japan running news

by Brett Larner Japan-based Kenyans Rosemary Wanjiru (Team Starts) and Paul Kamais (Team Chugoku Denryoku) scored tight wins to take the Grand Prix 5000 m titles at the 50th Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet at Hiroshima's Edion Stadium on Saturday.  Wanjiru, a graduate of Aomori Yamada H.S. , led start to finish in the women's race, taking it out at 15:20 pace and closing in 2:58 to beat teammate Grace Kimanzi by just over a second.  Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), already the fastest Japanese woman so far this year for 10000 m, delivered the fastest 5000 m, 15:37.21, to take the top Japanese spot in 5th. Kamais, a brand-new graduate of Hiroshima's local National High School Boys Ekiden course record-setter Sera H.S. , alternated the lead with two-time World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko) throughout the men's race before closing in 2:33 for the win.  Shuho Dairokuno (Team Asahi Kasei) was the top Japanese finisher in 13:31.5...

by Brett Larner The 4th-place finish by Volha Mazuronak of Belarus at last weekend's London Marathon turned heads around the world.  Her time of 2:23:54 may become a national record pending the annulment of times run by Belarussian Alexsandra Duliba following January's announcement of Duliba's suspension on biological passport violations.  New York Road Runners professional athlete consultant David Monti was quick to point out Mazuronak's splits , a 1:13:19 first half, 1:10:35 second half and 7:08 for the final 2.195 km split from 40 km to the finish, the fastest closing split in the London women's field and on a par with or better than the 6th through 10th-place men there.  Mara Yamauchi , the second-fastest British woman ever in the marathon, wrote an analysis noting the similarity between Mazuronak's splits and those in a 2012 JRN analysis of performances by Eastern European women represented by Russian Andrey Baranov and his Spartanik agency. B...

Hakodate, Hokkaido, 6/26/16 click here for complete field listing times listed are 2013-16 bests except where noted Women Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) - 1:10:04 (Berlin 2014) Asami Kato (Panasonic) - 1:10:21 (Philadelphia 2013) Hiroko Miyauchi (Hokuren) - 1:10:27 (Sanyo 2015) Yuko Mizuguchi (Denso) - 1:11:03 (Marugame 2015) Yukiko Okuno (Shiseido) - 1:11:28 (Matsue 2015) Kaori Yoshida (Runners Pulse) - 1:13:04 (Nerima 2016) Men Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta) - 1:02:17 (Marugame 2013) Yuya Ito (Toyota) - 1:02:21 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2014) Michael Githae (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:02:27 (Gifu 2015) Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:02:55 (Ageo 2014) Masaki Takamoto (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:03:10 (Marugame 2015) Yu Chiba (Honda) - 1:03:12 (Ageo 2013) Yuya Kato (Teikyo Uiv.) - 1:03:54 (Marugame 2016) Shota Saito (JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:03:58 (Marugame 2014) © 2016 Brett Larner all rights reserved

Gifu, 5/15/16 click here for complete field listing times listed are 2013-2016 bests except where noted Women Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) - 1:08:06 (Marugame 2016) Rebecca Kangogo Chesir (Kenya) - 1:08:21 (Milan 2015) Betelhem Moges (Ethiopia) - 1:09:23 (Olomouc 2014) Visiline Jepkesho (Kenya) - 1:09:43 (Adana 2016) Yuka Ando (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:09:51 (Sanyo 2015) Sayo Nomura (Japan/Daiichi Seimei) - 1:10:03 (Sanyo 2013) Kayoko Fukushi (Japan/Wacoal) - 1:10:04 (Berlin 2014) Lauren Kleppin (U.S.A.) - 1:10:16 (Copenhagen 2014) Eri Makikawa (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:10:27 (Marugame 2014) Mao Kiyota (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:10:31 (Valencia 2015) Bornes Jepkirui (Kenya) - 1:10:32 (Azpeitia 2014) Men Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA) - 59:14 (Copenhagen 2015) Paul Kuira (Kenya/Konica Minolta) - 59:47 (Marugame 2015) Kenneth Keter (Kenya) - 59:48 (Venlo 2016) Martin Mathathi (Kenya) - 1:00:11 (Marugame 2014) James Rungaru (Kenya/Chuo Hatsujo) - 1:00:12 (Nice ...

https://medium.com/@joshuatopolsky/your-media-business-will-not-be-saved-1b0716b5010c#.jds9z59vq Not running or Japan-related, but a good read that expresses some of the same philosophy by which JRN has always operated.

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20160426-OHT1T50059.html translated by Brett Larner Civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), age 29, returned to Tokyo's Narita Airport on April 26 after winning Sunday's Zurich Marathon in 2:12:04 in snowy conditions .  At the same time that Kawauchi was racing in Zurich, corporate league star Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) also age 29, ran the London Marathon, finishing 11th in 2:12:14.  Pre-race Kawauchi had said, "There's no way I'm going to lose to him," and having lived up to his words he was very pleased with the outcome of the 'Yuki Showdown.'  "I beat [Sato] on time, and with worse [weather] conditions in Zurich I win on racing too." Having missed the Rio Olympic team, Kawauchi's major goal now is the 2017 London World Championships, what he considers now will be his last time going for a place on a national team.  Kawauchi is focusing on December's Fukuok...

by Brett Larner James Mwangi 's 27:23.24 10000 m world leading time on day one of the Hyogo Relay Carnival lasted less than 24 hours as two-time World Championships bronze medalist Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko) held off an Ethiopian challenge from Mamiyo Nuguse (Team Yasukawa Denki) to win Hyogo's day two Grand Prix 10000 m in a new world leader of 27:22.28.  Tanui led the entire way from a 2:42 opening 1000 m to the finish, Nuguse waiting to kick in true Ethiopian style but coming up short in 27:24.85 for 2nd.  2016 National cross-country champion Takashi Ichida (Team Asahi Kasei) outran a heavyweight domestic field to take the top Japanese spot, running 28:22.57 for 5th. Felista Wanjugu (Team Univ. Ent.) took the women's Grand Prix 10000 m in 32:11.68, running behind Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu) through 9000 m before kicking away for the win.  Ando was 2nd in 32:16.34, well ahead of a Japanese trio including marathoner Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya). Japan-based Afr...

by Brett Larner Despite wintry conditions, Yuki Kawauchi shaved 9 seconds off his last year's time to win today's @zurichmarathon ! pic.twitter.com/35Zj5spg0O — Chris Godfrey (@runningbydoing) April 24, 2016 Overcoming tough conditions that saw 19 of the 35 elite athletes in the combined men's and women's elite fields drop out, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) led almost start to finish to score his first-ever European win at Sunday's Zurich Marathon .  With snow starting just before the race began and peaking out with 1 cm accumulation 40 minutes in Kawauchi, 2nd last year in 2:12:13 and running again with support from JRN, pushed it from the gun in hopes of a sub-2:10 win.  Pacer Edwin Kiprop Korir (Kenya), tasked with taking the race out on track for 2:09:24, slipped on a corner at 3 km and twisted his ankle, holding on through 5 km before falling behind and leaving Kawauchi to do the heavy lifting. Followed closely by Ethiopians Abere Belay a...