japan running news

The traditional first big race of the high school ekiden season was back Sunday, with the Kurayoshi Joshi Ekiden and Nihonkai Ekiden returning from corona cancelations the last two years. One race with different event names for girls and boys, 70 girls' teams ran the half marathon distance divided into 5 stages, and 96 boys' teams the marathon distance divided into 7 stages. Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. won the girls' race for the first time since 2011. 4th after the 6.0 km First Stage, Ritsumeikan Uji's Ai Segawa opened a 30-second lead on the 3.0 km Third Stage that fourth runner Chiseno Ikeda and anchor Yumi Yamamoto extended to 1:21 by the end of the race. Ritsumeikan Uji won in 1:08:57, early leader Hakuoh Joshi H.S. hanging on to 2nd in 1:10:18 and Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S. taking 3rd in 1:10:42. Kyushu Gakuin H.S. took the lead from the start in the boys' race, Shu Nagamoto winning the highly competitive 10.0 km First Stage in 29:04 with the top 21 all clearing...

A new event bringing together top high school, college, corporate league and club men's teams, the Okukuma Ekiden was held for the first time Sunday in Kumamoto. 42.195 km split into 7 stages for the high school boys' division and 4 stages for the others, the race saw Nagano's Saku Chosei H.S. become the first team across its finish line in 2:07:16. The Toyota Kyushu corporate team was 2nd overall in 2:07:32, with local Kyushu Gakuin H.S. 3rd in 2:07:52. The new ekiden, which mirrors the format of the Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden, was originally scheduled to have taken place in 2020. But after two years of pandemic-era cancelations, the inaugural running didn't take place until this year. It was an impressive success. The high school boys' stage lengths were almost the same as those at December's National High School Ekiden, 10 km, 3 km, 8.25 km, 7.9 km, 3 km, 5 km, and 5.045 km. Other divisions ran stages 10 km, 11.25 km, 10.9 km, and 10.045 ...

On Nov. 2 the management of the Kyudenko corporate men's team announced that Kazuma Kubota , 27, quit the team on Oct. 31 to devote himself to working for the Kyudenko corporation. The announcement effectively represented an announcement of Kubota's retirement. Kubota graduated from the national-level Kyushu Gakuin H.S. in 2012 and entered Aoyama Gakuin University . The same year, he won the most competitive stage at the Izumo Ekiden as a 1st-year, securing Aoyama Gakuin its first-ever win at one of the Big Three University Ekidens. At the 2015 Hakone Ekiden his third year, Kubota had a memorably intense First Stage duel with Komazawa University 's future Tokyo Olympics marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura , losing to Nakamura by just 1 second. But Aoyama Gakuin rode the momentum that Kubota had generated, going on to win Hakone for the first time.  During his senior year in the 2015-16 season he won his stage at all three university ekidens. At Hakone Ekiden he won the...

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20170131-00000258-sph-spo translated by Brett Larner After a recruiting coup with its 2016-17 incoming class that saw eight first-years run sub-14 for 5000 m, sub-29 for 10000 m and/or sub-1:03 for the half marathon, Tokai University will see another class of "super rookies" in 2017-18.  The top three finishers on the First Stage at last December's National University High School Ekiden , its most competitive and prestigious stage, have all enrolled at Tokai, stage winner Ryota Natori (Saku Chosei H.S.), runner-up Kiseki Shiozawa (Iga Hakuho H.S.) and 3rd-placer Takeshi Nishida (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.). Looking at the previous year's First Stage, including both second and third-years at the time 7 of the top 10 will now be running at Tokai.  Every spring Tokai head coach Hayashi Morozumi holds a training camp to which he invites 200 runners from the ten best running high schools from across the country.  Explaining the secret ...

by Brett Larner highlights video courtesy of broadcaster NHK click here for National High School Girls Ekiden results Having run the National High School Boys Ekiden 38 times without ever winning, Kurashiki H.S. staged a classic battle against the fastest-ever all-Japanese team Saku Chosei H.S. to take the national title for the first time. Saku Chosei, alma mater of Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) and many of today's other top Japanese men, was out front early with stage wins from its first two men Ryota Natori and Sakito Matsuzaki .  At the start of the 8.1075 km Third Stage it was 21 seconds up on Kurashiki which sat 4th behind last year's runner-up Kyushu Gakuin H.S. and Iga Hakuho H.S.  Saku Chosei's third man Yuhi Nakaya said pre-race that if he could hold the lead until 5 km then he would be able to stay with whatever Kenyans caught him. He more than lived up to those words. Kurashiki's Joel Mwaura set off in pursuit of Nakaya on course reco...

by Brett Larner video highlights courtesy of broadcaster NHK The shadow of the late Samuel Wanjiru still looms large over the National High School Boys Ekiden Championships , his 2004 stage record-setting run powering Sendai Ikuei H.S. to a course record 2:01:32 win that no team since has ever approached.  The buzz was in the air this year that defending champion Sera H.S. was ready to do it, its seven starters averaging 14:01.95 for 5000 m , enough to compete at the university level.  Before the race captain Shiki Shinsako made it clear, saying, "This team is good enough to break 2:01." For that to happen the race, 7 stages totalling 42.195 km, had to start fast on its longest stage, the 10.0 km First Stage.  Luck was with Sera as the talented Takuya Hanyu (Yachiyo Shoin H.S.) was happy to oblige, dropping a 2:47 opening km, 27:50 pace, and pulling the whole field with him.  The entire way Hanyu kept things moving, shaking the front end competition down ...

by Brett Larner Okayama prefecture's Kurashiki H.S. and Aichi's Okazaki Gakuen H.S. took their first-ever wins at the season's first big nationwide high school ekiden in Kurayoshi, Tottori on October 4.  In the 35th edition of the boys' race , Kurashiki, splitting its team into A and B squads, started slow, its B-squad 21st and A-squad 25th after the 10.0 km First Stage.  The A-squad moved up to 14th on the 3.0 km Second Stage, and with a stage best by its third runner Maeda it moved up to 3rd at halfway.  Kurashiki A's next three runners juggled between 1st and 2nd places, and with a 38-second lead over Kyushu Gakuin H.S. for the 5.0 km anchor stage it looked safe for the win. Safe, that is, until Kurashiki A anchor Koga ran only the 12th-best time on the final stage, while behind him Kyushu Gakuin anchor Ueda bore down with a stage best 15:15.  It looked like it would be close, but in the end Koga had the margin he needed and broke the tape in 2:06:55, Kur...