japan running news

by Brett Larner One for the ages. Mungara over Kawauchi 2:09:00 to 2:09:01 at @GCMarathon . #GCAM16 pic.twitter.com/CK1yFlTsD1 — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) July 3, 2016 In the men's marathon, 2 past Gold Coast Airport Marathon winners, 40+ world record holder Kenneth Mungara of Kenya and, just 2 weeks after a 50 km national record , Japan's indefatigable Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), head to head for the last 12 km of the race.  Kawauchi, with big plans for the fall, from the gun up front behind the pacers, never relenting on his front line position.  Mungara, crafty, holding back in the pack of 11, holding back until Kawauchi set off in pursuit of a breakaway pacer just before 30 km.  30 km, unusually early for the always fast-closing Kawauchi to go to the front.  Anyone else and Mungara, top 3 in 5 of his last 6 races including 3 wins and multiple resettings of his own 40+ WR, might have let it go.  But a champ recognizes a champ. ...

http://www.iaaf.org/Mini/LRR12/News/NewsDetail.aspx?id=63475 To Ken Nakamura's preview of Sunday's 66th Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon I would add mention of sub-28 World Championships 10000 m runner Yuki Iwai  (Team Asahi Kasei) tuning up for his marathon debut at the Tokyo Marathon after a good New Year Ekiden run, and the crop of top Hakone Ekiden university runners in the field.   Keita Shitara  (Toyo Univ.) is the most worth watching, making his official half marathon debut after having run 1:08:04 on the 23.2 km Second Stage at Hakone, equivalent to a 1:01:54 half marathon at a flat conversion.  Last year's #2 Japanese half marathoner, Hiromitsu Kakuage  (Komazawa Univ.) returns along with his teammate, Hakone Ekiden Ninth Stage winner Shinobu Kubota ,, whose 1:09:04 clocking for 23.2 km at Hakone suggests mid-62 capability.  Waseda University's strong Shuhei Yamamoto and Hiroyuki Sasaki  are scheduled to make their half maratho...

by Brett Larner Waseda University head coach Yasuyuki Watanabe has finally got it together. Weeks after Waseda's course record win at the Izumo Ekiden, the team came out fighting again and scored a stunning course record win to take the 2010 National University Ekiden Championships , its first national title in 15 years. In so doing Waseda took a big step toward Watanabe's stated goal of a triple crown this season: Izumo, Nationals and Hakone. Two-time defending Hakone Ekiden champion Toyo University got things started with an outstanding run by frosh Keita Shitara , who took down a raft of older runners to win the 14.6 km First Stage by 12 seconds. Waseda's Yo Yazawa , highly impressive on Izumo's First Stage, only managed 9th in 43:28. Star Waseda frosh Suguru Osako brought things back into place on the 13.2 km Second Stage, outrunning Toyo ace Ryuji Kashiwabara by 20 seconds to put Waseda into 2nd. Further back, Meiji University star Tetsuya Yoroizaka set a new st...

by Brett Larner Sophomore Shota Hiraga brings Waseda University in for a course record win at the 2010 Izumo Ekiden. With starting temperatures an unseasonable 27 degrees, Waseda University head coach Yasuyuki Watanabe finally put it together Oct. 11 with the biggest success of his career, a sleek and scintillating course record win at the 22nd Izumo Ekiden . Despite a slight edge on paper over rivals Komazawa University and Nittai University , Watanabe's history of drilling talented squads into the ground and arriving at important races in tatters stood against Waseda's chances. The fears of another blowup were groundless. All six Waseda runners, juniors Yo Yazawa and Yuki Yagi , sophomore Saku Chosei HS grads Hiroyuki Sasaki and Shota Hiraga and star frosh recruits and 2010 World Jr. Championships teammates Suguru Osako and Fuminori Shikata ran perfectly, the first time in recent memory that can be said of a Waseda team. Yazawa pushed Kenyan Cosmas Ondiba (Yamanashi ...

by Brett Larner It's the best time of year for distance running fans in Japan: time for the Hakone Ekiden . Hakone is the championship event for Kanto region-based university men's teams, essentially those in the Tokyo area. The race covers 217.9 km in ten stages spread over two days on Jan. 2 and 3 every year. But it is much more than a regional university race. The race is broadcast live nationwide, fifteen hours of coverage between the two days, with nationwide viewership ratings of 30%. Hakone runners are respected more than any others but Japan's Olympic marathon medalists and have a degree of fame pros in other countries can only imagine. Now in its 86th year, more than any other race the Hakone Ekiden is engrossing, dramatic, and symbolizes what is good about distance running. So much so that it has become a problem for Japanese men's marathoning, where performances have waned over the last few years just as performances at Hakone and related races have waxed to ...

by Brett Larner Click photo for video highlights courtesy of NHK. Following the All-Japan High School Girls Ekiden Championships, the seven stage, 42.195 km Boys Ekiden took place Dec. 21 in Kyoto. While conditions in the morning had been warm and sunny for the girls' race, an approaching storm front brought clouds and increasing rain for the afternoon boys' race. Defending champion Sendai Ikuei High School, alma mater of greats including Samuel Wanjiru and Daniel Njenga, was presented with a tough battle against rivals Saku Chosei High School and Sera High School, facing on one hand the mid-season loss of head coach Takao Watanabe, who quit the school to become future marathon great Megumi Kinukawa's personal coach, and on the other a new rule designed partly to minimize the efficacy of non-Japanese runners in ekidens. Government sponsored-broadcaster NHK's otherwise excellent live, commercial-free nationwide coverage of the Boys Ekiden was seriously marred ...