native of Tokyo, Sekine ran for Toyokawa H.S.  before joining the brand-new Japan Post team in 2014 as one of its star athletes. She ran the 10000 m in Rio, and in 2018 she made ...

The high school season-opening Nihonkai Ekiden and Kurayoshi Women's Ekiden took place Oct. 6 in Kurayoshi, Tottori. A total of 226 high school teams took part in the two events, both of which delivered heated battles. In the boys' race, the 39th edition of the Nihonkai Ekiden covering 42.195 km in seven stages starting and finishing at Kurayoshi Municipal Field, Nagano's Saku Chosei H.S. emerged victorious for the second time with a time of 2:04:40 after taking control on the opening stage. After getting off to a weak start, Sera H.S. took 2nd, with Toyokawa H.S. 3rd after briefly leading mid-race. The top team from Hyogo prefecture, Suma Gakuen H.S. was 6th in 2:06:43, with rivals Hotoku H.S. 8th in 2:07:02 and Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S. 10th in 2:07:41. Held the same day, the girls competed in the 34th running of the 21.0975 km Kurayoshi Women's Ekiden, likewise starting and finishing at Kurayoshi Municipal Field. Defending champion team Osaka Kunei Joshi G...

Scheduled to compete in the MGC Race, Japan's Tokyo Olympics marathon trials event, on Sept. 15, Hanami Sekine (23, Japan Post), is likely to withdraw from the race. According to a source involved in the situation, Sekine is believed to be suffering from a stress fracture in one of her legs. Sekine graduated from Toyokawa H.S. in Aichi prefecture and went straight to the new Japan Post corporate team. She ran the 10000 m at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. In March last year she ran 2:23:07 to qualify for the MGC Race as the top Japanese woman at the Nagoya Women's Marathon, the fourth-fastest debut in Japanese women's history. She had been training domestically for the all-important Olympic trials event. source article: https://www.chunichi.co.jp/chuspo/article/sports/news/CK2019091202100080.html translated by Brett Larner

Hanami Sekine age: 23 sponsor: Japan Post graduated from: Toyokawa H.S. best time inside MGC window: 2:23:07, 3rd, 2018 Nagoya Women’s Marathon PB: 2:23:07, 2nd, 2018 Nagoya Women’s Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 15:24.74 (2016) 10000 m: 31:22.92 (2016) half marathon: 1:11:32 (2018) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019): 2:23:07, 3rd, 2018 Nagoya Women’s Marathon other major results: 8th, 2018 National Corporate Women’s Ekiden 6th Stage (6.795 km), 22:01 4th, 2018 Sendai International Half Marathon, 1:12:42, 20th, 2016 Rio Olympics 10000 m, 31:44.44 2nd, 2016 National Championships 10000 m, 31:22.92 3rd, 2016 National Championships 5000 m, 15:24.74 One of three women in the field who graduated from Toyokawa H.S. and along with Ayuko Suzuki one of two Japan Post runners in the twelve-strong MGC women's race, Sekine has been one of Japan’s highest-potential young talents in the last few years. She represented Japan in the 10000 m ...

Yuka Ando age: 25 sponsor: Wacoal graduated from: Toyokawa H.S. best time inside MGC window: 2:26:47, 13th, 2019 London Marathon PB: 2:21:36, 2nd, 2017 Nagoya Women’s Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 15:32.67 (2015) 10000 m: 31:58.71 (2016) half marathon: 1:09:47 (2019) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) 13th, 2019 London Marathon, 2:26:47 3rd, 2018 Osaka International Women’s Marathon, 2:27:37 17th, 2017 London World Championships Marathon, 2:31:31 other major results: 2nd, 2019 Hakodate Half Marathon, 1:09:47 – PB 1st, 2019 Niigata Half Marathon, 1:10:34 3rd, 2017 Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, 1:12:12 10th, 2016 World Half Marathon Championships, 1:10:36 Another star runner from Toyokawa H.S. , after graduating Ando bounced around through a series of corporate teams before landing at Suzuki Hamamatsu AC . There she found a coach who encouraged her to run the way that felt natural to her, with her arms almost straight down at her sides. The ...

It's one month to go until what's bound to be the best marathon of 2019, Japan's 2020 Tokyo Olympics marathon trials, the Sept. 15  Marathon Grand Championship Race . Up to now Japan has typically picked its Olympic and World Championships marathon teams based on performances in a series of specific races, primarily the Fukuoka International Marathon, Tokyo Marathon and Lake Biwa Marathon for men, and the Saitama International Marathon, Osaka International Women's Marathon and Nagoya Women's Marathon for women. This time around they're going with a U.S.-style one-shot trials race, the MGC Race . People had a nearly two-year window from August, 2017 to April this year to hit tough standards to qualify. Only 34 men and 15 women made it, and after withdrawals for the Doha World Championships the MGC Race's final entry list is just 31 men and 12 women. Swedish Athletics Federation official Lorenzo Nesi called it "the most difficult marathon race ever...

Her form has been dubbed "ninja running." Both arms held straight down with almost no movement. That idiosyncratic style carried Yuka Ando , 23, to the fastest-ever marathon debut by a Japanese woman, 2:21:36, at March's Nagoya Women's Marathon to land at #4 on the all-time Japanese lists. All at once Ando found herself catapulted to the top level of women's marathoning, a candidate for Japan's next great marathoner. When she was younger Ando ran moving her arms like other runners, but she had a bad habit of moving robotically, her upper body and lower body not working in sync. The turning point came in 2014 when she joined Suzuki Hamamatsu AC . Working there with coach Masayuki Satouchi to eliminate the faults in her form, the pair arrived at the ninja running style that let her run relaxed. "Other people keep asking me, "Isn't it hard to run like that?" but for me it's comfortable," she said. The efficient form helped her mai...

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/column/20170314-OHT1T50078.html an editorial by Yuji Hosono translated by Brett Larner After running 2:21:36 for 2nd at the Mar. 12 Nagoya Women's Marathon to become the all-time 4th-fastest Japanese woman, the name of 22-year-old Cinderella girl Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) is now synonymous with the slightly incongruous term "ninja running."  Her lower arms hanging loosely, barely moving, gaining forward propulsion through the strength of her legs, a unique form on display throughout her duel with Rio Olympics silver medalist Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain).  It just may be enough to bring the Olympic women's marathon gold medal back to Japan for the first time since Mizuki Noguchi in Athens in 2004. Ando's ninja running first caught my eye about a year ago at the May, 2016 Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon.  I had the impression that it seemed to be between Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal), who was expected to medal in the Rio Olympics...

http://www.nnn.co.jp/dainichi/news/161003/20161003029.html translated by Brett Larner video by Nihonkai Shimbun The 36th Nihonkai Ekiden and 31st Kurayoshi Women's Ekiden took place Oct. 2 in Kurayoshi, Tottori, preludes to December's National High School Ekiden Championships.  In the 7-stage, 42.195 km boys' race, 2008 national champion  Saku Chosei H.S. scored its first overall Nihonkai win, running 2:09:15.  The 2013 national champion  Toyokawa H.S. girls likewise won the 5-stage, 21.0975 km Kurayoshi race for the first time, crossing the finish line in 1:10:11.  Kansai Prep Hokuyo H.S. was the top local team at 12th in the boys' race. At the end of Nihonkai's First Stage the Saku Chosei boys were far back in 29th, but moving up gradually through the field they took the lead on the second to last stage and held on through the anchor stage.  The Toyokawa girls took over on the Kurayoshi First Stage and never gave up the lead.    A t...

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20160705-OHT1T50100.html http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20160705-00000225-sph-spo translated and edited by Brett Larner Former teammates at 2012 National High School Ekiden champion Toyokawa H.S. and now two of the biggest stars on the Hakone Ekiden circuit, 2015 National University Half Marathon champion Tadashi Isshiki (Aoyama Gakuin University) and 2015 National University 5000 m champion Hazuma Hattori (Toyo University) are set to follow unconventional paths post-graduation. At a press conference this week GMO Internet announced that Isshiki will join its new GMO Athletes team after his graduation next spring.  Isshiki finished as the third Japanese man overall and second university finisher in his marathon debut at February's Tokyo Marathon, running 2:11:45 to position himself as a hopeful for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.  Having received recruitment offers from ten different corporate league teams, after careful consideration...

by Brett Larner Okayama prefecture's Kurashiki H.S. and Aichi's Okazaki Gakuen H.S. took their first-ever wins at the season's first big nationwide high school ekiden in Kurayoshi, Tottori on October 4.  In the 35th edition of the boys' race , Kurashiki, splitting its team into A and B squads, started slow, its B-squad 21st and A-squad 25th after the 10.0 km First Stage.  The A-squad moved up to 14th on the 3.0 km Second Stage, and with a stage best by its third runner Maeda it moved up to 3rd at halfway.  Kurashiki A's next three runners juggled between 1st and 2nd places, and with a 38-second lead over Kyushu Gakuin H.S. for the 5.0 km anchor stage it looked safe for the win. Safe, that is, until Kurashiki A anchor Koga ran only the 12th-best time on the final stage, while behind him Kyushu Gakuin anchor Ueda bore down with a stage best 15:15.  It looked like it would be close, but in the end Koga had the margin he needed and broke the tape in 2:06:55, Kur...

by Brett Larner While most of the rest of the racing world kicks back for the holidays in the lull between seasons, Japan's distance runners from junior high to pro are hitting the peak of their year with the month-long championship ekiden season.  The biggest race of the weekend is the National High School Ekiden Championships , lovingly broadcast live nationwide and commercial-free for 4 and 1/2 hours this Sunday from Kyoto on NHK starting at 10:05 a.m.  JRN will cover both the girls' and boys' races live on @JRNLive . The top 12-ranked teams at Sunday's National High School Girls Ekiden Championships.  Click to enlarge. In its 26th running the girls' race covers 21.0975 km in five stages, with 47 teams representing each of Japan's prefectures.  Defending champion Toyokawa H.S. of Aichi returns ranked #1 with a 5-runner 3000 m average of 9:13 led by senior Azusa Sumi in 9:00.89.  But it's going to be a very closely-matched race, with 4 other ...

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20140401-00000062-mai-spo translated by Brett Larner Having led Aichi prefecture's Toyokawa Kogyo H.S.  boys to the National High School Ekiden Championships for fourteen straight years through 2011, former head coach Masaaki Watanabe , 51, became the new head coach and a health and physical education teacher at Tokyo's Nittai Ebara H.S. as of the start of the academic year on April 1.  Along with Watanabe, eight students including five members of Toyokawa Kogyo's team at last December's National High School Ekiden transferred to Nittai Ebara.  Past instances of large numbers of top-class athletes transferring en masse include the 2012 transfer of ten students from Sendai Ikuei H.S. to Toyokawa H.S. , but it is safe to say it is unusual. Watanabe became head coach at Toyokawa Kogyo in 1993 and developed it into one of the country's most powerful high school ekiden teams.  In January last year his use of corporal punishment a...

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20140327-00000148-mai-spo translated by Brett Larner Having led Aichi prefecture's Toyokawa High School boys and girls teams to a combined five National High School Ekiden titles, head coach Yasuhiko Mori , 52, held a press conference on Mar. 27 at Toyokawa City Hall to announce that he is retiring both as head coach and from the school at the end of march.  He declined to give specific comment on his future plans, but with regard to the corporate leagues and the like he commented, "I want to go to the next level." In December the Toyokawa girls won a fourth national title at the National High School Ekiden Championships, the most wins ever by a single school.  After that, said Mori, "I thought about a lot of different things."  In January he told the school, "I'm finished with high school ekidens," informing them of his intent to retire. Mori became head coach of the Toyokawa girls in 2006, and in his thir...

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20131222-00000075-spnannex-spo translated and edited by Brett Larner click photo for video highlights courtesy of NHK The 25th edition of the National High School Girls Ekiden Championships took place Dec. 22 in Kyoto.  In honor of the event's anniversary, eleven extra teams were added to the forty-seven champion high schools from each of Japan's prefectures to bring the field up to fifty-eight schools competing over five stages totalling 21.0975 km. After missing out on defending its 2011 win last year,  Toyokawa H.S.  of Aichi returned to the top this year with its fourth national title, the most in Nationals history.  2010 national champion Kojokan H.S.  (Okayama) took 2nd, battling  Suma Gakuen H.S.  (Hyogo) all the way to the final Fifth Stage before pulling ahead for the runner-up position.  Defending champion Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.  (Kyoto) was 4th. Winner Toyokawa's time of 1:06:54 tied the ...

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/aichi/news/20131111-OYT8T01064.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner Having helped lead Toyokawa H.S. to its first-ever National High School Ekiden Championships title , women's long-distance runner Nanaka Izawa  (Sr., Juntendo Univ.) has signed a contract to join the 2012 national champion Universal Entertainment corporate league team following her graduation next spring.  At Universal she will also receive coaching from the legendary coach of Sydney Olympics women's marathon gold medalist and former world record holder Naoko Takahashi , the Universal-affiliated Sakura AC's Yoshio Koide .  Currently doing student teacher work back at Toyokawa, Izawa showed her resolve as she said, "My future is in the marathon, and the Tokyo Olympics are my goal." At the National High School Ekiden Championships Izawa ran the Third Stage as a first-year, the Second Stage as a second-year, and the ace First Stage as a third-year, winnin...

by Brett Larner The 67th running of the Meigi Ekiden joined other races across the country in being blessed with good weather on Feb. 3, the kind of weather that produces course records. In the 6-stage, 52.6 km open men's division Team Toyota Boshoku  unseated defending champion and course record holder Team Toyota  for the win in 2:31:17, just 32 seconds off Toyota's 2012 record.  Toyota Boshoku started slow, its opening man Yoshiaki Shiota only 7th, but steadily advanced through the field until Kenyan ace Patrick Mutunga ran down Toyota's Chihiro Miyawaki  to put Toyota Boshoku ahead by 10 seconds.  Both Toyota Boshoku and Toyota's fifth men Yuya Taguchi  and Kenta Matsubara broke the stage record, Matsubara closing to within 1 second as he fought desperately to retake the lead, but on the anchor stage his teammate Minato Oishi  was no match for Toyota Boshoku anchor Yoshihiro Yamamoto , who ran a stage best 34:14 for the 11.8 km leg to secure...

by Brett Larner Toyokawa H.S. wins the 2012 National High School Boys Ekiden title in 2:02:55, the all-time #4 time. Click photo for video highlights courtesy of broadcaster NHK. #1-ranked Toyokawa H.S.  blew apart the 2012 National High School Boys Ekiden Championships  in its national debut, taking the lead on the third stage and never looking back.  With Third Stage runner Jeremiah Karemi  missing the great Samuel Wanjiru 's stage record of 22:40 by just 7 seconds and star members of Wanjiru's alma mater Sendai Ikuei H.S.  having transferred to Toyokawa in the spring the team took the national title in 2:02:55, the fourth-fastest time in Nationals history and the first time in 50 years that a school won in its first appearance.  #2 seed Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.  presented no challenge, down by more than two minutes before rallying for 2nd in a quality 2:04:46.  #4-ranked Iga Hakuho H.S.  anchor Takumi Kawato  ran down defending cha...