japan running news

After finishing 6th at the MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials on Sept. 15, Yoshiki Takenouchi (NTT Nishi Nihon) ran the second-fastest time of his career, 2:11:18, to take 8th at the New York City Marathon. His time was one of the best-ever by a Japanese man in New York, the fastest since Masato Imai 's 2:10:45 in 2013. New York City Marathon New York, U.S.A., 11/3/19 complete results Men 1. Geoffrey Kamworor (Kenya) - 2:08:13 2. Albert Korir (Kenya) - 2:08:36 3. Girma Bekele Gebre (Ethiopia) - 2:08:38 4. Tamirat Tola (Ethiopia) - 2:09:20 5. Shura Kitata (Ethiopia) - 2:10:39 ----- 8. Yoshiki Takenouchi (Japan) - 2:11:18 Women 1. Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya) - 2:22:38 2. Mary Keitany (Kenya) - 2:23:32 3. Ruti Aga (Ethiopia) - 2:25:51 4. Nancy Kiprop (Kenya) - 2:26:21 5. Sinead Diver (Australia) - 2:26:23 © 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Yoshiki Takenouchi age: 27 sponsor : NTT Nishi Nihon graduated from: Kansaidai Daiichi H.S., Nihon University best time inside MGC window: 2:10:01, 7rd, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon PB: 2:10:01, 7rd, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 13:56.46 (2015) 10000 m: 28:36.44 (2018) half marathon: 1:03:08 (2019) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) DNS – 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon 30th, 2018 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:20:29 7th, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:10:01 other major results: 8th, 2019 Sendai International Half Marathon, 1:03:08 – PB 33rd, 2019 National Corporate Half Marathon, 1:03:13 (PB) DNS – 2019 National Men’s Ekiden Seventh Stage (13.0 km) 2nd, 2018 Kansai Corporate Ekiden Fifth Stage (16.0 km), 48:54 1st, 2018 Hokuren Distance Challenge Fukagawa Meet 10000 m B-race, 28:36.44 – PB 11th, 2017 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:13:33 9th, 2015 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage (21.5 km), 1:03:59 The only Ni...

At the May 12 Sendai International Half Marathon , Akito Terui (25, ND Software) finished 6th overall in 1:03:01. As a member of the Kanto Student Alliance team Terui ran the fastest time on the anchor stage at the 2017 Hakone Ekiden. Running for the Nanyo, Yamagata-based ND Software team, Terui embraces the slogan 'From the Northeast to the World.' In Sendai he beat a number of athletes who have qualified for September's MGC Race, the new trials event that will determine the marathon team for the Tokyo Olympics, marking him as a potential contender for future Olympic teams. In one of the nation's leading half marathons Terui made his presence felt among the elite competitors. Starting off in the third group, mid-race he began to move up through the field to finish as the 4th Japanese man. Three runners he beat in the final stages, 7th-place Daichi Kamino (New Balance), 8th-place Yoshiki Takenouchi (NTT Nishi Nihon) and 10th-place Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu), w...

Things are buzzing in Japan right now in a way they haven't for a long, long time. Yuta Shitara 's 2:06:11 national record last weekend in Tokyo , Hiroto Inoue joining him under 2:07, and a record-breaking group of seven other Japanese men at the 2:08 to 2:09 level have everyone believing. Believing that they can do it too. The first test of that belief comes Sunday at the last main marathon of the Japanese season, the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon . The hoop that made so many Japanese men jump so high last week was qualification for Japan's new 2020 Olympic trials, the MGC Race . Sub-2:08:30 and you're in. Sub-2:11:00 and in the top three Japanese? You're in. Sub-2:10 and in the top six Japanese? You're in too. As Kohei Ogino and Tadashi Isshiki , 7th and 8th Japanese in Tokyo in 2:09:36 and 2:09:43, found out, people are taking qualification seriously. Lake Biwa has had more editions with five Japanese men sub-2:10 than any other marathon, and with the qua...

Defending champ Ezekiel Chebii (Kenya) returns to lead the field for the Mar. 4 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon . Chebii is one of three men in the field with recent 2:06 times, his 2:06:07 in Amsterdam two years ago leading Tadesse Abraham (Switzerland) and Abera Kuma (Ethiopia) to form a clear trio of favorites. Making up the second pack are four current sub-2:10 Japanese men, 2017 Gold Coast winner  Takuya Noguchi  (Konica Minolta), Rio Olympian Satoru Sasaki (Asahi Kasei), and Sasaki's teammates Takuya Fukatsu and Fumihiro Maruyama . The addition of sub-61 half marathoner Kenta Murayama in his second shot at the marathon after a failed debut in Tokyo two years ago makes for a formidable quartet of men from 2017 and 2018 New Year Ekiden national champion Asahi Kasei all aligned in training and talent. With Japan's depth it's never surprising to see a relatively anonymous runner make a breakthrough and factor into the action. Yoshiki Takenouchi (NTT Nishi Nihon)...

After finishing among the top three Japanese men at last month's Fukuoka International Marathon to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Trials race, NTT Nishi Nihon corporate men's team member Yoshiki Takenouchi , 25, appeared at an event at Kyotanabe city hall in Kyoto where the NTT team is based. "I want to do everything I can to make that Olympic dream come even just one step closer," he said with determination. Takenouchi is originally from Osaka. After graduating from Kandai Daiichi H.S. he attended Nihon University before joining NTT Nishi Nihon in 2015. In Fukuoka he ran a dramatic 2:10:01 PB to finish 7th overall as the 3rd Japanese man, earning a place at the Marathon Grand Championship race to be held in or after September, 2019. Takenouchi lives in a company dormitory in the Kyotanabe and often runs along Yamate Kansen Strett during morning practice. "There's a lot of greenery and the air is clear, so it feels good to run there, "he said wit...

Japan's selection process for marathon national teams, with a committee picking runners based on results at three, sometimes four official selection races plus previous international championships, has always been opaque and open to controversy, confusion and other words starting with the letters c and o. The selection for the 2015 Beijing World Championships women's team set off an uproar that led the JAAF to tread more carefully for Rio and London, and with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics looming they're going for a full-on one-shot trials race along the lines of the U.S. Olympic Trials that worked so successfully in Rio. The U.S. Olympic Trials approach to team selection is clear enough: run an achievable time to get into the Trials, where the first three across the finish line make up the team. That's the same basic concept for Japan's new Marathon Grand Championship trials race, the MGC Race for short, but nothing in Japan is ever so simple, straightforward and cl...

More than living up to the promise of his 59:48 Norwegian half marathon record at October's Valencia Half, Sondre Nordtad Moen took down all comers to win the 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon in a European record 2:05:48. 【福岡国際マラソン】 🏆優 勝　モーエン　2:05.48！ pic.twitter.com/lpzMUYHfhu — NOBUKI T&F (@nobu_777__tf) December 3, 2017 Superb pacing work took the lead group through 30 km with almost perfect 3:00/km splits along the way, a race of attrition that shaved down the field to a core group of five real contenders. Defending champ Yemane Tsegay (Ethiopia) was the first big name to go, with 2:06 man Lani Rutto (Kenya), the debuting Keita Shitara (Japan/Hitachi Butsuryu) and last year's 3rd-placer Yuki Kawauchi (Japan/Saitama Pref. Gov't) among the other big names to lose touch in the first half, leaving Moen, favorite Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA), London Olympics gold medalist Stephen Kiprotich (Uganda), last year's 5th-placer Amanuel Mesel (Eritrea) a...