japan running news

by Brett Larner With just over a week to go the organizers of the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon have seen fit to release the elite field for the 52nd edition of their event on Feb. 9.  A developmental race with a focus on first-timers and men at the 2:12 to 2:16 level, Nobeoka has seen the debuts of the likes of Moscow World Championships marathon 5th-placer Kentaro Nakamoto  (Team Yasukawa Denki) and serves as a selection race for the annual corporate league junket to the Chicago Marathon.  Last year's winner Hiroaki Sano (Team Honda) debuted in Nobeoka in 2:12:14 before going on to dip under gold label status with a 2:10:29 in Chicago, showing that Nobeoka success can lead to bigger things. Kohei Ogino  (Team Fujitsu) is the fastest man in the field with a 2:13:12 best seven weeks ago at the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon.  If his recovery has gone smoothly he is the favorite, but look for possible challenges from Tadashi Suzuki  (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Ya...

by Brett Larner Former Sera H.S. standout Charles Ndirangu  (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) continued his second pro season with a win in the Nobeoka Time Trials 10000 m A-heat May 3 in Nobeoka, leading Athens Olympian Ryuji Ono  (Team Asahi Kasei) across the line in 28:56.04.  Asahi Kasei runners made up the major part of the field, taking 7 of the top 10 positions.  Other notables in the race included 2008 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon winner Tomoya Adachi  (Team Asahi Kasei) and 2012 Ohtawara Marathon winner Ryoichi Matsuo  (Team Asahi Kasei). Nobeoka Time Trials Nobeoka, May 3 click here for complete results Men's 10000 m Heat 2 1. Charles Ndirangu (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) - 28:56.04 2. Ryuji Ono (Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:56.04 3. Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) - 29:10.14 4. Yoshikazu Kawazoe (Team Asahi Kasei) - 29:21.53 5. Taiki Yoshimura (Ryutzu Keizai Univ.) - 28:28.99 6. Atsushi Ikawa (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 29:30.17 7. Takahiro Mori (Team Asahi...

by Brett Larner Looking set to take its first Grand Tour Kyushu title since 2009, the Fukuoka Prefecture team spent the fifth of the Tour's eight days widening its lead over two-time defending champion Miyazaki Prefecture from 13 to 21 minutes thanks to wins on three of the day's five stages including new stage records by Second Stage runner Masato Imai and anchor Teruo Taneno . Yoshikazu Kawazoe was the only Miyazaki runner to stem the tide, winning the Third Stage to put Miyazaki back ahead of the Nagasaki Prefecture team in 2nd. A surprise came on the day's opening stage, where former Juntendo University captain Yuki Nanba , now teaching at a high school back home in Tomei, Oita but famous for breaking down with a huge lead on his stage late in his senior-year Hakone Ekiden and staggering his way in to the handoff, cracked the course record by 3 seconds to set a new mark of 52:55 for the 17.4 km stage. Miyazaki came out hard on Day Six, winning the first five ...

http://kumanichi.com/news/local/main/20111204005.shtml translated by Brett Larner At the Rikuren-certified 36th annual Kumamoto Kosa 10 Mile Road Race on Dec. 4, 2009 World Championships 10000 m runner Yuki Iwai  (Team Asahi Kasei) ran 47:08 to win for the second time, five years after his first win.  In the international division, Martin Mathathi  (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) won his third-straight and sixth-total Kosa title in 46:20. With the international division starting together with the general division for the first time, Mathathi picked up the pace at the halfway mark.  Iwai went with him, leaving all over Japanese runners behind.  He slowed dramatically near the end but still held off 2nd-place Kenichi Shiraishi  (Team Asahi Kasei) by 9 seconds.   Kohei Matsumura  (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) was 3rd. Daegu World Championships marathoner Hiroyuki Horibata  (Team Asahi Kasei) started off in the lead pack, but he fell behind...

by Brett Larner click here for video of the Grand Tour Kyushu 2011's finish Defending champion Miyazaki Prefecture came to the final day of the eight-day Grand Tour Kyushu 2011 with a lead of 4:31 over rival Fukuoka Prefecture, comfortable but not safe.  Over the first of the stage's three legs Miyazaki's runners progressively widened the lead, but on the fourth and fifth of the stage's six legs Fukuoka fought back.  Its Leg Five runner Shuji Yoshikawa  came within 10 seconds of catching the Miyazaki, still down on total time but almost enough for the lead heading into the final leg.  Miyazaki's anchor, Daegu World Championships marathon 7th-placer Hiroyuki Horibata , fought back and reopened the lead to bring Miyazaki in to a successful title defense, winning in a total time of 38:04:48 to Fukuoka's runner-up 38:10:11.  3rd-place Nagasaki Prefecture was the only other team to break 39 hours for the new 739.9 km course, clocking 38:55:12. Four men in the ...

by Brett Larner The Japanese National Corporate Half Marathon Championships have a long-standing relationship with overseas half marathons, the top domestic finishers being named to the Japanese team for the World Half Marathon and the next tier being sent to the Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon and the Great Scottish Run Half Marathon.  This year's Corporate Half was cancelled in the wake of March's natural disasters and the World Half Marathon is likewise not being held, but Japanese athletes turned out as usual at both Rock 'n' Roll and the GSR. Yoko Miyauchi  (Team Kyocera), the top Japanese woman over the half marathon distance in 2010, won Rock 'n' Roll in 1:11:48 after a patient race in which she hung back while Kenyan Jane Kibil  battled with Olympian Yurika Nakamura  (Team Tenmaya) and newcomer Fumiko Hashimoto  (Team Shimamura).  Inaugural Gifu Half Marathon winner Mao Kuroda  (Team Yutaka Giken) was only 7th in 1:13:37 as ...

by Brett Larner Sato takes the lead. Click photo for complete photo sequence courtesy of the Rikubaka website. Half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato  (Team Chugoku Denryoku) made another step toward a comeback when he won the men's 8 km division at the 12th annual Hiroshima Cross-Country Meet on a hot and humid Aug. 20.  Sato outran 2010 winner Peter Kariuki  (Kenya/Team Mazda) and 2007 winner Joseph Gitau  (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) over the final two km to take the win in 24:03 by a margin of 15 seconds.  Gitau finished 2nd in 24:18, Kariuki taking 3rd in 24:21. At the nearby Central Japan Five-Prefecture Track and Field Championships Gitau's teammate Kota Otani  (Team JFE Steel) broke the 25-year-old meet record with a new mark of 8:53.13 in the men's 3000 mSC, while Otani's identical twin brother Kenta Otani  (Team JFE Steel) won the men's 5000 m in a modest 14:23.67.  Independent runner Kota Taniguchi  (Tottori Pref.) almo...