japan running news

Two-time Olympic marathoner Suguru Osako  posted on his Instagram story on Aug. 26 about his trail running debut at last weekend's UTMB MCC in Chamonix, France with support from his high school friend, trail runner Ruy Ueda . Osako ran the 40 km division with 2300 m cumulative elevation gain. In 4th at the first checkpoint, he slowed partway through when the course got steep and rocky. "To be honest it was too scary," he wrote. "How can people run there? LOL. It was different from what I'd heard. Mostly rock." Osako struggled on the descents, writing that he had cramps in his legs. Video showed trail specialists running smoothly past him on a steep downhill. But in the end he managed to finished, placing 50th among men and 52nd overall in 4:30:41. Afterward he wrote, "It was scarier than I expected and my legs wouldn't move, even more on the downhills where I'm terrible. But at least I was able to make a mark in the safe first 10k! LOL. I'v...

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2023/05/27/lifestyle/utmf-fuji-ultramarathon-running/

 https://www.ultratrailmtfuji.com/ennews/change-of-the-100-mile-race-name-from-the-utmf-to-the-fuji/

Last weekend saw what will probably end up as one of the best distance running performances of 2020. In Tokyo's western suburbs, on a riverbank, around a tree, for 54 hours and 40 minutes, 25-year-old Goshi Osada ran 10,667 laps of a 15 m trail with 1 m difference between its highest and lowest points, covering 100 miles, just over 160 km, and climbing higher than Mount Everest and back down en route. Post-run JRN talked to Osada, a rising name on the trail ultra scene in Japan and Asia, about the why and how. Looking at your history, it looks like you started doing ultras after graduating from university. I started doing trail running during the summer of my senior year at Tokyo Kokusai University. The runs were really short in the beginning, about 20 or 30 km. From there I started building up the distance to the point where I could do high-level races, and that’s where I am now after four years. In university were you doing ekidens and track and field? Yes, I used to ...

Sponsored by the village of Urugimura, Nagano , marathoner Takayoshi Shigemi won the April 13-15 Run Across Taiwan Ultramarathon . Covering a 246-km course almost the length of six back-to-back full marathons across the center of Taiwan, the one-way course started at sea level and reached a peak of 3275 m before dropping back to sea level. Shigemi's winning time of 30:01:45 took two hours off the course record. A native of Okazaki, Aichi, Shigemi came to Urugimura six years ago after accepting an offer to become an ambassador for promoting the area . He currently works in the village office while training at specified times. Every day that he goes out to face the mountains is a day on which he feels fulfilled. In winter the roads are so covered with snow that it becomes a difficult environment in which to train.  Even so, he adapts his training to suit the demands of the terrain. Shigemi's victory in the mountainous Taiwan race was a product of his everyday training, whic...