japan running news

http://iaaf.org/WXC09/news/newsid=49245.html 30 km world record holder and 5000 m national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya and his Konica Minolta teammate Hiroshi Yamada, training together in Kenya this month, ran in the Kenya Prisons Cross-Country National Championships on Feb. 7. No word on their results.

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/track/news/20090203k0000m050063000c.html translated by Brett Larner Team Aichi Seiko of Tokai, Aichi Prefecture, has announced that head coach and former 10000 m and marathon national record holder Takeyuki Nakayama, 49, will be resigning his position as head coach at the end of this season. Nakayama will be replaced by former marathon national record holder Taisuke Kodama, 50, who will take over effective April 1st. As a runner for Team Asahi Kasei, Kodama won the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon and Beijing International Marathon, going on to coach Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki and Asahi Kasei's women's team following the end of his competitve running. Nakayama became head coach of Team Aichi Seiko in 2004 and served for five years, leading the team to the New Year Ekiden four times. His plans following his retirement are currently undecided.

http://www.asahi.com/sports/spo/TKY200902040119.html translated and edited by Brett Larner The 29th Sapporo International Ski Marathon takes place Feb. 8 in Sapporo starting from nearby Sapporo Dome. The event includes five cross-country ski courses ranging from 3 km to 50 km, offering a wide variety of challenges to the 2700 entrants. For top athletes the race also serves as a qualification race for the World Loppet international championships. Among the entrants in the 3 km division is special guest and two-time Olympic marathon medalist Erick Wainaina (35). Wainaina came to Japan from his native Kenya in 1993. Wainaina has been downhill skiing "once, around 1995," but this will be his first time cross-country skiing. He plans to practice the day before the race and says his strategy will be "to look as cool as usual on my skis." Having won Sapporo's Hokkaido Marathon three times, Wainaina will also be the awards presenter for the 25 km and 50 km divisions. ...

http://sports.nikkei.co.jp/index.aspx?n=SSXKE0572%2005022009 translated by Brett Larner On Feb. 5 Rikuren announced that Athens Olympics women's marathon gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) has withdrawn from the first national women's marathon training camp, scheduled to begin Feb. 6 in New Zealand, after suffering inflammation in her left hip. The pain began during a workout on Jan. 30, and following a medical examination Noguchi withdrew to prevent the injury from becoming serious. Noguchi withdrew from last August's Beijing Olympics marathon after injuring her left thigh. She has been on her way to a full recovery, carrying out a training camp on Amami Oshima island and other serious training early in the year, but during last week's 400 m interval workout she complained that something didn't feel right. After taking several days off she resumed light jogging on Feb. 4th. The New Zealand training camp was organized as the first step in rebuilding Japanese...

originally published in the Nikkei Newspaper on 2/2/09 translated by Brett Larner Translator's note: This may be old news by now but I wanted to put it up to give credit where it is due in light of all the negative commentary by Rikuren officials following Beppu-Oita (coming in another article shortly). Kobayashi ran a great race. おつかれさま。 Veteran Seiji Kobayashi (32, Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) was the top Japanese finisher at Sunday's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, finishing 2nd overall behind winner Adil Annani (Morocco). Less than two months after a disappointing 20th place finish at December's Fukuoka International Marathon, Kobayashi ran 2:10:38 in difficult conditions to break his PB by 24 seconds in his eleventh marathon. "My training went really well, so I wanted to leave a good mark here. Today I'm a happy man," he said proudly. On the way to the 25.5 km turnaround point Kobayashi thought, "The pace felt pretty fast, so I was careful to keep my...

http://mainichi.jp/photo/archive/news/2009/02/01/20090202k0000m050066000c.html translated by Brett Larner Looking for a defense of his title at the Feb. 1 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, local hero Tomoya Adachi (Team Asahi Kasei) was unable to respond when the pace accelerated in the second half and dropped behind the leaders. "It's really disappointing," Adachi said flatly after the race. "It wasn't as hard last year." In his marathon debut last year Adachi won by running his own pace and coming from behind in the later stages, but this time with the added stress of a World Championships berth at stake there was a great push for him to run faster. "Last year I didn't have to worry about anything, but there was a lot of pressure this time, and....." he trailed off. The result was "terrible, but at least I could finish decently." Despite trying his hardest, Adachi finished 6th. Nevertheless, spurred on by the hometown cheers, he showed ...

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/flash/KFullFlash20090201050.html translated by Brett Larner Beijing Olympics men's marathon competitor Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) is planning to race in April's London Marathon. Team Chugoku Denryoku head coach Yasushi Sakaguchi revealed his star runner's plans following Sato's 3rd place finish at the Feb. 1 Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon. In poor condition at the Beijing Olympics, Sato ran extremely badly, but as he entered 2009 Sato began to feel positive about racing again and recovered much of his previous form. Coach Sakaguchi commented, "It's not completely decided yet, but Sato himself strongly wants to do well in a race overseas this spring." Translator's note: Atsushi Sato is the Asian record holder in the half marathon with a time of 1:00:25 from the 2007 World Half Marathon championships. He ran a PB of 2:07:13 at the 2007 Fukuoka International Marathon against Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya) an...

http://www.topics.or.jp/localNews/news/2009/02/2009_123362622264.html http://www.47news.jp/CN/200902/CN2009020201000205.html http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2009020200646 translated and edited by Brett Larner Veteran long distance runner Harumi Hiroyama (40, Team Shiseido) announced on Feb. 2 that she plans to retire following her run in March's Tokyo Marathon. "The Tokyo Marathon will be my last race as a professional athlete," she told reporters. If her preparations for Tokyo go smoothly Hiroyama will run the Feb. 22 Kaifugawa Marathon in her native Fukushima Prefecture as a tuneup race. However, Hiroyama's husband and Team Shiseido head coach Tsutomu Hiroyama (42) cautioned that she is currently injured and may be unable to run in Tokyo. If this proves to be the case she will target another race for her last run. "Since turning 40 it has become harder and harder for Harumi to stay mentally strong and to keep in top form," Coach Hiroyama explaine...