japan running news

by Brett Larner The best season of Japanese distance running is about to kick off.  The men's university ekiden season officially gets underway Monday, Oct. 8 with the first of the Big Three University Ekidens, the short and sweet Izumo Ekiden .  Oct. 20 sees the world's deepest 20 km road race, the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifier in Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park, where Kanto Region schools that didn't make the seeded cut at the last Hakone Ekiden try to pick up one of the nine remaining spots and individuals from smaller schools try to get in on the ten-man Select Team.  The seeded schools from Kanto and the best from the rest of the country square off at the National University Men's Ekiden Championships on Nov. 4.  Two weeks later the Ageo City Half Marathon, where teammates from the schools entered in Hakone square off against each other to try to make their coaches' A-roster for the main event.  Then, come Jan. 2-3, it is time for the big race, Japan's la...

by Brett Larner click here for complete entry lists Barring last-minute withdrawals Japan will be sending full squads of five to this Saturday's World Half Marathon Championships in Kavarna, Bulgaria.  The men's team is particularly strong, with three of Japan's all-time top ten half marathoners scheduled to line up.  21-year-old Chihiro Miyawaki  (Team Toyota) leads the way, having won his debut at March's National Corporate Half Marathon Championships in 1:00:53, the third-best time ever by a Japanese man on an unaided course.  Right behind him in 1:00:58 is all-time Japanese #4, former Komazawa University ace  Tsuyoshi Ugachi  (Team Konica Minolta).  Miyawaki and Ugachi have had an interesting rivalry going over the last year, pushing each other to all-time Japanese top-ten 10000 m times at a time trial meet last fall before hammering each other through the winter ekiden season.  Miyawaki exactly tied his 27:41.57 best for 10000 m last mont...

http://www.niigata-nippo.co.jp/news/pref/40584.html translated by Brett Larner First spotted back in June, a turtle now residing in a tank of water outside the front entrance of Niigata City Field's track has become a local celebrity among the track's users. According to the track office director, "It probably came here from the lake in nearby Hakusan Park." The turtle's body measures 20 cm long. It has been given the nickname "Rikku-chan."

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20121001-OHT1T00231.htm http://www.daily.co.jp/general/2012/10/02/0005420123.shtml translated and edited by Brett Larner "Civil servant runner" Yuki Kawauchi  (25, Saitama Pref.) left for Europe from Narita Airport Oct. 1 to compete as part of the Japanese national team at the Oct. 6 World Half Marathon Championships in Kavarna, Bulgaria.  His fourth overseas race this year, this time Kawauchi took a "luxurious" five days of paid vacation for the trip.  "I'm very sorry for the trouble my absence will cause at work," Kawauchi said, "so I want to be sure to get good results in this race.  My goal is 61 minutes."  With a best of 1:02:18 from this February's Marugame Half it is clear that he is determined to set a new personal best time. Besides the time difference from Japan, getting to the race location Bulgaria requires two airport transfers for a total of 18 hours of travel time.  Because ...

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20120930-OHT1T00285.htm http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/0005414888.shtml translated and edited by Brett Larner The university women's ekiden season kicked off Sept. 29 with the Kansai Region (Kobe/Kyoto/Osaka area)  qualifier for the Oct. 28 National University Women's Ekiden Championships in Sendai.  22 schools ran in the six-stage, 30 km Kansai qualifier in Kobe's Shiawase no Mura, with defending champion Bukkyo University  taking its second-straight and fourth-overall win in 1:37:54.  Last year's national champion Ritsumeikan University  finished 4th in Kansai.  Along with Bukkyo and Ritsumeikan, five other schools from the Kansai Region made the cut for Nationals. Having run on the Shiawase no Mura course since her days at Tomogaoka H.S., Bukkyo's Shiho Takechi  had the fastest time on the anchor stage for the second year in a row.  Takechi ran 47 seconds faster than the next-fastest ...

by Brett Larner Bolstered by an injection of seven transferring boys and three girls from Sendai Ikuei H.S.  to its already champion-level ekiden teams, Toyokawa H.S.  got the high school ekiden season off with a bang with wins in the both boys' and girls' races at the Nihonkai Ekiden in Kurayoshi on Sept. 30.  As Toyokawa's first major race with its full complement of transferred talent following a post-transfer suspension , the results spoke for themselves.  Toyokawa's boys started off in the lead, but after falling seven seconds behind rival Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.  on the 3 km Second Stage, transfer student Tadashi Isshiki , the anchor stage winner for Sendai Ikuei at last year's National High School Ekiden Championships, got Toyokawa back into the lead by three seconds on the 8.1075 km Third Stage.  Kenyan ringer Jeremiah Karemi  widened the lead by over a minute, and despite lukewarm runs on the remaining three stages Toyokawa won easily over Nish...

by Brett Larner Having been runner-up in the Fukuoka Prefecture Road Race Championships 10-miler twice, the popular Masato Imai (Team Toyota Kyushu) finally took the win in the 2012 edition, Sept. 30 in Omuta, Fukuoka. Despite tough conditions at the tail end of the passing typhoon that stuck Japan over the weekend, Imai outpaced teammates Ryuji Watanabe and Yuki Oshikawa over the latter stages of the race to win in 47:53, the second-fastest known time in the Championships' 66-year history behind only Beijing Olympics marathon gold medalist Samuel Wanjiru 's 46:18 course record from 2005 and the first Japanese man to break 48 minutes on the challenging Omuta course since 2003. As his best performance since his 2:10:32 PB at last year's Fukuoka International Marathon, Imai's run bodes well for the upcoming season and his bid to make the Moscow World Championships marathon team after missing out on London. 66th Fukuoka Prefecture Road Race Championships Omuta, F...

http://www.hokkaido-np.co.jp/news/sports/408197.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Kicking off the fall season on the streets of Hakodate, Hokkaido, the 2012 Hakodate Half Marathon took place on Sept. 30 starting at Chiyogadai Field.  The field limit this year doubled from 2000 to 4000 runners, and a record 3107 people from across the country started the race, an increase of 1300 over last year.  Despite pre-typhoon rain 3026 of the starters finished. This year marked Hakodate's 22nd year as a Rikuren-certified course.   Sumiko Suzuki  (26, Team Hokuren) ran 1:16:36 to take her second-straight title in the women's race, with Kenyan James Mwangi  (28, Team NTN) winning his first men's title in 1:04:10.