japan running news

by Brett Larner Entry lists are out for the 99th Japanese National Track and Field Championship s, June 26-28 in Niigata, doubling this year as the main selection event for the Japanese team for the 2015 Beijing World Championships.  Highlights of distance event entries are below.  Both the men's and women's 10000 m look set to be exceptionally good races.  Look for a detailed preview and explanation of the Worlds team selection criteria next week. 99th National Track and Field Championships Niigata, June 26-28, 2015 click here for complete entry lists Men's 10000 m William Malel (Kenya/Honda) - 27:25.56 Yuki Sato (Nissin Shokuhin) - 27:38.25 Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) - 27:38.31 Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) - 27:38.99 Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 27:39.95 Chihiro Miyawaki (Toyota) - 27:41.57 Yuta Shitara (Honda) - 27:42.71 Akinobu Murasawa (Nissin Shokuhin) - 27:50.59 Keita Shitara (Konica Minolta) - 27:51.54 Yuki Matsuoka (Otsuka Seiyaku) ...

by Brett Larner Following up last week's Cork City Sports meet in Ireland that saw a sizeable group of mostly collegiate Japanese women in the 3000 m, Japanese men got started on their annual European track junket at meets in the Netherlands and Belgium.  2014 Waseda University graduate Suguru Osako (Team Nissin Shokuhin) was due to run the two mile at the Diamond League Glasgow meet, but with the cancellation of that distance he instead headed to the Netherlands' Runnersworld Track Meeting , where he ran 8:02.11 for 2nd in the 3000 m as a tuneup for next weekend's KBC Nacht meet in Belgium, where he and rival Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) will run 5000 m. Also tuning up for the KBC Nacht was a large group of young corporate league runners and 2014 Asian Games track team member Kota Murayama (Josai Univ.) in the 1500 m at Belgium's Guldensporenmeeting .  Led by former Japanese university 10000 m record holder Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei), 2nd overal...

by Brett Larner Alongside Bedan Karoki 's Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon course record , Murayama twins Kenta and Kota 's Kanto Regional University Championships 10000 m double victory and Yoshihide Kiryu 's 10.05 national university record , four of the six regional corporate leagues held their track and field championships over the weekend.  Moscow World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) fronted the corporate regionals' best race with a world-leading 27:16.75 to win the Kyushu region  men's 10000 m over the Koichi Morishita -coached Kenyan Jeremiah Karemi  (Team Toyota Kyushu), 2nd in 27:41.81, and Ethiopian Melaku Abera  (Team Kurosaki Harima), 3rd in 27:42.35. Four of the eight Japanese men to have run sub-2:10 marathons so far this year were also in the race,  Masato Imai  (Team Toyota Kyushu), 2nd in 2:09:30 at February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, topping the group 5th overall in 28:34.75.   Kohei Matsu...

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 photo by Kazuyuki Sugimatsu click here for Hakone Ekiden Day One report and results Before 2009 Toyo University  had only finished in the top three once in the history of Japan's biggest sporting event, the Jan. 2-3  Hakone Ekiden university men's road relay championships, all the way back in 1960.  In Hakone's 85th anniversary running in 2009, the tens of millions of fans who watch Hakone live on TV and along its ten-stage, 217.9 km course were witness to the birth of a legend as Toyo first-year Ryuji Kashiwabara singlehandly lifted the team to the winner's podium for the first time with a stunning course record on Hakone's most celebrated stage, the 23.4 km Fifth Stage with nearly 900 m of climb.  With Kashiwabara Toyo was almost untouchable at Hakone; he won the Fifth Stage all four years at Toyo and set stage records on it in three of them.  Every time he broke the record, Toyo took the overall win, transforming themselves from the l...

by Brett Larner click here for a collection of 2013 Hakone Ekiden photos courtesy of jiji.com click here for video highlights courtesy of NTV Riding the momentum of its Day One win , Nittai University ran unchallenged throughout the second day of the 2013 Hakone Ekiden to take its first overall Hakone title in 30 years, crossing the line in 11:13:26 with a lead of nearly five minutes over defending champion Toyo University . Nittai, winners of October’s Yosenkai qualifier after finishing a miserable 19th at Hakone last year, became the first team in Hakone’s 89-year history to go from the qualifier to the overall win. With its last winning team in 1983 having included future marathon world champion Hiromi Taniguchi in its lineup, Nittai’s return to the top took on special symbolic significance. Nittai’s Yusuke Suzuki made a crucial contribution to the team’s success as he started the day off on the net 750 m downhill Sixth Stage, running well in his Hakone debut to prevent...