japan running news

The first Nittai University Time Trials meet of the season and the National Corporate Track and Field Championships delivered most of the weekend's pre-Doha World Championships action on the track. At Nittai, Australian Melissa Duncan (Shiseido) and Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) tuned up for Doha with a head-to-head race over 3000 m, Duncan taking it by 0.40 in a sprint finish with a 9:05.45. The men's 10000 m was reasonably quick, with newcomer Razini Lemeteki (Takushoku Univ.) running a PB of almost two minutes to lead the top three under 28 minutes in 27:51.91. But the most interesting result came in the women's 5000 m A-heat, where amateur club runners Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) and Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Kanto) went 1-2 in another sprint finish, outkicking 2016 Gold Coast Marathon winner Misato Horie (Noritz), 2:23 marathoner Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and every other corporate leaguer in the field to do it. Yamaguchi, who ran a PB of 2:33:09 last we...

【 #九州実業団毎日駅伝 】 スタートしました。 pic.twitter.com/p1rKSJ3Rjq — 九州実業団陸上競技連盟 (@krikujo1) November 23, 2017 For the second year in a row, the Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems corporate team edged defending national champion Asahi Kasei to win the 54th Kyushu Corporate Men's Ekiden Championships , the final qualifying race for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national championships. Fresh out of the blocks, London World Championships marathon team member Hiroto Inoue got Mitsubishi off to a good start with a win by 8 seconds over 2016 national XC champion Takashi Ichida of Asahi Kasei on the 12.4 km First Stage. Mitsubishi increased its lead over Asahi Kasei to 1:54 by the end of the Fourth Stage thanks to stage wins from 2nd and 4th men Enock Omwamba and Ryota Matono . Over the second half Asahi Kasei fought back with its 5th and 6th runners Shuho Dairokuno and Takuya Fukatsu winning their stages, Fukatsu breaking the Sixth Stage record by 11 seconds to put Asahi Kasei into the lea...

As ekiden season gets into full swing, track time trials continue to be a staple of Japanese and Japan-based athletes from junior high school to the corporate leagues. This weekend's main results from across the country: 15'35”31で世界ジュニアぶりの自己ベスト更新出来ました! 素直に、本当に嬉しい😂 2週間後の全日本駅伝まで更に調子を上げて頑張ります👊✨応援ありがとうございました☺︎ pic.twitter.com/SO9M1MPdeS — 加世田 梨花 (@rikaks3) October 15, 2017 Just six days after running 8:54.27 to win the National Sports Festival junior women's 3000 m, Nozomi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) won again, this time running a PB 15:32.34 to take the 5000 m A-heat at the Shizuoka Time Trials meet. Having led the national champion  Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuen H.S. girls to the win at last weekend's Kurayoshi Women's Ekiden , Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu won the 3000 m A-heat in 9:10.53. At Saturday's Chubu Jitsugyodan Autumn Championships , Rodgers Chumo Kemoi (Aisan Kogyo) ran 27:48.30 to win the men's 10000 m, leading James Rungaru (Chuo Ha...

by Brett Larner photos by @tetsujiman Yoshihide Kiryu/Toyo wins men's 100m in 10.19 +0.5 at National Univ Championships. pic.twitter.com/c7RkDHNyna — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) September 12, 2015 Fans and media were mostly plugged in for the first men's final of the second day of the Japanese National University Track and Field Championships Sept. 12 at Osaka's Yanmar Stadium Nagai, with sprint sensation Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) returning from injuries that kept him out of June's National Championships and August's World Championships to win the 100 m final in 10.19.  Kiryu claimed to be at only 80% fitness but had no trouble putting away his two strongest competitors, Kazuma Oseto (Hosei Univ.) and Takuya Nagata (Hosei Univ.), who were well back in 10.29 and 10.33.  Hours later Kiryu was back to run second on Toyo's 4x100 m, where he turned in another strong run to put Toyo into the lead before they ultimately fell back to 6th. Toyo a...

by Brett Larner Japan's major mid-summer distance series, the Hokuren Distance Challenge kicked off later than usual this week with meets in the towns of Shibetsu and Fukagawa on the northern island of Hokkaido, where distance runners from high school to pro head in the summer to escape the heat and put in mileage for the fall ekiden season. At the series-opening Shibetsu Meet, the biggest news came in the men's 5000 m A-heat.  Last December Fukushima 10th-grader Hyuga Endo (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) exploded into the news with a 13:58.93, the fastest-ever 5000 m by a Japanese 16-year-old.  Now an 11th-grader but still 16 for another month, in Shibetsu Endo smashed his own record with a 13:50.51 PB to finish just behind 2014 Asian Games marathon silver medalist Kohei Matsumura (Team Mitsubishi HPS), the 9th-best time ever by a Japanese high schooler and 2nd-best by an under-18 Japanese runner.  Hilsawat Mamiyo Nuguse (Ethiopia/Team Yasukawa Denki), a newcomer to the Ja...

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20150523-OHT1T50192.html translated by Brett Larner video by naoki620 With Yamanashi Gakuin University having scored a place in the Hakone Ekiden's seeded bracket for the first time in 3 years, on May 15 its star senior Enock Omwamba broke the 1500 m national collegiate record in winning the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships in 3:35.69, at the time the fastest mark in the world this year.  He became the first man in 78 years to win four-straight Kanto 1500 m titles, and returning to win the 5000 m two days later he scored his third-straight Kanto double.  Heading into his last year of university in good form, we sat down to talk to the enthusiastic Kenyan star. At Kanto Regionals you won your fourth-straight 1500 m title, and your time of 3:35.69 was the fastest in the world this year as well as big improvement on your 3:38.78 PB.  Tell us about your race. Omwamba : When I started warming up I could tell ...

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620 and JRN A day after becoming the first man in 78 years to win four-straight Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships 1500 m titles, Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) added another title to his collection, winning a third-straight 5000 m in 13:35.35.  Omwamba and 1500 m runner-up Patrick Wambui (Nihon Univ.) went out front from the start, initially with some company from Japanese athletes but soon on their own.  Wambui made it a good race, at one point going to the front and knocking Omwamba back to 5th, but in the last km he was no match as Omwamba kicked away to win by just over 2 seconds.  Hiroki Matsueda (Juntendo Univ.) was an unexpected 3rd in 13:52.08, just holding off 30 km national collegiate record holder Yuma Hattori (Toyo Univ.). After winning the D2 10000 m Thursday night with a solid 59-second final lap, Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) did it again in the D2 5000 m with a 2:32 last 1000...

by Brett Larner video by naoki620 Senior Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) brought the biggest news of the second day of the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships at Yokohama's Nissan Stadium, winning his fourth-straight D1 Kanto 1500 m title in a national collegiate record 3:35.69.  Omwamba simply outclassed the field, runner-up Patrick Wambui (Nihon Univ.) more than 5 seconds back in 3:41.13 and top Japanese finisher Mitsutaka Tomita (Tokai Univ.) 3rd in 3:47.20.  The fastest time by a Japanese runner actually came in the D2 1500 m final, where Hiroya Inoue (Jobu Univ.) took 0.1 off marathon great Daniel Njenga 's meet record with his 3:45.47 win. Alongside Omwamba, Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) likewise pulled off a successful title defense in the women's 10000 m, winning for the second year in a row in 33:32.94 by almost 4 seconds over teammate Fuyuka Kimura .  Another Daito Bunka runner, Rina Koeda , won the women's 1500 m i...

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/20150504-OYT1T50009.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Aiming for its first seeded bracket finish in three years at January's Hakone Ekiden, Yamanashi Gakuin University 's track and field team welcomed the tenth Kenyan student athlete in the program's history, Dominic Nyairo , 18, at the start of the new academic year in April.  At a time trial meet on April 25 Nyairo broke 29 minutes for 10000 m, a time that puts him on the same level as the upper tier of athletes who run the Hakone Ekiden.  YGU head coach Kiyoshi Ueda is optimistic about Nyairo's prospects, saying, "he is highly adaptable." Nyairo is 1 m 67 cm tall and weighs 48.5 kg.  Like the student athletes who preceded him at YGU, he comes from western Kenya.  After his arrival on April 11 he enrolled as a first-year in YGU's Faculty of Modern Business.  Because Nyairo can not yet speak Japanese, Ueda is coaching him in English. Having a Kenyan on...

by Brett Larner follow @JRNLive for live coverage of the 2015 Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2 and 3 If you've never seen the Hakone Ekiden it's hard to really understand what you're missing.  It's what the sport of running should be.  Utterly gripping, pure and dedicated racing from 21 teams of ten university men each totally focused on running to their absolute limit on their share of the ten-stage, 217.1 km road relay.  A live broadcast that skillfully brings every nuance of the format, the strategy involved in the team order, the multiple story lines and races-within-races instead of just whoever is in front, to the tens of millions of avid fans across the country who watch every year.  Every runner counts, every runner gets his screen time, his moment of recognition for giving his best.  To give anything less would be to sacrifice everyone else's gifts.  One for all, all for one. Komazawa University comes to the 91st running of Japan's biggest sporti...

by Brett Larner 2014 was a mixed year for Japanese distance running.  Most of the good came from the under-25 generation that will be at its peak at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.  More than a dozen high school boys including one 16-year-old broke 14 minutes for 5000 m, and at least four high school girls ran 9:01 or better for 3000 m, one winning Youth Olympics gold while doing it.  A 19-year-old woman ran an under-20 Japanese record 2:27:12 , and a 22-year-old set a collegiate national record of 2:26:46 .  Another 22-year-old went under 9 minutes for 3000 m.  Japanese university men ran times from 3:39.56 for 1500 m to 1:00:50 for the half marathon to an incredible 1:28:52 collegiate national record for 30 km by a runner just turned 20.  A 23-year-old set a 3000 m NR of 7:40.09 , and a 24-year-old ran the fastest 10000 m ever by a Japanese man on Japanese soil , 27:38.99.  Among older runners ten Japanese men broke 2:10 for the marathon a total of ...

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620 After hammering each other to rare Japanese collegiate sub-3:40 PBs to go 1-2 in last month's National University Track & Field Championships 1500 m, defending Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai 20 km winner Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) and last year's top Japanese finisher Kota Murayama (Josai University) were back at it to turn this year's race into a two-man show. The qualifying race for the second tier of schools trying to make it into the Hakone Ekiden, Japan's most prestigious race, the Yosenkai is the world's biggest and most competitive 20 km .  Kenyan Omwamba won last year in 57:57, with Murayama 4th overall in 59:17.  This time Omwamba took things out fast enough, leading a front group including Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) and first-year Kenyans Stanley Siteki (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) and Lazarus Motanya (Obirin Univ.) through a 2:50 km as Murayama sat a stride or two back at the front of the 2nd...