japan running news

by Brett Larner Toyokawa H.S. senior Beatrice Murugi Wainaina for the win at the 2011 National High School Girls Ekiden Championships. Click photo for video highlights via broadcaster NHK. For the second time in three years, Kenyan Beatrice Murugi Wainaina led Toyokawa High School  to the National High School Girls Ekiden Championships title as she crossed the line in 1:07:29, the fifth-fastest time ever on the five-stage, 21.0975 km course through Kyoto on Dec. 25.  Defending champion Kojokan High School  ace Katsuki Suga  faltered on the 6.0 km opening stage, the day's longest, finishing only 6th on the stage and putting Kojokan permanently out of contention.  Only one second behind the lead at the handoff, Toyokawa's Kanayo Miyata  had little trouble taking over on the 4.0975 km Second Stage.  After a brief challenge from the strong Suma Gakuen High School 's Yui Fukuda  on the 3.0 km Third Stage, Toyokawa's Fourth Stage runner Shiho Fuk...

by Brett Larner The regional qualifier meets for next month's National High School Track and Field Championships took place across Japan between June 17 and 20. Of particular note as an illustration of the depth and development of Japanese distance running at the high school level, the girls' 3000 m event featured thirty Japanese and three Kenyan girls under 9:30 between nine regional meets over the weekend. By contrast, according to the ARRS database only four American high school girls broke 9:30 for 3000 m in all of 2010, with three so far this season. Kenyan Susan Wylim of Sera H.S. was the top of the crowd with a meet record 9:03.89 at the Chugoku regional meet. Sera's Charles Ndirangu also won the boys' 5000 m with a meet record of 13:44.61. Sera H.S. is most well-known for producing Bitan Karoki (Kenya/Team S&B), who earlier this season won Stanford Univesity's Cardinal Invitational 10000 m in stunning style. Three other girls, all Japanese, broke...

http://ameblo.jp/gogoyuki1126/ translated by Brett Larner This is a post Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) made on his blog on Mar. 15. Because of the recent major earthquake in northeastern Japan I've decided not to run in the World Cross Country Championships in Spain. Japan will be sending a team to the championships but they've left it up to us to decide individually whether or not we run. I just don't feel like I want to, and my legs are not 100%, so taking it all into account I've decided to scrap the idea of going. I wanted to go and run a race that would give the people back home at least a little good news, but in my current condition I don't think that's the kind of race it would end up as. My goal now is to do the work I can to heal my spirit so that in my next race I can give everyone my share of the good news they need. Translator's note: Junior team members Yuma Hattori and Natsumi Yoshida are both students at Sendai Ikuei H.S. in one of the...

click here for complete listing Senior Men's 12 km Tsubasa Hayakawa (Tokai Univ.) Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) Yusuke Takabayashi (Team Toyota) Hirotaka Tamura (Nihon Univ.) Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Meiji Univ.) Senior Women's 8 km Ai Igarashi (Team Sysmex) Nanae Kuwashiro (Team Sysmex) Hitomi Niiya (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) Korei Omata (Team Sekisui Kagaku) Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku) Hanae Tanaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) Junior Men's 8 km Yuki Arimura (Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) Yuma Hattori (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) Takashi Ichida (Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) Kazuma Kubota (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) Genki Yagisawa (Nasu Takuyo H.S.) Ken Yokote (Sakushin Gakuin H.S.) Junior Women's 6 km Tomoka Kimura (Chikuyo Joshi Gakuen H.S.) Yuriko Kosaki (Narita H.S.) Risa Shibuya (Hanawa H.S.) Katsuki Suga (Kojokan H.S.) Risa Yokoe (Suma Gakuen H.S.) Natsumi Yoshida (Sendai Ikuei H.S.)

by Brett Larner photos by Daniel Seite #2 Kasumi Nishihara, #1 Hikari Yoshimoto and #3 Mai Ishibashi, all of Bukkyo University, with a large lead on the field in women's 5000 m Heat 24. Bukkyo University captain and 2010 National University 5000 m champion Kasumi Nishihara , fresh from a key stage win at last month's International Chiba Ekiden, did it again Dec. 5 at the 213th Nittai University Time Trials meet. Nishihara clocked her second 5000 m PB of the year, 15:25.50, to continue her climb through the ranks of Japanese women's distance running. Her teammate Mai Ishibashi was not far behind, 2nd in 15:35.38, while the team's ace, 10000 m national university record holder Hikari Yoshimoto , finished in 16:04.55 after collapsing while running between Nishihara and Ishibashi in the earlier stages of the race. Ibrahim Jeilan, #30, leads the pack in the men's 5000 m Heat 35. In the men's A-heat, past World XC jr. champion Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) ou...