japan running news

by Brett Larner Rio Olympics marathoner Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) leads the elite field of domestic hopefuls for the 2017 World Championships team at the Jan. 29 Osaka International Women's Marathon .  On the home front she faces London Olympian Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya), the last two Gold Coast Airport Marathon winners Misato Horie (Team Noritz) and Risa Takenaka (Team Shiseido), and the debuting Hanae Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei), a training partner of Ito's Rio teammate Tomomi Tanaka . Ethiopian-born Shitaye Habtegebrel (Bahrain) presents the toughest international competition to Ito with a PB just under a minute slower than Ito's 2:24:42 best.   Iwona Lewandowska (Poland), Muluhabt Tsega (Ethiopia), Serena Burla (U.S.A.), Cassie Fien (Australia), Ling-Ling Jin (China) and Munkhzaya Bayartsogt (Mongolia) round out the international contingent. Further down the field, Japan's current top three amateur women Yoshiko Sakamoto (YWC), Yumiko Kin...

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/201612/0009761574.shtml translated and edited by Brett Larner The 24th National Junior High School Ekiden Championships took place Dec. 18 at Kibogaoka Cultural Park in Yasu, Shiga.  Hyogo's Hirano J.H.S. won its first national title in the six stage, 18 km boys' race in 57:31. Katsura J.H.S. of Kyoto won the five stage, 12 km girls' race in 41:01 to become just the second school in history to win three-straight titles, beating rival Arai J.H.S. of Hyogo by 56 seconds. In the boys' race Hirano did not get off to a great start in the first half.  Its fourth runner Kentaro Kishimoto  began in 10th place 24 seconds behind the leader, but passing 9 people over the 3 km stage he put Hirano ahead by 3 seconds.  Fifth runner Masaya Tamai dropped back to 2nd, 2 seconds behind the leader, but Hirano's anchor Yuta Kamikariya turned it around to take the win by 4 seconds.   Ryoke J.H.S. of Kanagawa was 2nd, with Ehime's N...

by Brett Larner 橋本くん、優勝おめでとう！！ pic.twitter.com/Qmm0jm5ZvI — くにちゃん (@Kunie0206) December 18, 2016 In just his second marathon, 2016 Aoyama Gakuin University graduate Ryo Hashimoto (Team GMO Athletes) ran a PB of over three minutes to win the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon in 2:11:20.  Pacers took the race through 25 km at a relatively steadily pace on target for around 2:11:45.  With their departure at 26 km Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) repeated his big play from the Fukuoka International Marathon two weeks ago, throwing in a hard surge and opening a gap of 10 seconds over the rest of the field.  Hashimoto and Taiki Yoshimura (Team Asahi Kasei) were the only two to try to follow, and by 30 km they had started to close the gap. pic.twitter.com/WnsJeY1YX9 — ペコ (@ayespeko) December 18, 2016 Hashimoto passed Kawauchi near 32 km, splitting 15:05 from 30 to 35 km as he pulled away.  It was a pace he couldn't sustain but enough to guarantee him the win with ...

translated and edited by Brett Larner source articles at bottom Powered by its formidable lineup of talented first-years, Tokai University is shooting for top three in Japan's biggest race.  On Dec. 16 the Tokai University men's ekiden team held a public practice session in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa ahead of the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden .  Of its sixteen-man Hakone entry roster, eight are first-years.  Four of those have run 13 minutes for 5000 m, four have run 28 minutes for 10000 m, and two have run 62 minutes for the half marathon.  Head coach Hayashi Morozumi , 50, told reporters, "I think you'll probably see a lot of the first-years on the final start list too.  It's jump or die.  If we take an interesting approach, we can make it a good race.  We have to take it to the champs Aoyama Gakuin University and not be afraid of failing.  Our goal is 3rd place.  I hope that we can go into it with every team member bringing the best of his abili...

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20161216/ath16121617340001-n1.html translated by Brett Larner The Shiseido corporate women's team announced on Dec. 16 that Manabu Kawagoe , 54, will return to his former position as head coach in January next year.  "I want to bring the team together to target winning the National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships and to inspire women everywhere through their running," Kawagoe commented. Currently leading the Edion corporate women's team, Kawagoe was head coach of Shiseido for three years beginning in 2004.  A native of Kagoshima, in 2007 he resigned from Shiseido to found the club team Second Wind AC .  In 2011 he moved again to become head coach at Edion.  Kawagoe will leave Edion to return to Shiseido.  In March this year Shiseido head coach Toshitaka Anyoji resigned to take over the top position at the Panasonic corporate women's team.  Shiseido assistant coach Masahiro Inoguchi has been serving as inter...

http://japanese.joins.com/article/527/223527.html translated by Brett Larner photo by Horst Milde A bronze statue of marathoner Sohn Kee-Chung showing him crossing the finish line in first in the 1936 Berlin Olympics marathon has been raised near the Berlin Olympic Stadium.  On its chest is not the Rising Sun, Japan's national flag, but the Korean flag. On Dec. 12, the Korean Cultural Center in Berlin held a ceremony to unveil the statue on Glockenturm Street near the Berlin Olympics marathon course. Sohn's grandson Lee Jung-Soon , director of the Sohn Kee-Chung Memorial Foundation, said, "Being remembered as the Korean Sohn Kee-Chung was my grandfather's greatest wish.  I am deeply moved to help realize that wish by placing this statue outside the Berlin Olympic Stadium." In 2006, the 70th anniversary of Sohn's victory, the Foundation had previously tried to erect two bronze statues, one in the Seoul Olympic Stadium and the other at the Berlin O...

http://hirospo.com/quick/34808.html translated by Brett Larner On Dec. 15 the Chugoku Newspaper reported that 2:07:52 marathoner Shigeru Aburaya has been promoted from his position as assistant coach at the Chugoku Denryoku men's corporate team to head coach.  Aburaya will assume his new duties next year on Feb. 1.  After 25 years working in that role current head coach Yasushi Sakaguchi will become general manager.  In November Sakaguchi became coach of the JAAF's men's marathon development program for the buildup to the Tokyo Olympics. Translator's note: Along with his 2:07:52 best from the 2001 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Aburaya's achievements as an athlete included 5th-place finishes in the 2003 Paris World Championships and 2004 Athens Olympics marathons.  Besides Aburaya, Sakaguchi also coached 2:07:13 all-time Japanese #4 marathoner and half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato and 2:08:37 marathoner Tsuyoshi Ogata , the last Japanese man ...

http://www.sankei.com/life/news/161214/lif1612140051-n1.html translated by Brett Larner After a series of wild birds at Lake Senba in downtown Mito, Ibaraki were found to be carrying the avian flu virus, on Dec. 14 the city's sports department cancelled a local road race scheduled to be held on the running loop around Lake Senba on Jan. 1.  According to the sports department, around 2000 people had already signed up for the road race.  The city will now begin to deal with returning their entry fees. The city government also announced that a public ceremony for the fire department which had been scheduled at Lake Senba park on Jan. 8 has been moved to another location.  The weekly farmers' market held every Sunday will also be held at a different park in the city.  Ibaraki prefectural government officials said that eight dead or dying swans found at Lake Senba on Dec. 13 and 14 had tested positive for Avian flu.