japan running news

On Sept. 6 Yamada Holdings announced that its women's ekiden team has scratched from the Oct. 20 Princess Ekiden, the qualifying race for the Nov. 24 Queens Ekiden national corporate women's championships in Sendai. Yamada Holdings had been targeting a podium finish at the Queens Ekiden this year. The announcement stated, "A restructured development system was put in place this year to develop a stronger team, but with multiple athletes injured we have made the decision to withdraw from running the Princess Ekiden." Other races on the schedule this season remain a question mark and will depend on athletes' conditions. The Yamada Holdings team was 22nd at the Queens Ekiden last year, well off the podium and earning the guaranteed place at the following year's race that comes with it. Longtime coaching staff member Kei Yokoyama , 49, was appointed head coach this year after 10 years as assistant coach, and hopes were high that the team would return to previous ...

National championship ekiden season looks like it's going to mostly happen, and this will be the first full weekend of qualifying action for the winter's main events. Following Saturday's Hakone Ekiden qualifier is Sunday's Princess Ekiden , the qualifying race for the Nov. 22 National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships. This is the first major ekiden to be held on public streets during the coronavirus era, so there is a lot of attention, good and bad, to how it goes and the organizers have banned cheering groups from the different teams in the race and asked fans not to come cheer along the course. It's a test drive to see how the rest of championship season will go to be sure. Last year's top 8 teams at Nationals are guaranteed the return trip this year, The top 14 teams at the Princess Ekiden will qualify to join them, and with 28 teams entered following scratches from Aichi Denki and Daiso that means a decently competitive race to make it. Last yea...

One of the central support pillars for Gunma's top women's long distance team Yamada Denki, Kasumi Nishihara has begun her tenth year with the team. With two 10000 m national titles and representation of Japan at the World Championships to her name, Nishihara has led the team on the road in the ekiden as well. A veteran at age 31, Nishihara is still full of motivation, saying, "People talk about age, but I can still progress. More than anything else, I still think running is fun." She is excited to try to make the Tokyo Olympic team on the track, and to finally make a long-awaited marathon debut. Nishihara joined Yamada Denki in 2011 after graduating from Bukkyo University. She won the 10000 m national title twice, in 2014 and 2015. In 2014 she was 8th in the 10000 m at the Incheon Asian Games, and a year later ran at the Beijing World Championships. From 2014 through 2016 she also won the National Sports Festival 5000 m three years in a row. She also had her sha...

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20141214-1409007.html translated and edited by Brett Larner 26 teams ran the 34th edition of the 6-stage, 42.195 km National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships in cold and windy conditions Dec. 14 in Sendai, Miyagi.  The Denso team dominated, breaking its own course record in 2:16:12 to score its second-straight win, the first time that a team has defending its national title since Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo completed a hat trick in 2005. Denso started off slow, 29 seconds down from the lead in 12th after the First Stage.  Second Stage runner Naoko Koizumi celebrated her 22nd birthday by running the second-best time on the stage to move Denso up to 3rd.  Up against each team's best Japanese athlete on the Third Stage, Yuka Takashima , 26, ran down leaders Toyota Jidoshokki and Yamada Denki in stage record time to put Denso into the lead.  Takashima ran 34:40 for the 10.9 km stage to beat multiple n...

by Brett Larner Two important women-only ekidens celebrate their 30th anniversaries this weekend.  In eastern Japan, Fukushima's East Japan Women's Ekiden features a scaled-down version of January's National Women's Ekiden, with teams made up of pro, collegiate, high school and junior high school athletes representing each of the 18 prefectures in the region.  Defending champion Chiba fields a very different lineup from last year's winning team led by one of Japan's current best track runners Riko Matsuzaki (Team Sekisui Kagaku).  Gunma , featuring last weekend's East Japan Corporate Women's Ekiden anchor stage course record setter Yuika Mori and Yamada Denki corporate teammate Shiho Takechi , Saitama and Shizuoka look to be Chiba's main competition.  The East Japan Women's Ekiden will be broadcast live starting at noon on Nov. 9. Further west in Fukui, the Fukui Super Ladies Ekiden delivers an interesting format pitting top corporate ...

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20130326/ath13032620340001-n1.html translated by Brett Larner On Mar. 26 the Route Inn Group , operators of a nationwide chain of business hotels, announced the Apr. 1 launch of its new Route Inn Hotels Women's Running Team.  The team is in the process of scouting for athletes, with interviews and entry examinations scheduled for May in Tokyo.  Former Yamada Denki women's team coach Tsutomu Takahashi  will serve as head coach.

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/130130/oth13013022310003-n1.htm translated by Brett Larner The management of the Yamada Denki corporate women's team announced on Jan. 30 that 2011 World Championships 10000 m runner Hikari Yoshimoto , 23, quit the team on Jan. 29.  According to an involved party, Yoshimoto will return home to Kumamoto to take an indefinite leave of absence from competitive running. Yoshimoto was the star of the Bukkyo University women's ekiden team, leading them to two-straight National University Women's Ekiden Championships titles in 2009 and 2010. In April, 2010 she broke the 15 year old 10000 m national collegiate record with a new mark of 31:30.92, and in the fall the same year she finished 5th in the Asian Games.  After graduating from Bukkyo last spring she followed her longtime coach Kenichi Morikawa to Yamada Denki but was unable to make the Olympic team for London.

all photos by Brett Larner Two women from the Yamada Denki women's ekiden team, 2:28 marathoner Ayumi Nakayama and 1:10 half marathoner Maki Suzawa , will be running next month's Toronto Waterfront Marathon. Yamada Denki head coach Katsuaki Isobata invited JRN to attend Yamada Denki's altitude training camp in Sugadaira, Nagano the last weekend of August to watch some of Nakayama and Suzawa's training. Below are some photos of the weekend, primarily of a 30 km tempo run Nakayama did with accompaniment from several teammates. Click photos to enlarge. The start point of Sugadaira's main road loop, a course of about 6.5 km in length at 1300 m elevation. Nakayama, left, in singlet, on the first loop of her 30 km run paced by teammates Megumi Kanetomo and Aoi Miyaji . Coach Isobata follows in a car shouting out instructions and pace. Nakayama is wearing pink Mimura brand shoes custom-made by master craftsman Hitoshi Mimura . Miyaji takes a turn leading near the end o...