japan running news

by Brett Larner additional results coming shortly The 2016 road race reason got started early in Japan with at least four quality half marathons and one of the world's biggest marathons all happening Sunday.  Aritaka Kajiwara , a former teammate of Yuki Kawauchi 's on the Hakone Ekiden's Kanto Region Select Team who quit the Press Kogyo corporate team mid-fall to go independent, ran a 1:02:45 course record to win Tochigi's Takanezawa Half Marathon by a second over Kinari Ikeda , an alternate for last week's Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University who broke 1:03 for the first time.  Aoyama Gakuin first-year Homare Morita made a quality half marathon debut in 1:03:01 for 3rd, Ikeda and Morita reassuring Aoyama Gakuin that it has the depth to maintain a solid lineup after four of this year's winning members graduate in March. Further south in Oita, former course record holder Fumihiro Maruyama (Asahi Kasei) ran solo to repeat his 2010 Oita City Ha...

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/athletics/disillusioned-mara-yamauchi-would-no-longer-advise-young-runners-to-aim-for-hollow-olympics-a6803441.html

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/1589175.html translated by Brett Larner Only four years until retirement!?  After helping Aoyama Gakuin University win its second-straight Hakone Ekiden title last weekend, captain Daichi Kamino said that he plans to retire early after medalling in the marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.  On Jan. 7 Kamino took part in a celebration of Aoyama Gakuin's victory at its Aoyama campus.  Asked about his future plans as an athlete after moving on to the corporate leagues in April following his graduation, Kamino said, "I don't plan to do it for long."  Having wowed the nation with the university ekiden achievements that earned him the nickname, "Third God of the Mountain," the 22-year-old now aims to take a leading role in the marathon. Short and sweet.  The lean Kamino is crystal-clear when it comes to goal-setting.  "With regard to my career as an athlete, I don't plan to do it for long," he...

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20160104-00000008-mai-spo translated and edited by Brett Larner Having overcome serious illness, one runner has made a comeback to the top levels of the corporate leagues after almost three years away.  On Jan. 1 32-year-old Satoru Kasuya (Team Toyota Boshoku) ran the New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships having survived a diagnosis of malignant lymphoma blood cancer two and a half years ago.  At the New Year Ekiden he ran strongly on its longest stage, the 22.0 km Fourth Stage against other teams' best runners, saying, "I want people to know that you can still come back even after suffering a disease as serious as this." At Komazawa University Kasuya ran the Hakone Ekiden during his 2nd through 4th years in 2003-05.  In 2006 he joined the Toyota Boshoku team where he excelled as a star athlete.  But in June, 2013, he said, "Something starting to feel wrong, like the way you feel when you run when you ha...

http://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/1587591.html translated by Brett Larner On Jan. 4 Video Research Ltd. announced that the NTV broadcast of the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden attracted average viewship ratings of 28.0% on the first day of the race on Jan. 2 and 27.8% on the second day , Jan. 3.  In the Hakone Ekiden Aoyama Gakuin University unexpectedly led the entire way from the start to score its second-straight win.  Last year's ratings of 28.2% on Day One and 28.3% on Day Two were the highest average TV viewership ratings in the entire year.  This year's ratings were also high, but was Aoyama Gakuin's running simply too dominant?  It's possible that this may have been a reason for the slight decrease in ratings.

http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1032954/japanese-government-considering-adopting-anti-doping-law-ahead-of-tokyo-2020

http://www.germanroadraces.de/24-0-45011-92-hakone-ekiden-japan-am-23-januar.html German-language coverage of the Hakone Ekiden by Dr. Helmut Winter .

by Brett Larner photos by @rikujolove click here for Hakone Ekiden Day One report and results After leading the first day of Japan's biggest race the entire way, defending champion Aoyama Gakuin University did it again on the return trip to become the first school in 39 years to lead the Hakone Ekiden start to finish.  Starting the day with a margin of 3:04 over 2015 National University Ekiden champion Toyo University Aoyama Gakuin had some room for error over the 5-stage, 109.6 km Day Two race, but even so head coach Susumu Hara took a major gamble in putting unknown Yuji Onoda , a 1st-year with no university ekiden, half marathon or 10000 m credentials and a 5000 m best of only 14:15.70, onto the day's leading stage, the 20.8 Sixth Stage with 800 m of brutal descent.  In doing it he also showed why is the best current coach in Japan, as Onoda responded to the challenge by tying the course record in 58:31.  For Toyo to have a chance it needed to make up serio...