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A fixture on runners' schedule for 79 years, the Fuji Mountain Race took place July 24 in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi. 3521 runners from across the country and around the world took on the challenge of racing up Mt. Fuji. The event is divided into 2 distances, the Summit Course of 21 km with 3000 m of ascent, and the Fifth Stage Course of 15 km with 1480 m climb. The Summit Course turns steep after the Seventh Stage, with runners slipping and stumbling on the loose rock on the trail as they near the peak. In the Summit Course race Ruy Ueda , 32, won for the second year in a row. Yuri Yoshizumi , 40, achieved an 8th-straight victory in the women's summit race. A local Fujiyoshida resident, post-race Yoshizumi said, "I mostly train on Mount Fuji too. All the local people cheering me on helped me to push harder." Takashi Mino won the men's title in the Fifth Stage Course, with Mirei Sugai taking the women's title. 79th Fuji Mountain Race Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, 24 ...

  https://www.irunfar.com/this-week-in-running-april-27-2026 complete results

The 78th Fuji Mountain Race was held on Friday, July 25. Between the long course race, 21 km climbing 3000 m to the peak of Mount Fuji, and the Fifth Station race, 15 km climbing 1480 m, a total of 3,363 people from across Japan and around the world took part. In the long course race, Yuri Yoshizumi , 39, won the women's title for the 7th time in a row, with accomplished trail runner Ruy Ueda , 31, winning the men's title for the first time. Yoshimi Tanaka , 33, won the Fifth Station women's title and Yuki Yamada , 27, the men's title, both of them winning for the 2nd time. Yoshizumi, a pro mountain runner representing Fujisan GX Holdings who regularly trains on the Fuji Mountain Race course, said, "I remember the entire course." This time around Yoshizumi took the lead before hitting the hiking trail part of the course and pushed the pace from the Eighth Station onwards. "I was hitting it so hard that I couldn't respond to the people who were cheer...

  The 77th running of the Fuji Mountain Race took place on July 26. In the long course summit race, 21 km with around 3000 m of climb from Fuji Yoshida city hall to the peak of Mount Fuji, Yuri Yoshizumi won the women's race in 3:13:08 and Ryunosuke Omi the men's race in 2:42:24.; In the women's race, last year's 2nd-placer Rieko Koshi led Yoshizumi by 19 seconds at the end of the road section at around 11.5 km. But on the trail section after that Yoshizumi passed her and built a winning lead to score her sixth Fuji Mountain Race title since 2017. 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016 winner Mina Ogawa was 2nd in 3:21:44, with Koshi hanging on to make the podium again in 3:25:02 for 3rd. Having won in his summit course debut last year, Omi was in the lead at the 11.5 km checkpoint. But by the Fifth Stage checkpoint he had been overtaken by Ruy Ueda and dropped two minutes behind. But Ueda, running the summit course for the first time, faded after hitting the steepest trail se...

Tokyo Olympics and Oregon World Championships women's 5000 m team member Kaede Hagitani placed 3rd in the Mar. 31 Hasetsune 30K Trail Race , finishing in 4:06:01. Starting and finishing at the Akigawa Keikoku Rivertio campground and hotel, Hasetsune covers 30 km across the three Tokura peaks in western Tokyo's Okutama mountain range. Yuri Yoshizumi won the women's race in 3:40:49. Hagitani graduated from Nagano Higashi H.S. where she was teammates with Narumi Kobayashi and others on the roads and track. In her 3rd year at Nagano Higashi she took 5th in the 1500 m at the National High School Championships and 7th in the National Sports Festival 3000 m. Along with Kobayashi she helped Nagano Higashi take the runner-up spot at the National High School Ekiden. Entering the Edion corporate team after graduating, Hagitani ran 15:05.78 for 5000 m in 2020, at the time the 7th-best ever by a Japanese woman. In 2021 she was 4th at the National Championships, earning a spot on th...

The 76th edition of one of Japan's most iconic races happened Friday at the Fuji Mountain Race in Yamanashi. In the summit race, 21 km up the slopes of Mt. Fuji starting near 800 m and peaking around 3700 m, international-level mountain runner Yuri Yoshizumi won a fifth-straight women's title. Her time of 3:16:53 was the slowest of her wins by just over a minute but still put her almost 13 minutes ahead of runner-up Rieko Koshi , last year's short course winner making her debut at the longer, tougher distance. Ryunosuke Omi won the men's summit title in 2:41:31, 5 minutes up on 2nd-placer Taiga Yamaguchi . Defending men's champ Hiroki Kai was only 6th in 2:55:50, with last year's short course runner-up Jumpei Yamaguchi doubling back from a 100 km NR last month at Lake Saroma to take 12th in 3:00:30. Post-race Yamaguchi said, "I think I want to stick to road racing." Two-time winner Shun Gorotani finished far down the field behind Yoshizumi in 3:...

Part of the 2022 Skyrunner Japan Series (SJS), the Ueda Vertical Race and Ueda Sky Race took place May 3 and 4 in Ueda, Nagano. Put on by the Japan Skyrunning Association, SJS is the peak of the domestic mountain running circuit. Founded in 2015 and now in its 8th season, the series has made a fresh start with the Swiss company Norqain as its official timekeeper. The first day of racing featured the Ueda Vertical Race, 5 km with 1000 m of climb. Honoka Akiyama won the women's race in 54:31, Karen Kobayashi taking 2nd and Suzuha Kusuda (Team Sky Kyoto) 3rd. In the men's race Ryunsoke Omi (Team Sky Kyoto) took the top spot in 43:47, with Tomofumi Miyagawa 2nd and Miki Ushida 3rd. The 2021 National Sky Champion, Akiyama joined last year's SJS during its 2nd half. Ueda was her 5th win, 3 of which came in Vertical Kilometer races. "I'd been targeting the course record of 49:54 (set in 2017 by Yuri Yoshizumi ), but I wasn't even close," she said post-race...

Spanning three days beginning Friday, Apr. 22, the Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji returned this weekend after cancelations the last two years during the pandemic, with great weather across the course around the foot of Mt. Fuji through Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures. 1,808 people ran the UTMF 165 km long course, with another 489 in the KAI 69 km short course, all of them enjoying spectacular views of Mt. Fuji as they ran its trails. Among them were some of the country's best trail athletes, making for the first elite-level trail race in Japan in a long time. Covering 157.9 km with 6388 km total elevation gain, the UTMF 165 km division race started at Fujisan Kodomonokuni park in Fuji, Shizuoka and finished at the Fujikyu Highlands amusement park in Yamanashi in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi. With a course change announced on Apr. 20 that cut out some of the hilliest sections and kept runners on shorter and flatter forest roads, 2019 4th-placer Masatoshi Obara took the lead in the early stages...

We've been busy the last couple of weeks with finishing the Inside the Outside - When the World Came to Fukuoka documentary and some time off to recharge and run a trail ultra in Shizuoka. Before the main part of championship ekiden season gets rolling, let's catch up on the non-Fukuoka action from the last two weekends. Following the news that the  Yachiyo Kogyo  men's corporate would be disbanded after it failed to qualify for the 2022 New Year Ekiden national championships,  Raffine Group , another men's team in the East Japan region that didn't make the New Year Ekiden, announced that after just 7 seasons it will be disbanded at the end of January . Raffine's Akira Tomiyasu  ran last month's New York City Marathon, with its other top marathon Ryo Osaki having just run Fukuoka. On the roads, the Okutama Keikoku Ekiden in the mountains west of Tokyo held its 83rd running last weekend. One of the few mass-participation ekidens to go ahead in 2020, thi...

Moderately-sized events in Nagano and Sapporo over the weekend marked a step back toward regular racing. Trail and mountain running have been going strong for a couple of months now, with all the main events featured staggered starts with runners starting one at a time in 30-second intervals. Saturday's Nozawa Trail Fes in Nagano featured groups of 30 runners starting every 3 minutes, socially distanced while in the starting corral. Between the 33 km long course, 19.5 km short course and Sunday's kids' run, about 850 people took part. Top-ranked Japanese mountain runner Ruy Ueda won the men's long course , which had 1850 m elevation difference, in 3:02:18, putting more than 16 minutes on runner-up Masato Kamishohara . National team member Yuri Yoshizumi had almost the same margin of victory in the women's long course race, running 3:28:25 to 2nd-placer Takako Takamura 's 3:44:13. Jinnosuke Omi took the men's short course in 2:01:30 by just 20 secon...

2019 Skyrunner World Series men's champ Ruy Ueda won both days of the Tsumagoi Skyrun , a new trail race held in the mountains of Gunma over the weekend with 41 men and 11 women starting each race individually at 30-second intervals. In Saturday's Vertical Race , elite entrants had to do two runs up a 3.8 km trail with 600 m of climb starting at 1470 m elevation, with their final finishing ranking based on the combined times from both runs. On his first attempt Ueda clocked 23:45, beating Mt. Kosha Vertical Kilometer winner Ryunosuke Omi by almost two minutes. On his second run he went even faster, clocking 23:01 to seal up 1st with a total time of 46:46. Omi was 2nd in 50:57, with Shoma Otagiri 3rd in 52:20. Skyrunning national team member Yuri Yoshizumi took the women's race, one of the few people in the elite race not to negative split as she opened with an aggressive 30:49 only to follow up in 31:20 for a total time of 1:02:09. Mt. Kosha winner Takako Takamur...

Ryunosuke Omi , winner of last month's Mt. Kosha Vertical Mile , returned Sunday to win Kyoto's Mt. Ushimatsu Vertical Race , a 2 km trail race with 464 m elevation gain, each runner covering the course twice with a two-hour break in between. With runners starting at 30-second intervals Omi had the fastest time among the 74 men in the race, covering two circuits of the course in 16:57 to win by over a minute. Triathlete Maki Nishioka beat international-level mountain and sky running specialist Yuri Yoshizumi to win the women's race in her trail debut, running 20:54 to Yoshizumi's 22:24. 3rd Mt. Ushimatsu Vertical Race Kinki Region Championships Kameoka, Kyoto, 19 July 2020 2.0 km, 464 m elevation gain run twice 4.0 km, 928 elevation gain total finishers: 74 men, 40 women complete results Men 1. Ryunosuke Omi 16:57 2. Tomofumi Miyagawa 18:10 3. Shin Futamata 18:14 Women 1. Maki Nishioka 20:54 2. Yuri Yoshizumi 22:24 3. Yuko Tateishi 22:25 © 2020 B...

https://www.skyrunnerworldseries.com/skymasters-limone-2019-legendary-lineup/

Starting in front of Fujiyoshida City Hall in Yamanashi prefecture, the 72nd Fuji Mountain Race took place July 26 with 4043 people entered in its summit and Fifth Stage divisions. Due to bad weather at Mt. Fuji's peak the summit division was cut off at the Fifth Stage, covering the same 15 km course with 1480 m elevation gain as the Fifth Stage division. Yuki Yamada (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) won the summit division race for the first time in 1:17:26, two-time women's champion Yuri Yoshizumi (Medifoam) making it three in a row in 1:37:23. Takuya Saito (Nichizei Business) and Kaori Yoshida (Team RxL) topped the men's and women's Fifth Stage division races, Saito winning for the first time in 1:22:10 and Yoshida running 1:37:10 to win for the second year. The winner of the men's Fifth Stage race last year, Yamada was set to take on the summit race for the first time this year. Disappointed at having to settle with a win over a course cut off at the Fifth Stage, h...

https://www.irunfar.com/2019/06/2019-trail-world-championships-results.html

Just ahead of an approaching typhoon former Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage man  Shun Gorotani and established mountain runner Yuri Yoshizumi both repeated their summit climb wins in Friday's 71st edition of the iconic Fuji Mountain Race . Video: Finish: 五郎谷俊 Shun Gorotani（コモディイイダ）が2:39:28で第70回富士登山競走山頂コースを昨年に続いて連覇。昨年の箱根駅伝5区での快走で知られるトップ選手です。 #富士登山競走 #mtfuji pic.twitter.com/MjxrQxNjlI — Dogsorcaravan (@Dogsorcaravan) July 27, 2018 Already having established himself as one of Japan's premier uphill specialists, Gorotani had a lead of over four minutes by halfway into the run up to the peak of Mt. Fuji. Gorotani covered the 21 km, 3000 m+ elevation gain course in 2:39:28, almost 8 minutes off his winning time last year but 14 minutes ahead of runner-up Miki Ushida . Speaking to Dogsorcaravan post-race Gorotani expressed disappointment with his time, saying he couldn't move his legs at all. "I've still got a long way to go," he said. Video: Finish: 吉住友里...

Celebrating its 70th running this year, the Fuji Mountain Race took place on Friday, July 28. As in past years, the first 10.8 km from Fujiyoshida City Hall at 770 m elevation to Umagaeshi at 1450 m was a gentle climb on paved roads. From Umageshi runners enter trails, and for the kilometer from Hanagoya at the 7th Station all the way to the 8th Station it becomes a very difficult 40-degree incline climb. After that runners pass through an area of rough volcanic rocks as they approach Mt. Fuji's summit. Peaking out with a net elevation difference of 3000 m, the 21 km Summit Course continues to gain a reputation as Japan's premier mountain race. Last year bad weather forced the race to be stopped at Mt. Fuji's 5th Station, meaning that this year's race would be the first time in two years that  runners would finish at the peak. In this year's 70th running, former Hakone Ekiden uphill Fifth Stage standout Shun Gorotani (Comody Iida) won in 2:31:34, an excellent ...

http://www.deporpress.com/index.php/2017/02/14/la-corredora-japonesa-yuri-yoshizumi-viaja-a-la-palma-para-participar-en-transvulcania/?platform=hootsuite A Spanish-language article on 2012 Hokkaido Marathon winer Yuri Yoshizumi ahead of May's Transvulcania race.

photo c/o Dr. Helmut Winter Japanese results in this year's Chicago Marathon were pretty consistent with those seen at the Berlin Marathon and at major international half marathons elsewhere this fall.  On average, the five Japanese men in the race ran 4:18 slower than their PBs, with Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) the closest at 2:48 off his best.  National Team members Koji Kobayashi (Team Subaru) and Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) ran 2:11:43 and 2:15:25. 2014 Chicago Marathon Chicago, U.S.A., 10/12/14 click here for complete results Men 1. Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya) - 2:04:11 2. Sammy Kitwara (Kenya) - 2:04:28 3. Dickson Chumba (Kenya) - 2:04:32 4. Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) - 2:05:51 5. Bernard Koech (Kenya) - 2:08:30 6. Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (Eritrea) - 2:09:08 7. Lani Rutto (Kenya) - 2:10:42 8. Wesley Korir (Kenya) - 2:11:09 9. Bobby Curtis (U.S.A.) - 2:11:20 10. Koji Kobayashi (Japan/Team Subaru) - 2:11:43 ----- 16. Naoki Okamoto (Japan/T...

by Brett Larner photo by Dr. Helmut Winter Five Japanese men and one woman are scheduled to run Sunday's Chicago Marathon led by two members of the Japanese Federation's new National Team project, Koji Kobayashi (Team Subaru) and Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei).  Coached by 2:08:49 marathoner Wataru Okutani , Kobayashi has been improving gradually since his 2:12:52 debut at the 2012 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon, running 2:10:40 in Chicago later that year and 2:11:31 the next in Berlin before taking it down to 2:08:51 in Tokyo this spring.  Sasaki, a graduate of Daito Bunka University and guided by the legendary Takeshi Soh , has progressed even more steadily since his 2:14:00 debut in 2009, outrunning Daegu World Championships silver medalist Vincent Kipruto (Kenya) for 2nd in 2:09:47 at March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon.  Of the 146 sub-2:10 marathons run so far by Japanese men only 22 have ever been done outside Japan, but although they will likely end up ru...