japan running news

by Brett Larner One month to the day from Arata Fujiwara's course-record win at the Ottawa Marathon, the organizers of the Sept. 26 Toronto Waterfront Marathon have announced that they will invite four Japanese athletes to this year's race as part of their International Team Challenge team competition. The Japanese contingent, the first in the history of the event, will consist of Yamada Denki women's team runners Ayumi Nakayama and Maki Suzawa and Honda men's team athletes Takashi Horiguchi and Minoru Okuda . Race director Alan Brookes commented, "This is the first time we'll have had elite Japanese athletes on our flat, fast course. We're delighted to welcome Team Japan, a strong team from one of the great marathon-running nations, to Toronto Waterfront for the first time, and expect them to do very well against teams from around the world." Nakayama holds a PB of 2:28:50 from the 2008 Osaka International Ladies Marathon. Freezing rain at this ye...

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2010062700268 http://www.hokkaido-np.co.jp/news/sports/238878.html http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/100627/oth1006272249014-n1.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner In his first attempt at the distance, two-time Olympic marathon medalist Erick Wainaina (Kenya) won the 25th anniversary Lake Saroma 100 km ultramarathon in Hokkaido on June 27. Wainaina, the 1996 Olympic marathon bronze medalist and 2000 silver medalist, covered the certified course in a time of 6:39:52, with runner-up Noriyuki Araki (Wings AC) a short distance behind in 6:41:07. Tokyo-based Emi Matsushita , formerly Emi Iwasaki, took her second-straight and third-ever women's Saroma title with a time of 7:49:31. Between the 50 km and 100 km divisions 3656 runners started the race. With temperatures reaching 30 degrees, only 1949 were able to complete their distance. Translator's note: This is genuinely surprising news. Based on what I've been able to track dow...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2012217849_maranotes27.html Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) won the women's half marathon.

by Brett Larner Tokai University took the top spot at the 2010 National University Ekiden Kanto Region Qualifier track meet June 26 at Tokyo's National Stadium. With the top six schools at last year's Nationals seeded for this year's championships on Nov. 7, other schools across the country must compete in regional qualifier meets this month to requalify. Consisting of four 10000 m heats of forty runners, each made up of two runners from twenty schools, the combined times of the eight runners from each school are used to determine the team scores at the Kanto Region Qualifier. The five fastest overall schools go on to Nationals. Tokai came out first on a windy but rain-free evening thanks to strong showings from Heat Four sophomore aces Akinobu Murasawa and Tsubasa Hayakawa along with a Heat Three win from star frosh Daichi Motomura . Joining Tokai at Nationals will be Josai Univ., Kokushikan Univ., Teikyo Univ. and Nittai Univ . Takushoku Univ. missed out on making th...

by Brett Larner Little-known Kokushikan University junior Taku Fujimoto 's win at last month's Kanto Regional University T&F Championships 5000 m was one of the meet's highlights. Sitting patiently behind the leaders throughout the race, Fujimoto rocketed away from favorite Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) with one lap to go to win in a sizeable PB of 13:38.68, exactly tying Murasawa's PB. After the race Murasawa challenged Fujimoto to repeat the feat this season over 10000 m. His chance comes this Saturday at the 2010 National University Ekiden Kanto Regional Qualifiers at Tokyo's National Stadium. November's National University Ekiden is one of the peaks of the fall season. For schools which miss the top-scoring seeded bracket, late June means once more through the regional qualifiers. What makes the Kanto qualifiers one of the most entertaining events on the Japanese calendar is the format: four heats of 10000 m in one evening, each heat containing tw...

by Brett Larner If the preliminary announcement is to be believed, the organizers of the Sapporo International Half Marathon have done an outstanding job in setting up a strong field for this year's 53rd edition to be held July 4. Last year's race was expected to include Beijing Olympics marathon gold medalist Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya), but his listing turned out to be only the empty promise of a promoter. This year's men's field is slated to include a handful of big names, and if all show Sapporo could be one of the best races of the summer. Topping the overseas men's field are Berlin World Championships marathon gold medalist Abel Kirui and 2:05 marathoner Vincent Kipruto , both of Kenya, along with their Japan-resident sub-hour countrymen Gideon Ngatuny (Team Nissin Shokuhin), the 2009 Sapporo winner, and Mekubo Mogusu (Team Aidem), the course record holder and 2007-08 winner. Somewhat of a non-sequitur, American Antonio Vega rounds out the overseas men...

JRN's mobile unit sustained damage during our recent trip to cover Grandma's Marathon. Apologies in advance for irregular service over the next week as the laptop is repaired, and likewise apologies for delays in responding to email over the same period. At Grandma's, diminutive 2010 Senshu International Marathon winner Chihiro Tanaka experienced difficulty with the prevail headwinds of the day and finished only 12th. Tanaka did pick up an award for first in the 40+ age group but overall was disappointed with her showing. Invited male athlete Toyokazu Yoshimura ran in the lead pack through halfway before experiencing sharp pain in his left knee and dropping precipitously back in the field. Japanese runners had a better day at the Steamboat Classic 4-Miler, taking four of the top ten spots in the women's race. Women's results are reproduced below. 2010 Steamboat Classic 4-Miler - Top Women's Finishers click here for complete results 1. Edna Kiplagat (Kenya)...

2010 Hokuren Distance Challenge Shibetsu Meet - Top Finishers click here for complete results Men's 10000 m 1. Nahom Mesfin (Ethiopia) - 28:07.80 2. Yoshinori Oda - 28:20.09 3. Daisuke Shimizu - 28:29.85 Women's 5000 m 1. Kazue Kojima - 15:47.55 2. Mai Ito - 15:48.35 3. Chieko Kido - 16:03.16 Men's 5000 m A-heat 1. Takayuki Matsumiya - 13:39.75 2. Tsuyoshi Ugachi - 13:42.50 3. Ryo Kiname - 13:54.54 Men's 5000 m B-heat 1. Yushi Nowaki - 14:04.18 2. Yuki Moriwaki - 14:06.88 3. Jeon Eun Hoi (KOR) - 14:07.62 Women's 3000 m 1. Ayaka Mori - 9:26.39 2. Misaki Onishi - 9:27.06 3. Misako Suguro - 9:30.95 (c) 2010 Brett Larner all rights reserved