japan running news

http://mytown.asahi.com/miyazaki/news.php?k_id=46000001004010004 translated by Brett Larner A longtime home for top women over the past 59 years, on the first day of the new fiscal year today Asahi Kasei's women's team is no more. With the departure of members Yukiko Matsubara and Yukari Soh and no new women joining, the guiding light of the women's team has simply gone out. Matsubara is retiring from the sport, while Soh, the daughter of head coach Takeshi Soh, will continue working at the Asahi Kasei company and running on her own. The Asahi Kasei track and field team was founded in 1946 in Nobeoka, Kyushu with a women's team added five years later. The team initially consisted primarily of sprinters, but over time its emphasis shifted to longer distances and it began to produce international-level athletes. 1988 Seoul Olympics marathoner Misako Miyahara, 1993 Stuttgart World Championships marathon bronze medalist and 100 km world record holder Tomoe Abe, and Olympian...

http://www.chunichi.co.jp/chuspo/article/sports/news/CK2009022002000136.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Naoko Takahashi stands between the two monuments in her honor on Tokunoshima island. Sydney Olympics women's marathon gold medalist and former world record holder Naoko Takahashi (36, Phiten), who retired from professional running last fall, began training on the island of Tokunoshima in Kagoshima Prefecture on Feb. 19 for what she has up until now called a 'thank-you run' at the Mar. 8 Nagoya International Women's Marathon . Q-chan has said her goal for her 'final run' is simply, "to break 3 hours." However, she recently commented, "I'm really afraid that when the starting gun goes off I might get excited and try to run up front [in the lead pack] instead of going out as planned," suggesting the possibility that Nagoya might become a 'real run.' Takahashi was quick to add, "I'm going to try to hold back as ...

by Brett Larner The 30th and final edition of the Tokyo International Women's Marathon takes place this Sunday, Nov. 16, starting and finishing at Tokyo's National Stadium. TIWM was the world's first women-only elite marathon at the time of its inception in 1979, a time when Japan's male marathoners were among the most dominant in the world and there were no world-class Japanese women in the marathon scene. 30 years, two Olympic gold medals and a world record later, Japan's women are its most respected distance runners both domestically and worldwide. The list of TIWM winners contains many of the sport's great names, historical and modern. Joyce Smith, Katrin Doerre, Rosa Mota, Valentina Yegorova, Joyce Chepchumba, Derartu Tulu, Elfenesh Alemu, Naoko Takahashi, Reiko Tosa and Mizuki Noguchi all won. The birth of the Tokyo Marathon in 2007 brought the big city major marathon to Japan; with the addition of an elite women's field for the 2009 Tokyo Marathon, ...

by Brett Larner On Oct. 28 the Tokyo International Women's Marathon announced the elite field for the event's 30th and final running, to take place Nov. 16. Top domestic runners Yoko Shibui, Yuri Kano, Yoshimi Ozaki and others will face off for slots on the 2009 Berlin World Track and Field Championships marathon team while competing against foreign competition including 2008 Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Mara Yamauchi of the U.K., 2007 Tokyo IWM runner-up Salina Kosgei of Kenya, and 2008 London Marathon runner-up Russian Svetlana Zakharova. Aging Ethiopians Derartu Tulu and Elfenesh Alemu are also on the entry list along with newcomers Tetyana Filonyuk of Ukraine and Kenyan Magdaline Chemjor. Former marathon national record holder Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) had a career-worst run at last year's Tokyo but afterwards went on to experience a rebirth on the track, running the kind of performances not seen since her glory days over five years ago and ...