japan running news

The Kobe Marathon happens Nov. 16 with a tweaked course that cuts out the unpopular bridge out to the finish, a change organizers are touting as making it a way faster course. There are some pretty good quality African athletes in the field, with top 2 men Abay Alemu and Elisha Rotich both in the 2:06:50 range in races last year, Alemu with a 2:06:50 for 2nd in Wuxi and Rotich 2:06:54 for 3rd in Paris, and Jackline Chelal dominating the women's field with a 2:20:29 win in Seville in 2023. Kobe is a shortcut for qualification for the MGC Race L.A. Olympic marathon trials, with one spot available to the top Japanese man if under 2:09:00 and the top Japanese woman if under 2:27:00. Only one athlete who looks capable of doing that has taken the bait, Masato Arao doubling back from a 2:07:42 for 6th at August's Sydney Marathon, a breakthrough run that wasn't enough for the JAAF to deign to let him into the Olympic trials. Yuma Morii , Hiromasa Kumahashi and Akihiro Kaneko ...

After dropping out of a shot at the world record at last month's Shibamata 100 km , 2022 World Championships silver medalist Jumpei Yamaguchi (Eldoreso) was back to give it another go at Sunday's Lake Saroma 100 km Ultramarathon in Hokkaido. Running into a 1~2 m/s headwind for much of the race, Yamaguchi started fast, splitting 35:55 at 10 km, just on track for sub-6 hours. '22 gold medalist and Shibamata winner Haruki Okayama (Comodi Iida), two-time world champ Hideaki Yamauchi (Hamamatsu Hotniks), 2017 Lake Saroma winner Tatsuya Itagaki (Tokinosumika) and others went with him, but by 30 km it was down to just Yamauchi, Itagaki and Okayama in 1:47:48. After hitting the marathon point in 2:31:39, still sub-6 pace, Okayama fell off and ultimately dropped out. Itagaki stayed with Yamaguchi until 60 km in 3:37:09 before letting go. As the temperature hit 20˚ under cloudless skies and climbed on to 22˚ Yamaguchi's 10 km splits slowed into the 37-minute range, and the m...

The fastest Japanese man inside the qualifying window for October's MGC Race Olympic marathon trials not to have hit any of the qualifying criteria, Kento Nishi (Osaka Gas) got it done with a 2:10:01 win at the Nagano Marathon less than two months after his 2:08:11 PB at February's Osaka Marathon. Nishi, Kensuke Horio (Kyudenko) and Kenji Yamamoto (Mazda) all needed to run in the mid-2:11 range to qualify via the two-race sub-2:10 average route, and when 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Michael Githae (Suzuki) took the race out on mid-2:10 pace it was exactly what they could have hoped for. Githae did all the work as others in range of qualifying like Reo Kuniyuki (Otsuka Seiyaku), Shogo Kanezane (Chugoku Denryoku) and Daisuke Hosomori (YKK) dropped off the lead pack. A surge from Horio after halfway cut the lead group down to just Githae, the three qualifying hopefuls, and Yamamoto's teammate Shun Sadakata (Mazda), and it stayed that way until Githae attack...