japan running news

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by Brett Larner Just 17 years old, 2016 Bydgoszcz World U20 Championships men's 5000 m bronze medalist Wesley Ledama of Kenya turned up at Akita's Towada Hachimantai Ekiden running for the Subaru corporate team to rock a new record on the 13.6 km First Stage.  Hammering experienced 32-year-old Ethiopian Kassa Mekashaw (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) into the ground, Ledama took almost a minute and a half off the 39:49 stage record set last year by Kenyan Charles Ndungu (Team Komori Corp.) as he handed off in 1st in 38:28.  Mekashaw likewise broke the record, next into the first exchange zone in 38:35, with Yuki Takamiya (Team Yakult A), the top Japanese man at this year's Tokyo Marathon and winner on Towada's First Stage in 2014, 3rd in 40:27. Both Yachiyo Kogyo and Yakult ran down Subaru on the 13.4 km Second Stage, stage record holder Bernard Kimanyi (Team Yakult A) coming just 2 seconds short of Shota Kai (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) for the lead at the second exchange zon...

by Brett Larner Japan has never been one to have a clear-cut, straightforward Olympic marathon team selection process, the JAAF preferring to put forth a complex, multitiered algebra of seemingly objective criteria that ultimately serve to give it leeway to choose its own favorites for the team.  That's rarely been more true than this time around.  The problems with the Rio selection criteria have been put in the public eye on the women's side thanks to Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal), winner of the second women's selection race, and are a big topic in the media right now.  Women still have one more chance to qualify for the Rio team this Sunday in Nagoya, but for men the candidates are all down following last weekend's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon. Essentially, men had four chances to qualify for the three spots on the Rio team.  The only option for absolutely 100% making the team was to be the first Japanese man in the top eight in the marathon at the Beijing Worl...

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20160303-00000083-spnannex-spo an editorial by Ryosuke Sugimoto translated by Brett Larner It's official, Kayoko Fukushi has backed out of her plans to run the Nagoya Women's Marathon.  As a result there's not much doubt that the Rio de Janeiro Olympic women's marathon team will be made up of Mai Ito for placing 7th in the Beijing World Championships, Fukushi for breaking the JAAF's 2:22:30 Olympic qualifying standard when she won the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2:22:17, and the top Japanese finisher in Nagoya. The storm has pretty much passed for women's selection, but what about the men?  Among the entries for the final men's selection race, this weekend's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, is civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi .  No men qualified for Rio in Beijing, so essentially the top three Japanese finishers in the three domestic selection races will be chosen.  At December's Fukuoka Intern...

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20160229-OHT1T50026.html translated and edited by Brett Larner With Sunday's Tokyo Marathon serving as the second selection race for the Japanese men's Rio de Janeiro Olympic team, general elite division entrant Yuki Takamiya (28, Team Yakult) ran a smart and punchy race to finish 8th overall in a PB of 2:10:57 as the top Japanese man.  Running down Beijing World Championships team member Masato Imai (31, Team Toyota Kyushu), Hakone Ekiden ace Tadashi Isshiki (21, Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and other famous star athletes, Takamiya put himself into contention for the Rio team.  Feyisa Lilesa (26, Ethiopia) won Tokyo for the first time in 2:06:56. Takamiya was already more than 15 seconds behind the main Japanese pack by 10 km and was over 40 seconds behind at 35 km.  It all came down to the last 2 km, Takamiya's legs turning over with great drive straight from his soul.  Flying past leading Japanese man Yuma Hattori (22, Toyo Un...

by Brett Larner 2015 Beijing World Championships marathon silver medalist Helah Kiprop (Kenya) delivered the outstanding performance of the 10th Tokyo Marathon , doing all she could to try to deliver a performance that would score her the win in the Abbott World Marathon Majors.  Leading a pack including two-time world champion Edna Kiplagat (Kenya), fellow AWMM title contenders Birhane Dibaba (Ethiopia) and Aberu Kebede (Ethiopia) and three other Ethiopians through halfway in 1:10:41, Kiprop kept it even and ground down the others, never really accelerating or losing pace on the hills in the last 6 km but dropping the competition one by one. All alone by 40 km it looked like she might take down the fastest marathon ever run by a woman on Japanese soil, Mizuki Noguchi 's 2:21:18 in Osaka in 2003, but despite coming up just short Kiprop succeeded in taking nearly a minute off the course record as she won in 2:21:27.  Runner-up Amane Gobena (Ethiopia), a frequent face i...

by Brett Larner Ekiden season got off to an early start with the 66th running of Akita's Towada Hachimantai Ekiden on Aug. 7.  The Honda  corporate team, less Moscow World Championships marathoner Masakazu Fujiwara  and other A-list members, outran rival Yakult  for the win after a slow start.  The Yakult A team led for the first three of the day's five stages thanks in part to a superb stage record of 36:12 on the 13.4 km Second Stage by new Kenyan ace Bernard Kimani , while Honda fell as low as 4th.  On the 16.4 km Fourth Stage new Honda recruit Wataru Ueno , a graduate of Komazawa University and Sendai Ikuei H.S., had a strong corporate ekiden debut as he made up the 30-second gap to leader Yutaro Fukushi  of Yakult before opening a lead of nearly two minutes. With Fukushi having fallen to 3rd behind Komori Corporation , Yakult anchor Soji Ikeda , another Komazawa alum, did his best to run down Honda's Hayato Saito  on the tough uphil...

Great Scottish Run Half Marathon Glasgow, 9/2/12 click here for complete results Men 1. Joseph Birech (Kenya) - 1:03:14 2. Sota Hoshi (Team Fujitsu) - 1:03:49 3. John Kelai (Kenya) - 1:04:17 4. Masamichi Shinozaki (Team Hitachi Logistics) - 1:05:10 5. Yuki Takamiya (Team Yakult) - 1:05:19 6. Masashi Kada (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 1:05:41 Women 1. Bezunesh Bekele (Ethiopia) - 1:09:09 2. Aya Nagata (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 1:12:02 3. Grace Momanyi (Kenya) - 1:12:41 4. Shino Saito (Team Shimamura) - 1:13:23 5. Hayley Haining (U.K.) - 1:15:03 Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon Virginia Beach, 9/2/12 click here for complete results Men 1. Nicholas Kurgat (Kenya) - 1:04:45 2. Henry Rutto (Kenya) - 1:05:01 3. Ryo Matsumoto (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 1:05:58 4. Samuel Ndereba (Kenya) - 1:06:00 5. Rui Yonezawa (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:06:32 ----- 8. Kazuki Tomaru (Team Toyota) - 1:11:13 Women 1. Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) - 1:13:50 2. Chihiro ...

by Brett Larner On day one of the first Nittai Univ. Time Trials meet of the season, marathoner Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) continued the comeback from the injury that knocked him out of the Beijing Olympics, finishing 3rd in 29:19.31. The biggest results of the day, however came in the women's 800 m and 3000 m. Running against a field of pro, university and high school competitors, unior high school student Ayaka Nakagawa (Asaka Daisan J.H.S.) started the day off with a win in the 800 m A-heat in 2:10.61, nearly 1 1/2 seconds ahead of her closest rival. 2 1/2 hours later Nakagawa returned to take 6th in the 3000 m A-heat, clocking 9:31.18. Nittai Univ. Time Trials Top Results Nittai Univ., Yokohama, 4/16/11 click here for complete results Men's 10000 m Heat 5 1. Yuki Takamiya (Team Yakult) - 29:17.67 2. Yuta Shitara (Toyo Univ.) - 29:19.00 3. Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 29:19.31 4. Sho Matsueda (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 29:23.77 5. Tomohiro Hayakawa (...

http://www.iwate-np.co.jp/sports/2009sports/m09/spo0909211.html translated and edited by Brett Larner At the 28th Ichinoseki International Half Marathon on Sept. 20 in Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture, Josai University senior Yuki Takamiya took the overall win in a time of 1:05:51. Takamiya launched an attack with 1 km to go to hold off junior teammate Ryo Ishita, famous for collapsing on the 8th stage of this year's Hakone Ekiden, by one second. Josai first-year Dai Nakahara came third to complete Josai's sweep. Iwate native Yu Chiba, who ran the 8th stage for this year's Hakone winners Toyo University, was a special invited runner and finished 5th overall in 1:06:33. Fusai Narita (Team NEC Fuchu) won the women's division in a time of 1:24:23.