japan running news

by Brett Larner Running his third European marathon of the year with support from JRN, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) follows up his April win at the Zurich Marathon and his 2:11:03 at September's Berlin Marathon with his Portuguese debut at Sunday's Porto Marathon .  With a slightly easier course this year Kawauchi joins top-ranked Kenyans Samuel Theuri Mwaniki ,  Pius Kirop  and Gilbert Kipkemboi Maina in gunning for the 2:09:51 Porto Marathon record set in 2011 by Philemon Bairu (Kenya). Three weeks ago at the Takashimadaira Road Race Kawauchi ran 59:43 for 20 km, equivalent to 1:02:59 for the half marathon.  "That was great training," he told JRN.  "I didn't do that kind of speed work before Berlin, so I definitely think I can run faster here than I did there."  At the pre-race press conference Kawauchi was even clearer: when asked what kind of race he hoped to run he replied, "One where I break the course record." ...

by Brett Larner University men's ekiden season gets into full swing at Sunday's National University Men's Ekiden Championships , the second of the Big Three University Ekidens .  Last year Aoyama Gakuin University looked set to become just the fourth team in history to win the Izumo-Nationals-Hakone ekiden triple crown, but Toyo University put on a performance that head coach Toshiyuki Sakai tearfully described as "180%" to stop Aoyama Gakuin dead and score its first-ever national title. This year, with a solid win at the season-opening Izumo Ekiden behind it Aoyama Gakuin looks ready to do what it couldn't last year. The top 16-ranked teams at Sunday's 48th National University Men's Ekiden. Click to enlarge. Aoyama Gakuin is far and away the favorite, leading the field in average 5000 m, 10000 m and half marathon bests among its top eight men.  With the Nationals course featuring eight stages between 9.5 km and 19.7 km and averaging ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/sports/marathon-doping-investigation.html Mr. Baranov is pictured at a Japanese race in the lead photo in the above article.   For years JRN has covered his presence in Japan , where his athletes of Russian and other Eastern European nationality have long dominated the elite women's marathon circuit only for many to have their performances annulled for doping and biological passport violations .  One can only hope that Japan opens a similar investigation into these performances, Baranov and his Japanese business and business collaborators .

by Brett Larner 九州実業団毎日駅伝 優勝おめでとうございます(*^^*) pic.twitter.com/R9KGe1AdJV — manamin (@kinokonoko0916) November 3, 2016 Corporate men's ekiden season got started Thursday with two regional qualifiers for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden coporate men's national championships.  In the Kyushu Region , Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems went back and forth with favorite Asahi Kasei throughout the race to score its first-ever regional win.   Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) got things started right with a 1:22 lead over Ryo Kiname (MHPS) on the 12.9 km First Stage.  Mitsubishi's new Kenyan Enock Omwamba caught Asahi Kasei's Takaya Arake on the Second Stage, both teams handing off to their third runners at the same time.   Hiroto Inoue (MHPS) opened a 42-second lead over Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei), but on the next stage Murayama's twin brother Kota Murayama , the 10000 m national record holder, cut Mitsubishi's lead down to 11 seconds.   Takashi Ichida turned it...

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-japan-costs-idUSKBN12X0MQ

by Brett Larner The Dec. 4  Fukuoka International Marathon released the elite field for this year's 70th running today.  2014-15 winner Patrick Makau (Kenya) returns, looking to follow Frank Shorter and Toshihiko Seko as just the third man to win Fukuoka three years in a row.  Makau's main competition comes from 2015 World Championships silver medalist Yemane Tsegay (Ethiopia), James Kwambai (Kenya) and Amanuel Mesel (Eritrea).  An interesting name that could represent an extra challenge if he shows the same renewed focus as his older brother Kenenisa is Tariku Bekele (Ethiopia).  Further back, Reid Coolsaet (Canada) has a shot at breaking the 2:10:09 Canadian national record set in Fukuoka in 1975 by Jerome Drayton . The large Japan-based African contingent is headed by the debuting Paul Kuira (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta), who won the 2015 Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon in 59:47 in his debut over the distance, 2012 Fukuoka winner...

by Brett Larner Rio de Janeiro Olympics 3000 m steeplechase runner  Anju Takamizawa , the first Japanese university woman to ever make an Olympic team in a distance event, led Matsuyama University to take down five-time defending national champion Ritsumeikan University and become the first school from the Chugoku-Shikoku Region to ever win the National University Women's Ekiden Championships title Sunday in Sendai. 【杜の都駅伝】 松山大学初優勝です！ pic.twitter.com/ftXf43wke1 — 日本学生陸上競技連合 (@iuauj) October 30, 2016 3rd last year, Matsuyama lined up against Ritsumeikan, Kanto Region champ and 2015 runner-up Daito Bunka University  and 23 other teams at the Morinomiyako Ekiden , as Nationals are popularly called.  Ritsumeikan got off to a rocky start, its lead runner Nanako Kanno  eight seconds behind 1500 m national university champion Natsu Hashimoto (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) in 6th, but for Matsuyama and Daito Bunka the First Stage was a disaster. Matsuyama senior Ayumi U...

by Brett Larner One of the ten biggest marathons in the world , the Osaka Marathon celebrated its first-ever Japanese winner this year. 第六回大阪マラソン　女子の部優勝 坂本喜子選手 浪速区敷津 Canon EOS 1D X Canon EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS Ⅱ USM #写真好きな人と繋がりたい #大阪マラソン pic.twitter.com/5Zmd3Mm6bU — KKMMM (@KkmmmGurkha) October 30, 2016 The Osaka women's race was a one-woman show the whole way.  Amateur runner Yoshiko Sakamoto (Y.W.C.) a 37-year-old mother of three and former high school star who took up marathons at age 32 after not running for more than 10 years , went it alone from the gun.  35 seconds ahead of #1-ranked Nurit Yimam (Ethiopia) at 5 km, Sakamoto fearlessly pushed her pace under 2:30 by 15 km and stretched her lead to almost four minutes as Yimam and top club runner  Yumiko Kinoshita  (SWAC) held steady to 2:35~36 pace.  With a best of 2:36:29 Sakamoto was bound to pay for it, and after halfway she began to slow.  "After 33 km it felt like my right hamstr...