japan running news

by Brett Larner With most of the country's top athletes lining up at the Oda Memorial, Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational and Shizuoka International meets, the 215th edition of the Nittai University Time Trials meet Apr. 30-May 1 in Yokohama saw mostly second-string runners tuning up for bigger meets later in the season. Times were hampered by wind and rain, particularly on the meet's second day, but there were several noteworthy performances neverthless. In the men's 10000 m, newcomer Joseph Onsarigo (Kenya/Sozo Gakuen Univ.) was the only man to break 29 minutes. Onsarigo is coached by Stephen Mayaka , the first Kenyan runner to go the full circuit through the Japanese high school, university and corporate running system. Onsarigo should make an impact at October's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai 20 km road race. In the women's 5000 m A-heat, 10000 m national record holder Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) won by 5 seconds over teammate Ikuyo Yamashita a day b...

Nittai University Time Trials Top Results Nittai University, Yokohama, Apr. 17, 2011 click here for complete results Men's 5000 m Heat 24 1. Joseph Onsarigo (Kenya/Sozo Gakuen Univ.) - 13:36.88 2. Daniel Gitau (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) - 13:37.05 3. Kazuya Watanabe (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 13:39.31 4. Benjamin Gandu (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) - 13:41.99 5. Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) - 13:46.73 6. Kota Murayama (Josai Univ.) - 13:57.90 7. Hirotaka Tamura (Nihon Univ.) - 13:58.40 8. Yuki Yagi (Waseda Univ.) - 14:00.17 9. Atsushi Yamazaki (Team Subaru) - 14:00.34 10. Ibrahim Mukunga (Team Fujitsu) - 14:00.63 ----- 11. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama T&F Assoc.) - 14:02.49 14. Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda) - 14:04.67 16. Shota Hiraga (Waseda Univ.) - 14:06.49 23. Cosmas Ondiba (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 14:19.63 Women's 5000 m Heat 16 1. Miho Ihara (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 15:57.27 2. Chisa Fujimoto (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 16:02.74 3. Mai Shoji (Okazaki Gakuen H.S.) - 16:07.92 4. Ikuyo...

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by Brett Larner Updated 3/21/09 to reflect athlete withdrawals. In an effort to bring the Tokyo Marathon into line with IAAF Gold Label status criteria, this year's third running is the first to feature a full international invited elite women's field. Although the women's race is not included among the selection races for the Berlin World Championships, the substantial prize money this year has attracted a competitive field both domestic and foreign rivaling that of many of the world's best events. The overseas field is truly international, with four women from four nations, and well-matched with all but one of the women having run their best times within the last two years and less than 1 minute 20 seconds separating their times. Alevtina Biktimirova (Russia) was 2nd in both Boston and Chicago last year, the former with a memorable sprint finish in a time only 15 seconds off her best despite the challenging course. She weakened in Honolulu in December but should be ...

by Brett Larner Team Toyota Boshoku's rookie Yusei Nakao had the strongest Japanese performance at the Rio World Half Marathon Championships on Oct. 12, finishing 5th in the men's race in 1:02:05, while the Japanese women came up with another bronze medal-winning team performance led by the 10th place finish of Team Hokuren's Yukiko Akaba. In the men's race, Masato Kihara (Chuo Gakuin University) led the way as the sole non-African in the lead pack of thirteen at the 5 km point, crossing the mark in 14:07. Although he has run faster than this before in a half marathon, Kihara soon ran into trouble and began to move backward, eventually finishing 83rd of 86 finishers in a shocking 1:20:05. Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN), Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) and Tetsuo Nishimura (Team YKK) set out at a more conservative pace and finished accordingly. Nakao, who ran a massive PB of 1:02:00 in May's Sendai International Half Marathon, ran the early stages of the race in...