japan running news

As regional corporate track meets wound themselves down, the weekend's biggest results came at the Golden Grand Prix meet in Osaka. A quick women's 3000 m saw 10 of the 11 starters go under 9 minutes, six in PB times. Japan-based Ethiopian Shuru Bulo (Toto) led the way in 8:47.24, with the Pre Classic-bound Rina Nabeshima (Japan Post) running 8:51.72 to land 4th both overall and on the Japanese all-time rankings. First-year Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (Meijo Univ.) ran 8:58.63 for 8th overall, just missing the 1994-era national collegiate record by 0.31 seconds. The men's 3000 m was also solid, with seven men breaking 8 minutes, six of them Japanese and five in PB times. Kenyan Evans Keitany (Toyota Boshoku) won in 7:54.05 with Hazuma Hattori (Toenec) just behind in a best of 7:54.73. Shota Onizuka (Tokai Univ.) broke into the all-time Japanese collegiate top ten, running 7:57.56 for 6th. Australian Ryan Gregson won the men's 1500 m in 3:37.72 over American Pa...

by Brett Larner 2011 World Cross Country silver medalist Paul Tanui  (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) delivered the biggest run of a weekend of regional corporate track and field championships, setting a meet record at the Kyushu region championships 10000 m in a world-leading 27:21.50. His teammate Sally Chepyego  (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) likewise brought her best with a meet record 15:17.47 in the women's 5000 m.  Moscow World Championships marathon team members Kazuhiro Maeda  (Team Kyudenko) and Kentaro Nakamoto  (Team Yasukawa Denki) both ran well behind Tanui to go sub-29, Nakamoto for only the second time in his career. Less than an hour after Tanui's world leading run, London Olympics 10000 m 5th-place Bedan Karoki  (Kenya/DeNA RC) flashed the flamboyant colors of the new DeNA uniform to win the East Japan region 10000 m in 27:30.65, the fastest time in the world this year behind Tanui.  Ethiopian Asmeraw Mengistu  (Team Honda), hired as the Honda ...

by Brett Larner Alongside the Fukuoka International Marathon , Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu hosted another major road race on Sunday, the Kumamoto Kosa 10 Mile Road Race.   The world's most competitive 10-miler by a wide margin , Kosa plays an important role for the coaches of Japan's corporate teams in helping them refine their lineups for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships.  Kosa has long been dominated by Martin Mathathi  (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), who has won six times since 2003 and holds the course record of 44:51 but opted for a marathon debut in Fukuoka this year.  Despite the advantages of having Africans in the race to keep things fast among the predominantly Japanese field Kosa employs a strange format with any non-Japanese entrants segregated together in an "International Division" and given a one-minute head start.  The winner of the all-Japanese division is typically reported as the winner by the ...

text and Kanto video by Brett Larner Hachioji video by B1853264 Two major time trial meets focusing on the men's 10000 m took place in Tokyo Nov. 24, the pro-oriented Hachioji Long Distance Time Trials meet in Tokyo's western suburbs, and the Kanto Region University Long Distance Time Trials meet at the National Stadium. The focus in the A-heat in Hachioji was on the 2013 World Championships A and B qualifying times of 27:40.00 and 28:05.00.  With impeccable pacing from Bitan Karoki (Kenya/Team S&B) in 14:00 through 5000 m, former Jobu University ace Yusuke Hasegawa (Team S&B), 2011 year-leader Tsuyoshi Ugachi  (Team Konica Minolta) and Kenyans Patrick Mwaka  (Team Aisan Kogyo) and  Alex Mwangi  (Team YKK) cleared the B-standard, Hasegawa going sub-60 on his final lap to deliver a 15-second PB of 27:50.64.  With outstanding conditions four other men in the top ten ran PBs of 20 to 45 seconds, led by 2012 Waseda University graduate Yusuke Mi...

by Brett Larner Somewhat usually, all of Japan's major track action this weekend took place on Saturday.  The biggest meet of the day was the first in the Hokuren Distance Challenge series, held in Shibetsu, Hokkaido.  London Olympics men's marathon team member Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) made news by running both the A and B heats of the men's 10000 m with less than six minutes in between.  Fujiwara won the B-heat in 29:08.00, then ran 29:00.98 in the A-heat where he placed 5th.  With new half marathon and marathon PBs of 1:01:34 and 2:07:48 behind him earlier this year, Fujiwara's three-year-old 10000 m PB of 28:41.05 is no doubt up for renewal whenever he wants it.  Fujiwara will run next weekend's Sapporo International Half Marathon as another tuneup for the London Olympics. Kenyan Alex Mwangi  (Team YKK) won the 10000 m A-heat in 28:12.47 over 2011 World Championships marathoner Yoshinori Oda  (Team Toyota), who took the runner-up position ...

by Brett Larner In addition to the big Golden Games in Nobeoka and the Kanto and Kansai Regional University Track & Field Championships, several regional corporate championship meets also saw noteworthy results over the weekend. At the Chugoku Jitsugyodan Championships in Hiroshima, former Sera H.S. ace Charles Ndirangu  (Team JFE Steel) continued his unbeaten streak in his second pro race, scoring his tenth-straight win by winning the 5000 m in 13:42.00 by a margin of over 18 seconds.  Team Tenmaya runners made up the majority of the field in the women's 5000 m, with young Akari Ota  winning in 16:05.99.  Tenmaya's former great Yurika Nakamura continued her apparent downward spiral, 15th in 17:47.93. Almost on a par with Ndirangu's performance was that of year-leading half-marathoner Chihiro Miyawaki  (Team Toyota), who beat a pack of Kenyans including 2011 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Samuel Ndungu  (Team Aichi Seiko) to set a meet rec...

by Brett Larner Video courtesy of Julie Setagaya . The A-heat begins at 1:23:25 with the bell lap at 1:50:10. The latest in a series of track time trials this fall to help Japanese men reach the Olympic 10000 m A-standard of 27:45.00 before the spring season, the Nov. 26 Hachioji Long Distance time trials meet in Tokyo's western suburbs saw a small piece of history as Tsuyoshi Ugachi  (Team Konica Minolta) ran 27:40.69 to break Yu Mitsuya 's record for the fastest 10000 m ever run by a Japanese man on Japanese soil.  Like Mitsuya, who was paced through his record run by teammate and Sendai Ikuei H.S. grad  Samuel Wanjiru  (Team Toyota Kyushu), Ugachi was paced by Kenyan teammate Paul Kuira , also a Sendai Ikuei alumnus, who finished together with Ugachi in a new PB of 27:40.60.  The surprise came a few steps behind them, where 20-year-old Chihiro Miyawaki  (Team Toyota), on a sharp improvement curve throughout the year, took 20 seconds off his own PB ...

by Brett Larner A week out from the National University Ekiden Championships, the Kanto region men's scene became even more complicated as Izumo Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University, already holding ten men with sub-14 PBs for 5000 m, six of them with 10000 m bests under 29 minutes, added another name to its top ranks.  Junior Toshiaki Nishizawa  took nearly a minute off his 10000 m PB as he finished 13th in the Nittai Univ. Time Trials 10000 m A-heat in 28:51.05 to give Komazawa crucial depth beyond the ten men necessary for January's Hakone Ekiden.  Nishizawa's step up puts further pressure on defending national and Hakone champ Waseda University  and on this year's Izumo winner Toyo University . The injury-plagued Waseda's chances did take a turn for the better as sub-29 senior Takuya Nakayama , son of former 10000 m and marathon national record holder Takeyuki Nakayama , returned to competition after sitting out most of his sophomore and junior years.  N...

by Brett Larner The first meet of the 2011 Hokuren Distance Challenge series took place June 19 in Kitami, Hokkaido. With cooler than usual temperatures 2006 world 10000 m junior champion and 2008 world junior XC champion Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) delivered the biggest result of the evening, a solo 27:09.02 nearly a minute ahead of runner-up Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK). Jeilan's time was the third-fastest of the year by an Ethiopian, putting him into consideration for the Ethiopian team for August's Daegu World Championships. In 5th, third-year Yuki Maeda (Waseda Univ.), whose excellent run on the first day of this year's Hakone Ekiden was instrumental in keeping Waseda in contention for the win, became the latest Waseda runner to break 29 minutes as he clocked a PB of 28:54.34. Ten men on the roster of Waseda's 2010-2011 squad held PBs under 29 minutes. In the women's 5000 m, 2011 East Japan Corporate T&F 10000 m champion Hiroko Shoi (Team ...