japan running news

In the early days of the Hakone Ekiden Koreans were the first group from outside Japan to run and make an impact on the event's history . 60 years after the first two Koreans ran Hakone, Kenyan Douglas Wakiihuri became the first Kenyan to come to Japan to run when he joined the S&B corporate team. After he won the 1987 Rome World Championships marathon and took silver a year later in the Seoul Olympics the door was open for Kenyan and other African athletes to follow Wakiihuri's lead to the corporate leagues, to universities, and even to high schools. Tsutomu Akiyama was responsible for bringing the first two Kenyans to Hakone, recruiting Joseph Otwori and Kennedy Manyisa Isena to go to Yamanashi Gakuin University . "I went to Kenya to see what the people and environment were like," he told JRN. "I watched a cross-country race and thought, 'We have to get someone like that to run for Yamanashi Gakuin.'" Yamanashi Gakuin had debuted at Hakon...

Waseda University tries to stop Yamanashi Gakuin University from winning a third-straight Izumo Ekiden at its 1993 edition.

Atlanta Olympics marathon bronze medalist and future Sydney silver medalist Erick Wainaina , future marathon national record holder Atsushi Fujita , and the first Kenyan to go all the way through the Japanese high school, university and corporate league system, Stephen Mayaka , head-to-head at the now-defunct Sapporo Half Marathon in 1998. Atlanta gold medalist Josiah Thugwane is running in 4th in most of this clip but ends up 5th.

Tsutomu Akiyama is a key figure in the history of both Japanese running and Olympic marathoning. A senior advisor to Yamanashi Gakuin University's ekiden and track and field programs and one half of the partnership responsible for beginning to bring Kenyans to Japan in the wake of Olympic medalist Douglas Wakiihuri 's arrival, Akiyama discovered and has been a mentor to the likes of marathon great Daniel Njenga , World Half Marathon silver medalist Philes Ongori , World Championships marathon medalist Tsuyoshi Ogata , Hakone Ekiden course record breaker  Mekubo Mogusu , corporate league star,  Gideon Ngatuny , multiple world-level medalist  Paul Tanui and Beijing Olympics marathon champion and winner of the legendary 2010 Chicago Marathon, Samuel Wanjiru In 2010 Akiyama gave JRN a one-on-one interview in which he talked about everything, from the human side of his athletes to problems with foreign agents, from picking a teenaged Wanjiru up at the airport during his ...

Stephen Mayaka was the first Kenyan high school runner in Japan and the first to go the complete route from high school to university and on into the corporate running world. Now a Japanese citizen, married to a former World Championships-level Japanese marathoner and head coach of Obirin University’s ekiden team, Mayaka is a mentor to Kenyan athletes both across Japan and back in Kenya. JRN interviewed Mayaka just before New Year, 2010 for an article for Running Times magazine. This is part two of his interview.  Click here for part one . Part Two: The Corporate Life, Pros and Cons At the professional level, in your day-to-day life in the corporate teams how is it for Kenyan runners or other foreign athletes? I think every company has its own schedule. I support some companies, and I don’t support some other companies, the way they are using us. There are different understandings. I think there are companies that need a Kenyan just to run in the ekiden championships and...

Stephen Mayaka was the first Kenyan high school runner in Japan and the first to go the complete route from high school to university and on into the corporate running world. Now a Japanese citizen, married to a former World Championships-level Japanese marathoner and head coach of Obirin University’s track and field team, Mayaka is a mentor to Kenyan athletes both across Japan and back in Kenya. JRN interviewed Mayaka just before New Year, 2010 for an article for Running Times magazine. Part One: Discovery, High School and University Could you talk a bit about your personal history? How were you selected to come to Japan? I first came to Japan in 1990, in December. I came here to test myself. When I was in Kenya I ran in the Kenyan Secondary School Championships. I was the top at cross-country. There was a Japanese there, the one who introduced Samuel Wanjiru to Sendai Ikuei [High School], Mr. Kobayashi. He had spotted me, and before, Joseph Otwori , who came from the same...

Part three in a series of republished feature interviews. Born Nov. 27, 1972 in Kisii, Kenya,  Stephen Mayaka came to Japan in 1990 to run for Yamanashi Gakuin University Prep High School as the first Kenyan high school runner in Japanese history. He went on to Yamanashi Gakuin University, then the Daiei corporate team following graduation. In 1998 he changed to the Hitachi Cable team where he remained until his retirement. In 1999 he married 1995 World Championships marathoner Sachiyo Seiyama and in 2001 the couple's first child, a daughter, was born. They later had a son. Mayaka received Japanese citizenship in 2005 and became a coach with Sozo Gakuen University's track and field team in 2006. In 2009 he became the team's head coach, then moved to his current position as head coach at Obirin University. In addition to coaching, he serves as mentor for many of the top Kenyan athletes in Japan. In part one of JRN's interview with Mayaka, he talks about being di...