japan running news

All-time Japanese #4 in the marathon at 2:21:36 in her debut earlier this year in Nagoya, Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) leads the elite field for the Jan. 28 Osaka International Women's Marathon . Hoping for a comeback after an ineffectual run at the summer's London World Championships, Ando faces former under-20 Japanese record holder Reia Iwada (Dome) and debuting 10000 m national champion Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) as her main competition. Eunice Jeptoo (Kenya) and Fayesa Robi (Ethiopia) lead the small international field with the debuting Gotytom Gebreslase (Ethiopia) throwing in an element of unpredictability, but with bests of only 2:26:13 and 2:27:04 it will take a combination of a breakthrough from any of them and a breakdown from Ando and Iwade to have a shot at the win. Along with Matsuda's exciting debut, Osaka will again be putting heavy emphasis on first-timers and university student runners, Ayano Ikemitsu (Kagoshima Ginko) leading the former with a ...

At its executive board meeting on Dec. 19, the JAAF approved date changes for three of its major marathons. Traditionally held in November, the Saitama International Women's Marathon will move to Dec. 9 for its 2018 running in response to the National Corporate Women's Ekiden's shift from mid-December to November. In 2019 the Tokyo Marathon will change from the last Sunday in February to Mar. 3 to avoid potential conflicts with the new Emperor's Birthday holiday , which will take place each year on Feb. 23 following the imperial succession in 2019. Tokyo will remain on the first Sunday of March thereafter, the longtime date of the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon . As a result, in 2019 Lake Biwa will be held a week later on Mar. 10, the same day as the Nagoya Women's Marathon . source article: https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/201712190000631.html translated and edited by Brett Larner

The Tenmaya women's corporate team announced on Dec. 19 that two-time World Championships marathoner and 2012 London Olympian Risa Shigetomo , 30, will retire from competition at the end of the season in March next year. A press conference is scheduled for Dec. 21. As a third-year at Okayama's Kojokan H.S. in 2005 Shigetomo led the team to win its first-ever National High School Ekiden Championships title. She joined the Tenmaya team the following spring after her graduation. With a powerful stride driven by her tall 168 cm frame, Shigetomo won the 2012 Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2:23:23 to qualify for the London Olympic team. At the Olympics she finished only 70th in 2:40:06. This year Shigetomo won Osaka for the second time in 2:24:22, earning a return trip to London for this summer's World Championships where she finished 27th in 2:36:03. Translator's note: Shigetomo also ran in the 2015 Beijing World Championships, where she was 14th in 2:...

The Shiseido women's corporate team announced on Feb. 18 that 2015 Gold Coast Airport Marathon winner Risa Takenaka , 27, is retiring from competition. Her last race will be January's National Women's Ekiden. Through a company spokesperson Takenaka explained her reasons for retiring, saying, "I have had a series of injuries that have kept me from training at the level that I want to." Translator's note: A former star runner at #1 women's university ekiden power Ritsumeikan University , Takenaka has run well as a pro, finishing in the top 3 in every race she has run in the last year and a half except one, and in the top 5 in all but three races in the last 3 years. She ran particularly well on the opening stage of last month's National Women's Ekiden . In the spring she married Takuya Noguchi of the Konica Minolta men's corporate team, returning to the Gold Coast  in July to finish 3rd in 2:28:32 as Noguchi won the men's race in 2:08...

The 25th National Junior High School Ekiden Championships took place Dec. 17 in Shiga's Kibogaoka Bunka Park. In the five-stage, 12 km girls' race, Kyoto's Katsura J.H.S. became the first school in history to win four national titles. Katsura fell behind on the First Stage, but moving up to the top position on the Second Stage it held the lead for the rest of the way to win in 41:21. Chiba's Hakusan J.H.S. won the six-stage, 18.0 km boys' race, breaking the course record with a time of 57:03. Hakusan's lead runner Ken Nojima won the First Stage, giving the team a lead it never relinquished. Despite injury concerns about his left leg, Nojima ran decisively on the ekiden's most competitive stage. "I knew it was important to hand over the tasuki in 1st," Nojima said. "Everything went according to plan." Anchor Kaiki Oyazato was enthusiastic as he said, "Being the one to break the tape as we met our goal of winning was the best!...

Two weeks to the day after running 2:10:53 at the Fukuoka International Marathon, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) wrapped his 2017 with a win, running one of the few negative splits of his career to win the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon for the third time in 2:10:03. Women's winner Misako Kato (Kyudenko), a 1:09:49 half marathon, soloed an almost perfectly paced 2:28:12 to take 3 minutes off her PB and 7 1/2 minutes off the course record. Further back, Rio Paralympics T12 marathon silver medalist  Misato Michishita  broke the own world record in her category with a time of 2:56:14. Watch a complete replay of the race here. Pacers Taiga Ito and Melaku Abera , both of whom ran Fukuoka alongside Kawauchi, were tasked with taking the field out in 3:06/km, 2:10:48 pace. Pre-race Kawauchi told JRN, "If they'd run 3:04 I ccoul definitely, 100%, go faster than I did in Fukuoka. In cold and windy conditions things went in his favor in the early going with 5 and 10 km sp...

Looking to improve on last year's 4th-place finish, Juntendo University held a press conference at its main campus in Inzai, Chiba on Dec. 13 ahead of the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden . Set to run the 23.2 km Second Stage for the third time, star 3rd-year and Rio Olympian Kazuya Shiojiri sent a warning to his rivals at other schools, telling reporters, "I'm being tasked with beating the best from all the other schools, so my personal goal is to win the stage." At the Nov. 25 Hachioji Long Distance meet Shiojiri ran the 4th-fastest time ever by a university runner, 27:47.87, but that has had no impact on head coach Shunsuke Nagato 's plans. "Even if we fall behind on the First Stage, I know that he's there so it won't be anything to get worried about," said Nagato, showing the complete trust which he places in Shiojiri. Of last year's Second Stage winner, 2017 National University Half Marathon champion Kengo Suzuki of Kanagawa University , ...

Entry lists are out for Japan's biggest and best road race, the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden . 21 university teams from around the Tokyo area will field ten runners from the sixteen on their entry list, each runner taking on roughly a half marathon length over the ten-stage race. 2017 Izumo Ekiden winner Tokai University is the class of the field, one of only five teams to enter all ten of its best athletes and the only one with ten-runner averages under 14 minutes for 5000 m, under 29 for 10000 m and 1:03 for the half marathon. At all three distances its averages are slightly better than Aoyama Gakuin University 's were last year when AGU won its third-straight Hakone title, and no other school even comes closer over the most relevant distance, the half marathon. It has never won Hakone, but this year it's Tokai's race to lose. AGU has been hit by injury troubles this year, losing in both Izumo and the National University Ekiden and missing several key members from ...