japan running news

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20140512-1299913.html translated and edited by Brett Larner On May 12, representatives of Shiseido announced that 2009 World Championships women's marathon 7th-placer Yuri Kano  (35) will retire, leaving both the Shiseido team and company on May 31.  Following her departure she plans to be involved in outreach activities.  "I'd still like to be able to take part in marathons at my own pace," she said. A native of Hyogo prefecture, Kano left the Second Wind AC team in 2011 to return to Shiseido, from which Second Wind had separated several years previously.  After her return, however, she was hit with repeated injuries and setbacks.  The May 11 Sendai International Half Marathon, where she finished 6th in 1:16:16, was her final race.

by Brett Larner Organizers announced that 17,000 fans turned out on a spectacular spring day for the final track and field meet at Tokyo's 1964 Olympics National Stadium, Sunday's Golden Grand Prix Tokyo . Many were there to relive memories of Abebe and Tsuburaya, of Taniguchi and Yamashita's 1991 World Championships medals, and of Seko, Takahashi and Noguchi's wins at the old Tokyo International Marathon, but there's no question that the main draw was the meet-closing men's 100 m featuring Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) up against the likes of Justin Gatlin (U.S.A.), Christophe Lemaitre (France) and Mike Rodgers (U.S.A.). Strong winds precluded fast times as multiple medalist Gatlin duly took 1st in 10.02 (-3.5) over Rodgers and Lemaitre. Kiryu was just 5th in 10.46, but fans seemed happy to see him in action regardless of the outcome. Along the way they were treated to a great men's high jump that saw Moscow World Championships gold medalist M...

by Brett Larner 2012 Sendai International Half Marathon  winner Johana Maina  (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) returned to the top at this year's race, outrunning last year's winner Mekubo Mogusu  (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) and all Japanese competition for a second Sendai title.  Mogusu took the race out hard, leading Maina through 5 km before losing touch.  From there it was a one-man show as Maina soloed his way to the win in 1:01:43.  2013 Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon winner Hiroaki Sano  (Team Honda), the lone Japanese man to go in pursuit of the two Kenyans, ran down Mogusu for 2nd in 1:02:40, a PB by nearly 45 seconds. Mogusu barely held on to 3rd in 1:03:19, with Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't) in close pursuit on the final lap of the track.  Kawauchi, running just a week after his 2:09:36 season best at the Hamburg Marathon, did his best to catch Mogusu but came up just short in 1:03:23 for 4th, the fastest of his eight half marat...

by Brett Larner photo by a_yamako videos by Ekiden News Perfect conditions brought fast times at one of the best distance meets on the Japanese spring calendar, Saturday's Golden Games in Nobeoka.  With a focus on 5000 m, almost every heat saw four out of the top five run PBs.  Kenya Pauline Kamulu  (Team Toto) soloed her way to a one-second best of 15:29.55 in the women's 5000 m A-heat, with runner-up  Miho Shimizu  (Team Hokuren) in 15:36.03 leading three Japanese women to PBs under 15:40. Newcomers Bernard Kimani  (Team Yakult) and James Mwangi  (Team NTN) continued their climb up the ranks of the Japan-based Africans, beating World XC junior silver medalist Leonard Barsoton  (Team Nissin Shokuhin) in PBs of 13:14.64 and 13:16.06 with Barsoton 3rd in 13:21.44 in the men's 5000 m C-heat.  The lone Japanese man in the heat, 2014 World Half Marathon team member Masato Kikuchi  (Team Konica Minolta), ran 13:35.18 for 6th, yet anot...

by Brett Larner With track season well under way there's a shortage of domestic road action this month.  Formerly Japan's main May half marathon, the Sendai International Half Marathon 's stock has fallen in recent years against the rise of the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon a week later but still features a good men's field including marathoners Arata Fujiwara  (Miki House),  Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't) and Kazuhiro Maeda  (Team Kyudenko), Japan-based Kenyans Joseph Gitau  (Team JFE Steel),  Johana Maina  (Team Fujitsu) and Mekubo Mogusu  (Team Nissin Shokuhin), former Hakone Ekiden stars Kenta Chiba  (Team Fujitsu),  Takehiro Deki  (Team Chugoku Denryoku) and Ryuji Kashiwabara  (Team Fujitsu) and more.  The women's field is thinner, with veterans Yuri Kano  (Team Shiseido),  Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) and Yukari Sahaku  (Team Univ. Ent.) going up against young talents Ayaka Hitomi  (Team Shi...

http://www.runnersworld.com/races/yuki-kawauchi-runs-seventh-sub-210-marathon?cm_mmc=Facebook-_-RunningTimes-_-Content-Races-_-YukiKawauchiQA

Stanford, CA, U.S.A., 5/4/14 click here for complete results Men's 10000 m Section 1 1. Juan Luis Barrios (Mexico) - 27:34.40 2. Cam Levins (Canada) - 27:36.00 3. Bashir Abdi (Belgium) - 27:36.40 4. Daniel Meucci (Italy) - 27:36.53 5. Shadrack Kipchirchir (Kenya/Oklahome State Univ.) - 27:36.79 ----- 8. Yuki Sato (Japan/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 27:46.69 12. Zewdie Miliyon (Kenya/Team Yachiyo Kogyo) - 28:04.64 13. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Japan/Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:05.67 Women's 10000 m 1. Sally Kipyego (Kenya) - 30:42.26 2. Molly Huddle (U.S.A.) - 30:47.59 3. Betsy Saina (Kenya) - 30:57.30 4. Jordan Hassay (U.S.A.) - 31:39.67 5. Julia Bleasdale (GBR) - 31:42.02 ----- 7. Doricah Obare (Kenya/Team Hitachi) - 31:45.24 9. Kasumi Nishihara (Japan/Team Yamada Denki) - 32:09.84 10. Kotomi Takayama (Japan/Team Sysmex) - 32:15.20 11. Miho Ihara (Japan/Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:15.42 21. Mao Kuroda (Japan/Team Wacoal) - 32:41.92 30. Misaki Kato (Japan/Team Kyudenko) ...

by Brett Larner Despite gusty winds and intermittent rain the Haspa Hamburg Marathon saw fast times all around, particularly on the men's side where Ethiopian-born Shumi Dechasa  (Bahrain) negative-splitted a PB 2:06:44 for the win over pre-race favorite Eric Ndiema (Kenya). Through halfway in 1:03:32, Dechasa and Ndiema were alone and side-by-side by 35 km before Dechasa threw down and opened a 17-second gap for the win. First-timer Philemon Rono  (Kenya) was another 7 seconds back in 2:07:08, a solid debut to get onto the podium. Further back, Japan's Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't), appearing with support from JRN, ran a rare time trial performance, sticking close to dedicated pacer Wilfred Kigen  (Kenya) on track to just break 2:09 in a bid both to deal with the jet lag issues that have so far troubled his international racing and, if successful, to surpass national record holder Toshinari Takaoka  and become the first Japanese man to clear ...