japan running news

translated and edited by Brett Larner Yuki Kawauchi at work a day after the Tokyo Marathon as media look on. Click here to enlarge . Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, Long Distance and Road Racing Special Committee chief Toshio Kiuchi and other executive members of the Japanese athletics federation traveled to Kasukabe, Saitama on Mar. 2 to pay a formal visit to Yuki Kawauchi , 23, the amateur runner who qualified for August's World Championships marathon team by placing 3rd overall and top Japanese at the Feb. 27 Tokyo Marathon. "Since he is not affiliated with a corporate team, we had to talk about what the future holds," said Kiuchi. The federation dignitaries asked administration officials at Kasukabe High School, where Kawauchi is employed as an administrative assistant, for their help and support in getting Kawauchi to the World Championships. In order to minimize the strain caused by the sudden rush of media attention upon Kawauchi, one of the main topics ...

by Brett Larner After a delay to allow four top Japanese women caught in Christchurch, New Zealand during last week's major earthquake time to decide whether they are ready for a competitive marathon, on Mar. 2 the Nagoya International Women's Marathon announced the elite field for the Mar. 13 race. The final edition of the elite-only race before the race changes formats next year to a mass-participation women-only event, Nagoya features the deepest domestic field of the three selection races for this summer's World Championships marathon team. To prevent any unnecessary stress to the runners, Rikuren officials have taken the unusual step of forbidding journalists from asking any questions related to the New Zealand earthquake until after the race. The last three Nagoya winners, defending champion Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC), '09 winner Yoshiko Fujinaga (Team Shiseido) and '08 victor Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) return. They will face 2009 Tokyo Marathon wi...

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201103010381.html

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 Apart from the Fukuoka International Cross Country Meet and Sunday's epochal Tokyo Marathon, three other significant races took place in Japan on Feb. 27. Tomoyuki Morita (Team Kanebo) took the Kumanichi 30 km road race, winning in 1:32:14 by 18 seconds over Komazawa University's Akinori Iida . No women competed in this year's running. At the 60th running of the venerable Kashima Yutoku Road Race, Hiroaki Koike (Toyo Univ.) won the men's half marathon in a modest 1:05:04, the only runner to break 66. Korean university runner Seung Ho Baek beat Toyo University's Koshi Watanabe by 1 second to win the Inuyama Half Marathon in 1:03:47, while Mao Kuroda lead a near-sweep by Team Yutaka Giken runners in the women's division in a strong 1:12:21. Six women went under 35 minutes and six men under 30 in Inuyama's 10 km. Kumanichi 30 km Kumamoto, 2/27/11 1. Tomoyuki Morita (Team Kanebo) - 1:32:14 2. Akinori Iida (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:32:32 3. Sh...

Excellent quotes from 2011 Tokyo Marathon winners Hailu Mekonnen and Tatiana Aryasova along with top Japanese finishers Yuki Kawauchi and Noriko Higuchi, thanks to Ken Nakamura: http://www.all-athletics.com/en-us/2011-02-28/summary-post-race-press-conference-tokyo-marathon This translated article also has some good quotes from Kawauchi and one priceless piece of info about his World Championships plans: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/sports/news/20110228p2a00m0na016000c.html

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20110228-OYT1T00190.htm?from=y10 http://www.daily.co.jp/general/2011/02/28/0003832907.shtml http://mytown.asahi.com/areanews/saitama/TKY201102270461.html "Amateur Kawauchi 3rd" by Daisuke Yamaguchi, Nikkei Newspaper 2/28/11 translated and edited by Brett Larner Update: Reader vilagoiberia sent me a link to this video of the last 6.5 km of Kawauchi's run. Kawauchi with his bronze medal, after regaining consciousness. Click photo to enlarge. He did it, he's on the national team. At the Feb. 27 Tokyo Marathon, Yuki Kawauchi , 23, an administrative worker at Saitama Prefectural Kasukabe High School, ran 2:08:37 to finish as the top Japanese man and 3rd overall. In so doing he secured a place on the Japanese national team for this summer's World Championships in Daegu, Korea, earning joyful respect and praise from those connected to him. Kawauchi began working for the Saitama Prefectural Government in April, 2009, taking a job as an...

http://www.daily.co.jp/general/2011/02/28/0003832911.shtml translated by Brett Larner Saitama-based amateur runner Yuki Kawauchi , 23, finished 3rd at the Feb. 27 Tokyo Marathon in 2:08:37. The top Japanese finisher, he earned a guaranteed spot on the national team for August's World Championships marathon. As an ordinary amateur runner not belonging to a jitsugyodan corporate team, Kawauchi's titanic run has had a profound impact on Rikuren, the Japanese federation. Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki commented, "I think it is quite a major shock to all the established teams to see the limelight shining on a unique runner like Kawauchi." Rikuren Long Distance and Road Racing Special Committee executive Toshio Kiuchi agreed that Kawauchi's result was a sharp sting to the corporate team system, saying, "This shows that our elite runners have to toughen up and get to work. Back in the day everyone had the kind of hunger Kawauchi showed today." Team Chugoku D...