japan running news

Yesterday the national corporate federation JITA announced major changes to the New Year Ekiden, the corporate men's national championship race around which the entire year is structured. Other top-tier ekidens like the Hakone Ekiden, the National University Men's and Women's Ekidens, and the Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championships all have a seeded bracket, allowing top-placing teams to auto-qualify for the following year's race and exempting them from running in the yosenkai qualifying races the next season. This frees up the best of the best and lets them do other things, whether it's the Izumo Ekiden for university men, overseas fall marathons for women, or whatever. The JITA has stubbornly refused to put a seeded bracket into the New Year Ekiden over the years, meaning every corporate men's team has to run one of the regional corporate ekidens that took place the last two weekends in order to get back to the national race, even the prev...

On Aug. 26 the JAAF announced that although it has complied with World Athletics' mandate for genetic testing of female athletes competing in next month's Tokyo World Athletics Championships, it is not in a position to know the testing results of individual athletes. On July 24 World Athletics had announced that in order for athletes to compete in women's events at the Tokyo World Championships they must undergo testing by Sept. 1 to check for the presence of the SRY gene on the Y chromosome, a determining factor in the development of male biological characteristics. Results of the testing are communicated to the athletes themselves and are not sent to the JAAF. The lineup of the women's national team for the Tokyo World Championships will only be announced after confirmation that athletes have both met the entry requirements and undergone testing, creating concerns that some athletes may later be found to be ineligible after having already been named to the team. At a ...

by Dai Yamazaki The "foreign student problem" is always a hot topic in the ekiden world, and this season will see big changes to the rules in high school ekidens. There has always been a lot of trial and error when it comes to international students in the ekidens, but what do the coaches on the front lines of competition think about these changes? We talked to Masaru Takamizawa , head coach of last year's National High School Boys Ekiden champion Saku Chosei H.S. which ran the fastest time in the race's 74-year history while using an all-Japanese lineup. The major rule changes regarding the use of non-Japanese athletes in high school ekidens were announced at the end of last year. Non-Japanese runners first appeared on the scene in high school running in the early 1990s and have been the source of constant debate since then. Restrictions have gradually tightened. In 1995 a rule limiting teams to one non-citizen in their starting lineup was announced. In 2008 non-Ja...

The Kanto Student Athletics Federation (KGRR), organizers of the Hakone Ekiden, announced this week that as of April 1 they have changed their legal status from a volunteer organization to an incorporated foundation. Having served as the KGRR's chairperson for eight years since his appointment in 2016, Masahiro Ariyoshi , 76, has stepped down to be replaced by Yasushi Ueda , 68, a 1984 Olympian in the men's triple jump. Former Yamanashi Gakuin University  head coach  Masahito Ueda , 65, stepped down as chair of the KGRR ekiden committee after serving for ten years. Susumu Hara , 57, head coach of course record-breaking 2024 Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University , was named KGRR executive director and will succeed Ueda as ekiden committee chair. Tokai University  head coach Hayashi Morozumi , 57, will serve as ekiden committee vice-chair. Other committee members include Seiji Kushibe  (Josai University, 52), Toshiyuki Sakai  (Toyo University, 47), Tomoo ...

On Mar. 26 the JAAF board of directors met to finalize a variety of issues for the upcoming year. One topic was the bonuses to be paid to medalists at this summer's Paris Olympics. Gold medalists will receive 3 million yen [~$19,800 USD] , silver medalists 2 million yen [~$13,200] , and bronze medalists 1 million yen [~$6,600] . Athletes who finish 4th through 8th in finals will receive from 800,000 yen to 400,000 yen [~$5300 to ~$2650] . All amounts are the same as those that were offered for last summer's World Championships. For relays, all athletes who compete during the heats or final will receive half the above amounts. At the 2004 Athens Olympics gold medalists received a 5 million yen bonus [~$45,000 USD at the exchange rate at that time] . For the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics that was increased to 10 million yen [~$93,000 in 2008 and ~$125,000 in 2012] . For the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and 2021 Tokyo Olympics it was further increased to 20 millio...

On Mar. 19 a Japan Olympic Committee (JOC) spokesperson said in an interview that the position of team captain will be eliminated from the Japanese Olympic team at this summer's Paris Olympics, which begin July 26. The move is intended to reduce the burden placed upon the athlete chosen. It will be discussed at the JOC Board of Directors meeting on Mar. 21 and, if approved, will make Paris the first summer Olympics without a Japanese team captain since the position was created at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Japan's first post-war participation. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) currently requires each country to nominate one man and one woman to serve as flag bearers, but it has no rules specifically regarding team captains. Japan has traditionally named a team captain, but the JOC is reviewing the practice as the pressure it places on the athlete chosen and the requirement for them to participate in pre-Games events makes selecting candidates difficult. On a trial bas...

Last week the Hokkaido Athletics Association revealed that it has not paid the JAAF ¥7.35 million [~$49,000 USD] it collected in membership fees and licensing of officials within the precfecture in 2022. The HAA said that due to a drop in income and rise in costs it had been forced to divert the funds to pay for other activities such as training camps, and that it has asked its member local athletics associations for further financial support. According to the HAA, in the 2022 fiscal year it collected approximately ¥19 million [~$127,000 USD] in membership fees from roughly 11,600 people, including junior high school students, high school students, adults, and officials. A JAAF statement said that "members will not be held responsible" for the situation, and that their 2022 results would still be accepted as valid despite the prefectural association's non-payment of their membership fees to the national organization. The HAA has operated at a loss for the last 10 years ...

  The Hakone Ekiden will see its 100th running in January. To celebrate this landmark in the event's history, qualification has been opened up to universities from across the country. In June last year the event's organizers the Kanto Region University Sports Association (KGRR) announced that the field would be expanded from the usual 20 schools to 23, but that the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team made up of top individual finishers at October's Yosenkai qualifying race from schools that fail to make the top 23 would not be a part of the 100th running. But that last decision is now being questioned. This spring eight universities led by Tokyo University and Tokyo Kogyo University formed a group to lobby the KGRR to reverse the decision not to include the Student Alliance team. Lobby group member Hiroaki Furukawa , a graduate student at Tokyo University, discussed the situation. Furukawa only learned that the Student Alliance would not be a part of next year...

Tsukuba University 's track in Tsukuba, Ibaraki may lose its certification from the JAAF as an officially-certfed facility due to wear and tear on the track surface and other shortcomings. The track is used to hold meets for local high school and junior high school students, but without official certification the future of these meets would be in question. The university is seeking funding of over 30 million yen [~$230,000 USD] in order to update and maintain the city's only certified track. Track certification is divided into four categories that determine the level of competition that can be held at a facility. Certification depends on factors such as the number of lanes, seating capacity, and presence or absence of a warmup track. The Tsukuba University track is certified as a level three facility, meaning it is suitable for regional competitions. Built in 1973, the Tsukuba University track is one of only eight certified facilities in the prefecture of Ibaraki. It is mostl...

Following the announcement of the G7 Science and Technology Ministers' Meeting in Sendai May 12-14, 2023, mayor Kazuko Kori indicated that the annual Sendai Aoba Festival will be moved to an alternate date. "I think it would be difficult for festivals and other major events in the city center to overlap, so we will have to make alternate arrangement," she said. Mayor Kori made the announcement of the G7 meeting. As a result of the meeting being scheduled for those dates, both the festival and the Sendai International Half Marathon , both traditionally held every May, will have to be rescheduled. The half marathon is currently scheduled for May 8. The mayor said that plans for the events' rescheduling will be made at a later date. source article: https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/tbc/186873?display=1 translated by Brett Larner

 https://www.tokyoupdates.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/post-790/ An article I wrote for the Tokyo Metro Government's Tokyo Updates site about the course for Sunday's Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon, with extensive government editing of the original text.

On Sept. 13 Hyogo Prefecture announced its approval for Akashi Park's Kishiro Stadium track and Tocal Baseball Stadium's aging facilities to be renovated and updated beginning next fiscal year. The plans were also submitted the same day at a subcommittee meeting of the Prefectural City Park Study Group in Akashi. A Class 3 certified track and field facility, Kishiro Stadium is used to host a range of competitions. According to a prefectural government spokesperson, over a six-month period beginning in October, 2023 the track will be renovated to change its lane width from 1.25 m to the modern regulation 1.22 m width, and will have its photofinish equipment updated so that the facility can continue to meet current certification requirements . Officials are also examining replacing spectator stands too old to be repaired, updating toilets, showers, and other facilities, as well as making the entire venue barrier-free. In Tocal Baseball Stadium about 40% of the seating is currentl...

On May 31 it was learned that a committee has been set up by the Hyogo prefectural government, Kobe city government and other involved parties to review the prefecture's earlier decision to withdraw from its organizational role in the Kobe Marathon after the 2022 edition of the race and to discuss how to go about staging the race in the future. The Kobe Marathon is expected to continue in its current form through its 2023 race, and that an arrangement will be found that will enable it to survive from 2024 on. The Kobe Marathon has been organized in collaboration between the city and prefectural governments since 2011, a popular race that attracts 80,000 applicants for the 20,000 places in its field. But in December last year the prefectural government announced that as a result of changes in its administrative and financial management policies it will step back from its organizational role beginning in 2023 and support the event only in a sponsorship capacity. After further disc...

Three Japanese athletes ran Sunday's Tartan Ottawa International Marathon in an effort to score qualifying marks for the 2023 MGC Race, Japan's marathon trials for the 2024 Paris Olympics. In the men's race, Yuta Shimoda (GMO) and Takumi Oishi (Suzuki) went with the leaders all the way until eventual winner Andualem Shiferaw (Ethiopia) made his move before 30 km. Shiferaw, the favorite with a best of 2:05:52, was stellar over the second half, going 1:03:52 / 1:02:12 to set a new course record 2:06:04 for the win. When Shiferaw attacked, Oishi, coached by 2010 Ottawa winner Arata Fujiwara , immediately dropped off, ultimately finishing 8th in 2:15:50. Shimoda, who ran 2:08:35 at March's Tokyo Marathon and needed to run 2:11:25 here to qualify for the trials, hung on to 3rd, overtaken by Abdi Ali Gelchu (Bahrain) and dropping to 4th at one point but running down Leonard Langat (Kenya) just before the finish to retake 3rd. Yamaguchi went out in a pack of 6 women that...

The Kishiro Stadium athletics track in Akashi Park in the city of Akashi, Hyogo, is on the brink of losing its official certification by the JAAF. Official certification must be renewed every 5 years, but due to a change in regulations over lane width the longstanding facility no longer meets the criteria for official certification.  Official track facilities are divided into four categories based upon factors such as spectator capacity and warmup track availability. If a track is not certified, no performances at any competitions held there will be recognized as official marks. The Akashi Park track, a Class 3 facility, has a total of 8 lanes of 1.25 m width each. The JAAF rulebook originally specified lane widths of 1.22 m or 1.25 m, but in 2019 this was modified to meet international standards by recognizing only the 1.22 m lane width. As a result, Akashi will be forced to meet the new criteria by the time of its next certification in the spring of 2023. Opened in 1949, the Aka...

On Apr. 13 it was learned that the Nagasaki Track and Field Association has suspended a male coach in his 40s at a high school in Nagasaki for entering two incoming junior high school student runners as high school first-years at a track meet in late March. Calling the coach's actions inappropriate, the NTFA suspended him for two months. According to the NTFA and other sources, the time trial meet took place in Omuta, Fukuoka on Mar. 26 and 27 this year. The two third-year junior high school student runners, who were set to join the high school team at the start of the new school year on Apr. 1, ran in the 1500 m. "I thought it would be OK to enter them as new students," the coach said. "My mistake." On Apr. 6 the JAAF received complaints that the rules had been broken, leading to the NTFA investigating what had happened. A spokesperson for the NTFA commented, "The athletes were negatively impacted by the coach's lack of awareness. Because he showed in...

More than 1300 entrants have withdrawn from the Apr. 17 Kaga Onsenkyo Marathon  in Ishikawa since organizers announced that a negative PCR test would be required from all participants as part of the event's measures against the coronavirus pandemic. People who had planned to run the race have complained about the new policy, which was enacted by the local city government. At the city council's Education and Civil Welfare Committee meeting on Apr. 8, the city reported on the event's status with regard to cancelations as of that morning. Out of 3,178 entrants in the full marathon division, almost a quarter, 810 people, had canceled. In the 10 km, nearly a third, 491 out of 1415 people, had withdrawn. The Kaga city government, which organizes the race, changed the policy to require PCR tests following the cancelation of a partial state of emergency and the resulting countermeasures in Ishikawa prefecture on Mar. 21. The race's guidelines had already required that participa...

It has been learned that the JAAF, which hopes to host the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, has changed its rules regarding competition facilities in order to make it possible to hold international competitions like the World Championships at the National Stadium, the main stadium for last year's Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. Under JAAF rules up to now, the National Stadium could not be recognized as a Class 1 Certified Athletics Facility eligible to host international competitions due to its lack of a warm-up track. Despite World Athletics head Sebastian Coe having said publicly that he had received assurances from Japanese officials that the warm-up track built for the Olympics and Paralympics would remain after the Games, within just a few weeks of the end of the Paralympics it was destroyed. The new rule change states, "Facilities that have been used to host the Olympic Games can be recognized as a Class 1 Certified Athletics Facility even without a warm-up track...

A draft revision of the Hyogo Prefectural Government's 2022-23 administrative and financial plan released on Dec. 16 includes elimination of the prefecture's position as a co-organizer of the Kobe Marathon . Following Kobe's 10th running, scheduled for November, 2022, the prefectural government will step back from an organizational role and will instead support part of the race's expenses as an event sponsor.  The Kobe Marathon began in November, 2011 as a celebration of the city's recovery from the major earthquake that struck it in 1995. A highly popular event, it attracts 80,000 applications for the 20,000 entries available. Operational costs are roughly 700 million yen (~$6.2 million USD)  each edition. The prefectural and city governments contributed around 90 million yen apiece (~$800,000 USD) , with the remainder covered by corporate sponsors and entry fees. The prefecture and city have also both had representatives on the race's organizing committee. In...

Welcoming over 10,000 runners every year, the Shizuoka Marathon 's organizing committee today announced the cancelation of next year's race. "Corona case numbers are down right now, but concerns about a sixth wave of infections remain," the organizers said in their announcement. It is the third year in a row that the event has been canceled. Launched in 2014, the Shizuoka Marathon is the largest marathon in the prefecture with over 10,000 participants annually. It was canceled last year in the early days of the pandemic. Next year's race was scheduled to have been held on Mar. 13, but as per their statement the organizing committee remains unconvinced about the future prospects for staging the event safely and opted to instead cancel the race for the third time in a row. Their statement said in part, "Our #1 priority is the health and lives of the runners, race staff, and courseside supporters. We hope that the coronavirus pandemic comes to an end soon and t...