japan running news

by Brett Larner photos by @rikujolove Former world record holder Patrick Makau (Kenya) was back to take out tough competition and score a second-straight win at the 69th running of the Fukuoka International Marathon , with Kyushu local Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) emerging at the top of the home soil field to land as a candidate for the Rio Olympic team after favorite Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) ran into trouble early. Confluence of A and B-group starts outside track. pic.twitter.com/lZlxwtMIAH — Japan Running News (@JRNLive) December 6, 2015 With Fukuoka featuring two pace groups, one targeting 2:06 and the other 2:08, the front group quickly shook down to Makau and fellow heavyweights Dennis Kimetto (Kenya), Getu Feleke (Ethiopia), Bernard Koech (Kenya), Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Samuel Tsegay (Eritrea), last year’s 3rd-placer Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/NTN), Sasaki and countrymen Kawauchi, Chiharu Takada (JR Higashi Niho...

by Brett Larner photos by Collin Winter and Dr. Helmut Winter In the distance behind Kenyan winners Dennis Kimetto  and Rita Jeptoo , Japanese runners Hiroaki Sano  (Team Honda) and Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) each took 7th at the 2013 Chicago Marathon , Sano running almost dead even half splits for a 2:10:29 PB and Akaba fading to 2:27:49 after starting out among the leaders.   Yoshinori Oda  (Team Toyota) also sneaked into the men's top ten, dropping dropping American Matt Tegenkamp in the last 3 km to take 9th in 2:11:29. Oda started out on 2:10-flat pace, with Sano and other 2:12~2:13 Japanese entrants Kenji Higashino (Team Asahi Kasei), Norihide Fujimori (Team Chugoku Denryoku), Hiroki Tanaka (Team Chugoku Denryoku) and Yoshiki Otsuka (Team Aichi Seiko) running in Tegenkamp's group with Alistair Cragg (Ireland) and Michael Shelley  (Australia) at 2:11:30 pace.  As the pace gradually increased toward 2:10 first Oda was absorbed, the...

by Brett Larner photos by Dr. Helmut Winter Chicago comes at a tough time for Japan's corporate leagues, just before the start of the fall ekiden season's regional qualifiers.  Although just about every team has more than enough people to fill their lineups for these relatively minor events, head coaches will usually not let their better athletes do an October marathon, whether because of the limited recovery time in the event that they decide a big gun has to run in a qualifier, or because it would give them the hassle of explaining to the parent corporation why a star is off doing his or her own thing instead of being there for the team.  As a result you typically only see Japanese runners at Chicago when they are looking to drop something big, as with Yukiko Akaba  (Team Hokuren) and Yoshinori Oda  (Team Toyota) this year, or, like the block of  Japanese men at 2:12~2:13 , as part of a corporate federation junket for promising third-tier men to get the exp...

by Brett Larner video by Nick Ramsay World record holder Zersenay Tadese  (Eritrea) took down defending champion Martin Mathathi  (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) at Sunday's Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon , getting away early to set a new course record of 1:00:31.  Leading a pack of six through a 14:14 opening 5 km split, Tadese dropped a 14:04 over the next 5 km to take the race out of the competition's comfort zones and go ahead alone.  With a 37-second lead over the chase group of Mathathi, Jacob Wanjuki  (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) and Cyrus Njui (Kenya/ Team Hitachi Butsuryu) at 15 km Tadese backed off to a 14:34 split from 15 to 20 km, but despite Mathathi and Wanjuki picking it up and closing the gap they were too far away and had to settle for a duel for 2nd, Mathathi proving the stronger as he crossed the line in 1:00:54, two seconds ahead of Wanjuki.  Moscow World Championships marathoner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), running just a week after g...

by Brett Larner In its 62nd running the Feb. 3  Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon was billed as one thing and one thing only, a showdown between Japan's most reliable marathoner, London Olympics 6th-place Kentaro Nakamoto  (Team Yasukawa Denki), and its most idiosyncratic, the independent Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref.). What a gift to Beppu-Oita, an historic race consigned to second-tier status.  It was as if Americans Meb Keflezighi  and Dathan Ritzenhein  lined up to go head-to-head at Grandma's Marathon.   With exceptional performances given consideration in picking the Moscow World Championships team their pre-race goals were clear.   Nakamoto : "My goal is to win a marathon for the first time. I'm aiming to break my PB [2:08:53] ." Kawauchi : "If I run faster than Hiroyuki Horibata did [2:08:24 in Fukuoka last December]  then I might not do Lake Biwa in March."  And did they deliver on those words. The rest of the field and ...

2010 Nagoya Half Marathon Elite Athlete Field final running - 11/23/10 click here for complete listing Men Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 59:48 Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Aidem) - 59:48 Gideon Ngatuny (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 59:50 Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:07 Samuel Ndungu (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:17 Munehiro Sugaya (Team Toyota) - 1:02:22 Yoshiki Otsuka (Team Aichi Seiko) - 1:03:29 Hiroaki Inoue (Team Toenec) - 1:03:32 Satoru Kasuya (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 1:03:33 Satoshi Abe (Team Toenec) - 1:03:34 Yoshihiko Asaba (Team Toenec) - 1:03:35 Women Hiromi Ominami (Yutic AC) - 1:08:45 Noriko Matsuoka (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:11:46 Kaori Akagawa (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:12:28

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/091123/spg0911231501002-n1.htm translated by Brett Larner Defending champion Gideon Ngatuny (Team Nissin Shokuhin) won his second-straight Nagoya Half Marathon on Nov. 23, breaking his own course record with a new PB of 59:50 at the 25th anniversary edition of the Rikuren-certified event. Yoshiki Otsuka (Team Aichi Seiko) was the top Japanese finisher, 6th overall in 1:03:29. Julia Mombi (Team Universal Entertainment) had an easy victory in the women's race, running 1:10:35 to take the win over Maho Matsuno (Chukyo Women's Univ.) who was 2nd in 1:19:12. 2009 Nagoya Half Marathon - Top Finishers Men - click here for complete results 1. Gideon Ngatuny (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 59:50 - CR, PB 2. Jacob Wanjuki (Team Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:30 3. Samuel Ndungu (Team Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:32 4. Mekubo Mogusu (Team Aidem) - 1:02:01 5. James Mwangi (Team NTN) - 1:02:35 6. Yoshiki Otsuka (Team Aichi Seiko) - 1:03:29 7. Kiyokatsu Hasegawa (Team JR Higashi Nih...

by Brett Larner Click here for an explanation of scoring for the Hakone Ekiden qualifying race. Aided by ideally cool, cloudy and windless conditions, Tokai University first-year Akinobu Murasawa, the star runner of 2008 national high school champion Saku Chosei H.S., served notice to the big guns at the Oct. 17 Hakone Ekiden-qualifying Yosenkai 20 km road race with a 59:08 win, just 28 seconds shy of the best mark ever recorded at the race by a Japanese athlete. Running in his first university road race and his first-ever longer than 10 km, Murasawa took down defending champ Kazuki Tomaru (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) and two other ace seniors, Yuta Takahashi (Josai Univ.) and Takuya Fukatsu (Komazawa Univ.), over the final five kilometers to seal his win. In a race which rarely sees more than one or two runners break the hour mark, eleven athletes succeeded this year with another two just a second off from joining them. It may well have been the most competitive race in Yosenkai history. Beyo...

http://mainichi.jp/area/gunma/news/20081113ddlk10050045000c.html translated by Mika Tokairin and Brett Larner "I want to nurture athletes who can compete on the national level." --Jobu University Head Coach Katsuhiko Hanada In qualifying for the ultimate stage in university distance running, the Hakone Ekiden, Jobu University's ekiden team, the first from Gunma Prefecture to make Hakone, has become an inspiration for high school and junior high school distance runners who hope to make it to the national level. This incredible achievement, coming less than five years since the team's establishment in 2004, is due to the leadership provided by head coach Katsuhiko Hanada (37) and to the dedication of Jobu's athletes. "I want to nurture athletes who can compete in the top class of national races," says Hanada. His team shares this dream. "Would you coach us?" In 2004, Daisuke Ono (24), the first captain of Jobu's ekiden team, send an email to...