japan running news

by Brett Larner As the Japanese academic year comes to a close this month, many of this year's talented group of graduating university seniors prepare to enter the corporate team world of jitsugyodan running while others bid goodbye to their days of serious running. Below is a listing of some of the best runners in this year's graduating class and their destinations next month. Tsuguya Asahi (Waseda Univ.) - Team Kyudenko Soji Ikeda (Komazawa Univ.) - Team Yakult Kenta Kawasaki (Kokushikan Univ.) - Team Suzuki Yuki Kawauchi (Gakushuin Univ.) - Saitama Prefectural Government Masato Kihara (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - Team Kanebo Mekubo Mogusu (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - Team Aidem Kazuki Onishi (Toyo Univ.) - Team Kanebo Tomoya Onishi (Toyo Univ.) - Team Asahi Kasei Hiroyuki Ono (Juntendo Univ.) - Team Nissin Shokuhin Yukinori Ota (Komazawa Univ.) - Team Mazda Takuma Sasaya (Nihon Univ.) - Team JR Higashi Nihon Yuki Sato (Tokai Univ.) - Team Nissin Shokuhin / Tokai Graduate School Tsuyo...

by Brett Larner Komazawa University's Tsuyoshi Ugachi led the school's team to a near sweep of the 2008 Fuchu Tamagawa Half Marathon on Nov. 23, winning with a time of 1:04:08 and a margin of 50 seconds over teammate Yusuke Takabayashi. Running in perfect conditions, Komazawa runners, who typically dominate the race held near the university's training grounds, took the top 3 positions and 7 of the top 10 places. Kenyan Daniel Mwangi (Team JAL Ground Service) provided the only serious challenge to the national champion and defending Hakone Ekiden champion Komazawa runners, 4th in 1:06:02 after just outleaning Komazawa's Yukinori Ota and Toru Takahashi. Aoyama Gakuin University ekiden team members Soichiro Nishio and Keisuke Ichioka, preparing for their school's first Hakone appearance in 33 years, were 7th and 10th respectively. Nishio and Ichioka will next meet up with Ugachi and the rest of the Komazawa squad on Jan. 2 and 3 in the 2009 Hakone Ekiden. 2008 Fuchu Ta...

by Brett Larner Komazawa University solidified its hold on the Japanese university ekiden world with a third straight victory at the All-Japan University Men's Ekiden on Nov. 2, outrunning rival Waseda University and holding off Yamanashi Gakuin University's double Kenyan challenge to take the win. Komazawa took the lead from Waseda on the seventh of the ekiden's eight stages and edged away by a second or two per kilometer for the rest of the race. Yamanashi Gakuin, in striking position after a stage record final run by Kenyan senior Mekubo Mogusu on the fourth leg, was expected to win if its anchor, first year Cosmas Ondiba, was within 3 minutes of the lead, but despite being only 2:05 back at the start of his run Ondiba was unable to overtake either Waseda's or Komazawa's anchors. Komazawa third year Takuya Fukatsu brought the defending champions home to win again in 5:16:16. Komazawa finished 2nd at the 2008 Izumo Ekiden behind Nihon University, which was a dista...

http://www.iwate-np.co.jp/cgi-bin/topnews.cgi?20080929_P http://www.iwate-np.co.jp/sports/2008sports/m09/spo0809291.html tra nslated and edited by Brett Larner The 27th Ichinoseki International Half Marathon took place Sept. 28 in Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture, starting outside Ichinoseki city hall and covering a 21.0975 km course. Komazawa University senior Yukinori Ota won the men's race in 1:04:26 after breaking from the lead pack with 4 km to go in the race. Komazawa alumnus Akira Fujii, now of Team Aisan, was 2nd in 1:04:52. Kyoko Fukunaga of Amino Vital AC won the women's race in 1:17:15. Leading a pack of four at the 16 km mark, Fujii launched a spurt to break away. Ota commented afterwards that at this point he had thought, "If I fall behind now it's over." He picked up his pace in response to Fujii's move, increasing from 3 min/km to 2:50/km and taking the lead at 17 km. Fujii could not match his speed and finished 26 seconds behind. Ota, who anchored...