japan running news

Hayashi Morozumi , 59, has stepped down as head coach at Tokai University following its 12th-place finish at this year's 102nd Hakone Ekiden. Morozumi will serve in an executive advisory role to Noriaki Nishide , 51, who moves up from the Tokai coaching staff to take on head coach duties. Morozumi came to at his alma mater Tokai in 2011 after serving at head coach at Nagano's Saku Chosei H.S. , where the team won the 2008 National High School Ekiden anchored by future marathon NR holder Suguru Osako . In 2019 Morozumi led Tokai to its first-ever Hakone title, making him the only coach to win both the biggest high school and college titles in his career. When Morozumi became head coach at Saku Chosei in 1995 he personally drove a bulldozer to build a cross-country loop at the school, combining his innovative coaching theory with deep passion to build the Saku Chosei program from zero to national championships in just 13 years. Along with Osako, now 34, some of his key proteges ...

One of the three big races happening this weekend in Japan, the Tokyo Legacy Half is a preview of the course for next year's Tokyo World Championships marathon, starting at the National Stadium, downhill in the first 5 km, flat in the middle, and then back up to the stadium for the finish. TBS-BS is broadcasting the race live starting at 8:00 a.m., with streaming of the finish line on YouTube and a tape delayed regular TV broadcast at 1:35 a.m. on Oct. 30. Fresh off a 30:13 road 10 km and with a 1:05:58 best Loice Chemnung is the heavy-duty favorite in the women's race, 4:34 up on her nearest competition, Mongolian NR holder Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh . The Tokyo Legacy Half reduces appearance fees by 20% for anyone who finishes over 5 minutes behind the winner, so for Galbadrakh and sub-1:11 Japanese women Yuki Nakamura and Mao Kiyota it's not just a race for 2nd but against whatever Chemnung brings to Tokyo. Amos Kurgat is the top man in the field at 58:47, and he...

The Tokyo Legacy Half happens Oct. 20 on what's basically the course just announced for next year's Tokyo World Championships marathon. With a 1:05:58 best Loice Chemnung is a mile ahead of the rest of the women's field led by Mongolian NR holder Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh , Gold Coast Marathon winner Yuki Nakamura and last year's 4th-placer Natsuki Ogawa . Last year's top 3 men Evans Keitany , Benard Kimeli and Bedan Karoki are all back along with sub-60 men Amos Kurgat ,  Cleophas Kandie and Andrew Lorot , top Japanese man Tomoki Ota at 1:00:08, and a million more. Straight from Paris, Paralympians Misato Michishita , Tsubasa Kina , Tomoki Suzuki , Kenya Karasawa and more lead the para half field. Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon Elite Field Highlights Tokyo, 20 Oct. 2024 complete field listing times listed are athletes' best in last 3 years except where noted Women Loice Chemnung (Kenya) - 1:05:58 (2024 Malaga Half) Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh (Mongolia) - 1...

https://goldcoastmarathon.com.au/2023/06/02/2023-gold-coast-marathon-elite-field-reveal/

13:22.99 high school boys' 5000 m national record holder Hiroto Yoshioka , a 3rd-year at Nagano's Saku Chosei H.S. , talked to the media for the first time after returning from the Feb. 18 World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia. "I can't say everything is back to normal, but I'm getting better bit by bit," he said. In high temperatures at World XC Yoshioka ran an aggressive race against the international field, only to collapse right before the finish. "I was really flying, a lot more than usual, and I could feel it was really physically demanding," he said. "I thought I had crossed the finish line, but the line where I collapsed was actually the start line. People around me were shouting, 'You're not done!'" Unable to move his legs, he used his arms to inch forward feet-first. He instinctively felt he had reached the finish line and collapsed again, this time for good. But, he admitted, "Since I was goin...

Another busy weekend in Japan as its road races and marathons continue to return from pandemic-era hiatuses, with two 30 km races, four big marathons, and a post-season university ekiden. In Kumamoto, Yuki Sato (SGH), 36, put in a hard last 5 km to pull away from the massive leading pack and win the Kumanichi 30 km in 1:30:57, the oldest athlete to win Kumanichi to date. Kira Migita (Toyota Kyushu) was 2nd in 1:31:13, just beating Sato's teammate Kazuto Kawabata (SGH) by 1 second. Rui Nishida (Higo Ginko) won the women's race by over 2 minutes in 1:46:58. Sato, who ran a 1:00:35 PB at last weekend's National Corporate Half Marathon, said post-race that he'd done a 30 km training run on Thursday and that Kumanichi had been only a workout effort. In western Tokyo, 2018 Ome 30 km Road Race men's winner Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Danryoku), 38, led almost start to finish in pursuit of a second win on the hilly Ome course, but in the home straight he fell victim to a...

Three Japanese men ran Sunday's Amsterdam Marathon, Yuki Sato (SG Holdings) in pursuit of a faster time than his 2:08:17 best, and Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) and Akira Tomiyasu (Aisan Kogyo) looking for times that would get them inside the cut for next year's 2024 Olympic marathon trials. Sato went out with the lead group on 2:04 pace through 15 km before falling off, hitting halfway in 1:03:10 and 30 km in 1:33:33. Just past 40 km he dropped out after hitting it in 2:14:19. Dairokuno, who needed to run 2:09:49 to score trials qualification, went through halfway in 1:04:33 before overtaking Sato and clocking 1:31:49 at 30 km. Unable to sustain that, he finished 21st in 2:12:38. Tomiyasu had the most modest goal, only needing to run 2:11:05 to clear the trials standards. 1:04:56 at halfway and 1:31:59 at 30 km, he briefly caught up to Dairokuno before struggling after the lefthand turn into the strong headwind at 35 km. He ultimately finished 24th in 2:15:21, over a minute...

It's a busy weekend ahead, with a major trail race, a half marathon, and at least three high-level track meets going on across the country. The Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji is already underway, 100 miles around the foothills of Japan's most recognizable landmark in the long course race. It doesn't factor into national team selection for next year's World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, but UTMF is still the most prestigious trail race in the country. Catch streaming here and on the UTMF Youtube channel .  Leaderboard and athlete tracking here . Sunday is the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon , in normal years Japan's only WA gold label half marathon and still one of its most competitive in this still not normal year. 2022 National Corporate Half Marathon champ Dolphine Nyaboke Omare (U.S.E.) leads the women's field with her 1:07:56 CR at that race, her main competition on paper coming from Aussie veteran Sinead Diver , 1:08:50 at Marugame two years ago but a DNF...

The Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon returns Apr. 24 with a mostly Japan-based field that at least on the men's side is still just about the best in its 11-year history.  On the women's side, 2022 National Corporate Half Marathon winner Dolphine Nyaboke Omare is the heavy favorite after running 1:07:56 to win the corporate title. Australian Sinead Diver , a DNF at last month's Nagoya Women's Marathon, is the only other woman in the field to have broken 70 minutes in the last 3 years with a 1:08:50 in Marugame 2 years ago. Along with Eloise Wellings and Natalie Rule Diver is part of an Australian trio that is the only segment of the race coming from outside Japan. Yuma Adachi (Kyocera) and Anna Matsuda (Denso) are the top Japanese women, Adachi with a 1:10:21 in Osaka in January and Matsuda a 1:10:29 behind Omare in February. Nobody is coming from overseas to run in the men's race, but the Japan-based Kenyan field is just about as good as Gifu could hope for any year....

The first meet in this year's Hokuren Distance Challenge  in Hokkaido was the main meet of the weekend, but there was more action near Tokyo than in a normal year too as organizers sought to keep the number of people in one location down. At the HDC Shibetsu Meet the men's 3000 m was the highlight, with Yohei Ikeda  (Kanebo) winning in 7:56.10 to lead the top eight under eight minutes. Even just five years ago it was rare to see more than one Japanese man break eight in an entire year, a sign of how much things have changed in both shoes and priorities.  Titus Wambua  (SID Group) ran 13:22.49 for 1st in the men's 5000 m A-heat, Kenyans sweeping the top four spots. In 5th Kotaro Kondo  set a new school record for ekiden power Aoyama Gakuin University , running 13:34.88.  34-year-old Yuki Sato  (SGH Group) was 6th in 13:35.74, bettering the time he ran at Nationals less than two weeks ago by 3 seconds. Women's results in Shibetsu were low-key, Sakiko Na...

Last year's runner-up Toyota  finally achieved its goal of stopping four-time defending New Year Ekiden champ Asahi Kasei  from adding to its dynasty, beating it by 37 seconds thanks in part to the absence of new 10000 m national record holder Akira Aizawa  from Asahi Kasei's starting roster. But Toyota again found itself in the runner-up position, both teams beaten in an almost flawless team run from East Japan region winner Fujitsu . Right from the start all three teams were out front, Hiroki Matsueda  (Fujitsu) taking the First Stage by a second over Keijiro Mogi  (Asahi Kasei) and another second over Hideyuki Tanaka  (Toyota). All three were run down on the mostly Kenyan second stage, Toyota falling to 4th after a surprisingly weak run from star Bedan Karoki , Fujitsu to 6th, and Asahi Kasei to 13th. Richard Kimunyan (Hitachi Butsuryu) and Stanley Waithaka  (Yakult) ran brilliantly to take over the top two spots, but the real star of the stage wa...

The JAAF has announced a few changes to the lineup for Japan's team for the rescheduled World Half Marathon Championships Oct. 17 in Gdynia, Poland. Gone but not forgotten are men's Olympic marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu), 1:01:40 at January's Takanezawa Half, and second-tier women's team members Rui Aoyama (Universal Entertainment) and Toshika Tamura (Hitachi). In their places are track star Yuki Sato (Nissin Shokuhin), 1:01:06 in Marugame this February, and marathon heavy hitters Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) and Yuka Ando (Wacoal) with half marathon bests of 1:09:08 and 1:09:38, both from last December's Sanyo Ladies Half. Overall it's a step up in quality for the Japanese team if the World Half happens as planned. World Half Marathon Championships Japanese Team Gdynia, Poland, 10/17/20 complete listing times listed are best in last three years except where noted Men Taku Fujimoto (Toyota) - 1:00:06 (Marugame 2020) Kiyoshi Koga (...

Saku Chosei H.S. grads Yuki Sato , Suguru Osako and Akinobu Murasawa battle it out in the 2012 Fukuoka Cross-Country Meet Senior Men's 10 km. Under then-head coach Hayashi Morozumi Saku Chosei was one of the first teams in Japan to incorporate cross-country training as a major part of its approach. All three athletes went on to run sub-28 for 10000 m and sub-2:10 for the marathon.

Two weeks after his 20th birthday, Toyo University 2nd-year Yuta Shitara breaks Yuki Sato 's course record on the Hakone Ekiden Seventh Stage. Shitara later went on to set national records for both half marathon and marathon.

Part three of three in JRN's interview with Tsutomu Akiyama , one of the people responsible for first bringing Kenyan athletes to run in Japan. Read part one and part two. Stephen Mayaka told me that jitsugyodan teams want Kenyans mostly for the New Year Ekiden. In the last few years they’ve restricted foreign runners to one stage, the “International Stage,” and have dramatically shortened it to 8 km. Do you think this is going to result in fewer opportunities for Kenyans to find a place on a Japanese team? With regard to that, my opinion is this: At the Olympics, the World Championships or major marathons they don’t say, “You are faster so you have to run 43 km or 44 km.” It’s the same for everyone. Everyone has the same start line and finish line. In these Japanese corporate ekidens, where they tell fast foreigners that they can only run a particular stage, the only Japanese runners who run that same stage are the slowest ones. It makes it so that you can’t really tell ho...

interview by Brett Larner translated by Brett Larner and Mika Tokairin Running in miserable conditions at the 2010 Tokyo Marathon, Arata Fujiwara  came 2nd for the second time in his career. The next day, a badly limping Fujiwara generously met with JRN at a favorite bar of his to talk about the race, training, future, and what went wrong and right. Part one of the post-race interview focused on this year's race. Part two, below, talks about Fujiwara's motivations, his training for Tokyo, and the Japanese corporate running system compared with the situation in Africa, Europe and the United States. Click here for Fujiwara's three-part pre-race interview. In 2008 Tokyo didn’t have prize money, so this was your first time really running for it. Did it make a difference? Yeah, when there’s prize money you have more guts. This time, in the last 2 km there was a negotiation between my legs and the prize money. (laughs) I got the ‘go’ sign. Having prize money encoura...

It came down to a race between #1-ranked El Mahjoub Dazza (Morocco) and top Japanese man Taku Fujimoto (Toyota) after 30 km, but the Moroccan proved the stronger as he pulled away to win the Fukuoka International Marathon in 2:07:10. Japanese men had to run under the national record of 2:05:50 to score the last spot on the 2020 Olympic marathon team. Fujimoto, 2:08 man Yuki Sato (Nissin Shokuhin) and ambitious 2:12 guy Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) were the only ones to really give it a go, staying up front in the lead pack with most of the internationals, with Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA) laying down the law at the head of the pacer group. A secondary lead group quickly separated off the back of the lead group, with Japan-based Kenyan Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Track Tokyo), 2:09:52 man Jo Fukuda (Nishitetsu), Keita Shitara (Hitachi Butsuryu) and others cutting back to 2:07 pace. European marathon champ Koen Naert (Belgium) and Pan-Am Games gold medalist Christian Pacheco (Peru)...