japan running news

2026 Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University held a press conference Apr. 4 at its Sagamihara campus announcing that it was adding a women's ekiden team to its track and field program. In its first year the team has only 2 members, Nodoka Ashida of Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. , and Kairi Ikeno of Suma Gakuen H.S . The team's head coach will be Susumu Hara , who coached the AGU men to their second Hakone threepeat this year and had a hand in the GMO corporate team's first-ever New Year Ekiden win. At the press conference he talked about the reasons for launching a women's team, and the harsh realities facing women's track and field. AGU is the undisputed leader in the evolution of the university men's ekiden circuit, but adding a women's team represents a new challenge. Hara cited 3 objectives in expanding the AGU program: "creating an environment where female athletes can balance competition and life events," "expanding the opportunities...

The organizers of the Dec. 18 30th anniversary National Junior High School Ekiden Championships have announced that the race will be broadcast live by BS NTV for the first time in the event's history. First held in Kumamoto in 1993, the National JHS Ekiden has been staged in Shiga, Yamaguchi and Chiba. But despite changes in its venue it has always hosted some of Japan's best future talent in the earliest years of their careers, including Olympians Yuriko Kobayashi and Ran Urabe , 4-time World Championships team member Kazuhiro Maeda , former half marathon and marathon NR holder Yuta Shitara and his twin brother Keita Shitara . NHK and commercial broadcasters have recorded the race for later showing, and last year it was broadcast live on Youtube. But thanks to the efforts of the Shiga T&F Association and sponsor companies this will be its first live TV broadcast. source article: https://www.rikujyokyogi.co.jp/archives/86945 translated by Brett Larner

1500 m women's national record holder and Beijing Olympian Yuriko Kobayashi , 29, gave a lecture on the value of having a dream to new employees at Echizen City Hall as part of their training. The lecture was part of the "Dream Classroom" series, a partnership project between the city government and the Japan Football Association to have top-level athletes teach classes at local elementary and junior high schools. Kobayashi's session was the first in the series aimed at recognizing the dreams of adults. Speaking to a group of thirty city employees, Kobayashi spoke about her experience running in the National Championships while still in high school, the dedication she and her friends put into becoming the best ekiden team in Japan, and other parts of her career as an athlete, stressing the importance of steady achievement at small goals in the pursuit of a larger dream. At the Beijing Olympics, one of her major goals, she missed her objective of making the top e...

https://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/201705/0010198888.shtml translated by Brett Larner Women's 1500 m national record holder and 2008 Beijing Olympian Yuriko Kobayashi , 28, a resident of Kakogawa, Hyogo and born in Ono, Hyogo, gave birth to her first child, a boy, the morning of May 18. Kobayashi retired from competition in December, 2014. In December, 2015 she married a man the same age as her involved in the landscaping business who had run in the National High School Ekiden Championships while attending Hyogo's Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S. In addition to giving lectures and making appearances at amateur races, Kobayashi has been teaching mathematics at a prison for juvenile offenders in Kakogawa. About three and a half hours after giving birth she commented, "That gave me a taste of a whole different kind of suffering and excitement from athletics. I hope that he grows up a healthy boy." Translator's note: Kobayashi holds a total of four youth, junior and open...

http://www.jiji.com/jc/zc?k=201502/2015020100194&g=spo translated by Brett Larner Having recently announced her retirement, 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (26, Team Toyota Jidoshokki) finished with a smile at her final race on Feb. 1 at the local Hyogo Prefecture Ekiden.  Running the 5 km anchor stage for her hometown Ono-shi, Kobayashi brought the team home in 3rd overall.  "I'm really grateful to all the people who cheered for me and called out, 'Thank you!' as I ran," she said.  "It almost made me cry.  I'm a very happy person." Kobayashi ran the 1500 m national record while at Hyogo's Suma Gakuen H.S. , going on to run against the best in the world in the 5000 m at world-level events like the Beijing Olympics.  It was a sign of how much of an inspiration she is to junior high school and high school runners that Kobayashi was surrounded by people asking for autographs and pictures together.  After retiring Kobayashi ...

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/201501/0007673131.shtml translated and edited by Brett Larner 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (26, Toyota Jidoshokki), a Beijing Olympian over 5000 m, will retire at the end of this season due to a series of injuries according to an announcement on Jan. 19.  After her retirement she plans to make a living on the lecture circuit and making guest appearances at major races across the country. Kobayashi became a middle distance star while at Asahigaoka J.H.S. in Ono, Hyogo.  While at Suma Gakuen H.S. she won the National Championships and National High School Championships, setting the 1500 m national record of 4:07.86 in 2006.  Later the same year she won the National High School Ekiden's Second Stage to help Suma Gakuen win the national title.  After graduating she joined the Toyota Jidoshokki team, making the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2009 Berlin World Championships teams.  She later spent time living ...

by Brett Larner National championship ekiden season winds down over the next two weekends with the National Women's Ekiden this Sunday in Kyoto, followed a week later in Hiroshima by the National Men's Ekiden.  Both races feature teams from each of Japan's 47 prefectures made up of top talent all the way from junior high school runners to Olympians competing to determine the true geographic center of Japanese distance running. Sunday's 32nd running of the National Women's Ekiden features Moscow World Championships marathon bronze medalist Kayoko Fukushi  (Aomori) and 4th-placer Ryoko Kizaki (Kyoto), 2013 5000 m national champion Misaki Onishi  (Mie), 2013 London Marathon 3rd placer Yukiko Akaba  (Tochigi), 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi  (Hyogo), Mutsumi Ikeda  (Shiga) and Nanako Kanno  (Kyoto) of 2013 National University Women's Ekiden champion Ritsumeikan University, Azusa Sumi (Aichi), Hanami Sekine  (Aichi) and three ot...

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/201309/0006363197.shtml translated by Brett Larner A favorite of athletes from junior high to the corporate leagues, Hyogo prefecture's Himeji Castle Road Race is set to be discontinued after February's 54th running.  With a new Himeji Castle World Heritage Site Marathon set to be launched in 2015, the 10-miler's race organization committee will be dismantled and the event's long history of hosting many of the country's best athletes will come to an end. According to the Hyogo Prefecture Track and Field Association's 50th anniversary commemorative magazine, in 1948 there was a move to inaugurate a series of 10-mile road races in January in all the major cities of the country, but in 1960 the series came to a halt.  With Hyogo's event having been held at Himeji Castle since 1954 and having already developed a reputation as a fast course, it was relaunched in 1961 as the first Himeji Castle Road Race with a certified ...

by Brett Larner The 2013 Japanese National Track and Field Championships kick off today at western Tokyo's Ajinomoto Stadium, three days of top-level domestic action with places on the national team for August's Moscow World Championships at stake.  The Federation set multi-tiered standards for Worlds qualification this year.  Any athlete with an A-standard mark who wins their event will automatically be on the team.  Likewise for any athlete clearing an ambitious set of special qualifying marks , in many cases better than the Japanese national records, and finishes in the top eight.  Any other A or B-standard athlete who makes the top three will also be given consideration. Below is a quick guide to the Day One finals with the best head-to-head competitions and the most people likely to go on to Moscow.   Click here for complete entry lists.  JRN will be on-site to cover the meet each day, so check back for detailed coverage as the weekend progresse...

by Brett Larner 2012 was not a great year for Japanese women's distance running.  Despite a few outstanding top-end performances, including all-time Japanese top ten marks by Hitomi Niiya  (Team Univ. Ent.) and Risa Shigetomo  (Team Tenmaya) and a slight improvement over recent years in marathon depth, overall the year showed a decline.  The death of Japanese women's half-marathoning has been the most puzzling trend; ten years ago over a half dozen Japanese women running times in the 67 to 69 minute range was a given, but this year only two broke 70 minutes, barely.  Depth was also down over 5000 m and 10000 m.  While the men seem to have turned the corner and have regained some upward momentum and positivity, Japanese women are still on the downhill. It wasn't all bad, though.  London Olympics track runners Kayoko Fukushi  (Team Wacoal), Niiya and Mika Yoshikawa  (Team Panasonic) were a credit to the country, saying to their competitors...

by Brett Larner Kenyan teammates Paul Tanui  and Sally Chepyego  of the Kyushu-based Team Kyudenko  swept the 10000 m A-heats on the first day of this year's National Corporate Track and Field Championships, Sept. 21 at Hakatonomori Field in Fukuoka.  Holding the home-soil advantage, Tanui and Chepyego ran virtually identical races, going out solo and leading throughout the race to take the win unchallenged, Tanui in 27:30.22 and Chepyego in 31:33.76.  For Tanui it was a successful defense of his 2011 national corporate 10000 m title. In both the men's and women's races a pack of three pursued the leader.  In the men's race the pack included Kenyans Edward Waweru  (Team NTN) and Patrick Muwaka  (Team Aisan Kogyo) along with 21-year-old Chihiro Miyawaki  (Team Toyota), the sixth-fastest Japanese man ever over 10000 m with a best of 27:41.57 from last November.  Miyawaki fell off the pace of Waweru and Muwaka but, as with his PB run la...

by Brett Larner click here for complete results The 2012 edition of the early-summer staple of the Japanese track circuit, the Hokuren Distance Challenge, wrapped up July 7 with a big night in Abashiri, Hokkaido.  Having missed out on the London Olympics team, women's 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi  (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) made her formal 10000 m debut in 32:21.03, finishing 2nd in the A-heat behind one of the year's leading Japanese women, Ai Igarashi (Team Sysmex), who took the win in 32:17.58.  Eight women altogether broke 32:30, most for the first time.  6th place finisher Akiko Matsuyama  (Team Panasonic) recorded an enormous PB of 32:27.23 ahead of her international road debut at the Great North 10 km.  Marathoners Yukiko Akaba  (Team Hokuren) and Yoko Shibui  (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) were far down the field, 20th and 24th in 33:08.59 and 33:27.03 respectively. The men's 10000 m A-heat was a showdown between newly...

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120530-959350.html translated and edited by Brett Larner The highlight of the first half of track season, the 96th National Track and Field Championships , is getting set to kick off June 8-10 at Osaka's Nagai Stadium.  Doubling as the Japanese Olympic Trials, any athlete holding an Olympic A-qualifying mark who wins their event at Nationals will earn their place on the Olympic team then and there.  The day after the Championships, June 11, the complete Olympic team apart from relay squads will be announced. Having failed in her bid to make the marathon squad, multiple national record holder Kayoko Fukushi  (30, Team Wacoal), will seek for her third-straight Olympic 5000 m and 10000 m double.  If she is anywhere near her normal strength there is almost no chance she will lose the 10000 m. If anyone can score an upset it will be Hitomi Niiya  (24, Team Universal Entertainment).  In her 10000...

by Brett Larner In addition to the big Golden Games in Nobeoka and the Kanto and Kansai Regional University Track & Field Championships, several regional corporate championship meets also saw noteworthy results over the weekend. At the Chugoku Jitsugyodan Championships in Hiroshima, former Sera H.S. ace Charles Ndirangu  (Team JFE Steel) continued his unbeaten streak in his second pro race, scoring his tenth-straight win by winning the 5000 m in 13:42.00 by a margin of over 18 seconds.  Team Tenmaya runners made up the majority of the field in the women's 5000 m, with young Akari Ota  winning in 16:05.99.  Tenmaya's former great Yurika Nakamura continued her apparent downward spiral, 15th in 17:47.93. Almost on a par with Ndirangu's performance was that of year-leading half-marathoner Chihiro Miyawaki  (Team Toyota), who beat a pack of Kenyans including 2011 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Samuel Ndungu  (Team Aichi Seiko) to set a meet rec...

by Brett Larner click any meet name for complete results Japan's Golden Week national holidays saw a series of meets with noteworthy long distance results across the country.  At the April 29 Nobeoka Spring Time Trials meet, 13:18 man Yu Mitsuya  (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) continued his comeback from a year of injury in 2011 with a 13:50.27 win in the 5000 m A-heat.  Former sub-28 high school sensation Ryuji Ono  (Team Asahi Kasei) was likewise under 14 after a seemingly endless series of injuries.  Closer to Tokyo, five-time women's 1500 m national champion Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) had an easy win in 3000 m at the Tokai University Time Trials meet, winning in 9:03.72 over teammate Akiko Matsuyama 's 9:22.60. Mitsuya and Ono doubled in the 10000 m four days later at the May 3rd Nobeoka Time Trials meet, going 1-2 with Mitsuya getting the win again in 28:49.61.  Olympic marathon team member Kentaro Nakamoto  (Team Yasukawa Denki) returne...

Ecopa Stadium, Shizuoka, 5/3/12 click here for complete results Men's 5000 m 1. Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 13:19.18 2. Patrick Mutunga (Kenya/Team Toyota Boshoku) - 13:21.22 3. John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota) - 13:23.41 4. Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 13:27.06 5. Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) - 13:41.56 6. Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) - 13:46.35 7. Kazuharu Takai (Team Kyudenko) - 14:00.31 8. Hayato Saito (Team Honda) - 14:05.13 9. Yusei Nakao (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 14:08.95 10. Wataru Ueno (Komazawa Univ.) - 14:18.77 Women's 5000 m 1. Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:30.95 2. Ai Igarashi - 15:31.72 (Team Sysmex) - 15:31.72 3. Susan Wairimu (Kenya) - 15:31.74 4. Grace Kimanzi (Kenya/Team Starts) - 15:32.23 5. Yurie Doi (Team Starts) - 15:37.32 6. Megumi Kinukawa (Mizuno) - 15:40.73 7. Doricah Obare (Kenya/Team Hitachi) - 15:43.95 8. Mai Ishibashi (Team Denso) - 15:45.25 9. Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Team Univ. Ent.) - 1...

by Brett Larner Update: Women's 1500 m NR holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) has switched from the 1500 m to the 5000 m. This weekend marks the official start of track season across Japan.  With many of the Kanto-region Hakone Ekiden university men's teams matching up for dual meets and one five-school meet hosted by Daito Bunka University , the top Olympic hopefuls will be lining up far south in Kumamoto for Saturday's 21st Kanaguri Memorial Middle and Long-Distance Track Meet. The men's 5000 m A-heat looks to be by far the race of the weekend.  The entry list includes 2011 World XC silver medalist Paul Tanui  (Kenya/Team Kyudenko); 2010 World XC junior silver medalist Clement Langat  (Kenya/Team Subaru);  Yuki Sato  (Team Nissin Shokuhin), one of the two Japanese men currently holding an Olympic-qualifying mark;  Chihiro Miyawaki  (Team Toyota) and Tsuyoshi Ugachi  (Team Konica Minolta), two of the three men with Ol...

by Brett Larner The last national championship women's ekiden of the season takes place this Sunday, Jan. 15 in Kyoto.  The National Interprefectural Women's Ekiden Championships have one of the most interesting formats on the circuit, with teams of nine women ranging from junior high schoolers to pros running for teams representing Japan's 47 prefectures.  The open stages are one of the few chances to see the best high school, university and pro women battle it out, while the stages reserved for junior high and high school runners often feature breakout performances by unknowns.  The commercial-free national broadcast and outstanding online coverage begins on NHK at 12:15 p.m.  Overseas viewers should be able to watch live online via Keyhole TV using the password NHK, with English-language commentary available once again via Twitter  @JRNLive . Final start lists at the men's and women's National Interprefectural Ekidens are notoriously unpredictable comp...

by Brett Larner Update: Click here for start lists .  Noguchi is not listed as a starter for Sysmex. The biggest race of the year for professional Japanese women takes place this Sunday on a new course in Sendai, the six-stage, 42.195 km National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships .  The highlight of this year's edition looks like a possible showdown between Japan's two best hopes for the London Olympics marathon, marathon national record holder Mizuki Noguchi  (Team Sysmex) and half-marathon national record holder Kayoko Fukushi  (Team Wacoal).  In the overall team competition the Corporate Championships debut of 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi  makes 2008 champion Team Toyota Jidoshokki  the favorite, but defending champion Team Tenmaya  and East Japan rivals Team Daiichi Seimei  and Team Sekisui Kagaku  are not far behind.  The race will be broadcast live on TBS beginning at 11:50 a.m. Japan time on Sunday,...

by Brett Larner In its fifth year with a mixed men and women team format, the 2011 International Chiba Ekiden was one of the better editions in recent memory.  All three Kenyan men won their stages, with Patrick Mutunga Mwikya  and Edwin Nyandusi Mokua  setting stage records, while all three Japanese women won theirs including a stage record from anchor Hitomi Niiya , making for a tense race with lead changes on almost every stage.  Kenya came out 19 seconds ahead of the Japanese team for the win in 2:04:40 as both broke the old course record.  The defending champion, the Japanese University Select Team, was far back in 3rd in 2:07:26 after spending most the race battling 4th placer Russia.  The United States and Australia also had a good duel throughout the ekiden, American men Robert Cheseret  and Bobby Mack  making the top three on their stages and Australian women Lisa Corrigan  and Emily Brichacek  doing likewise.  ...