japan running news

With temperatures reported as high as 35˚C and sunny conditions, a total of 3,858 people were reported to have run Sunday's Lake Saroma 100 km and 50 km Ultramarathon . The conditions were bad enough that 3 runners were taken to the hospital with heatstroke and world champion Haruki Okayama had to drop out mid-race, but that didn't stop Hong Kong's Kok Wai Tse from running strong over the 2nd half of the race to come from behind with an excellent 6:28:39 for the win. At halfway Tse was almost 2 minutes behind a lead group that included Hideaki Yamauchi and Hideo Nojo , but when they faded in the heat Tse was there to take over. He ultimately finished over 13 minutes ahead of 2nd-place Shion Oe , who likewise had a more conservative start and spent most of the race with eventual 3rd-placer Naoki Matsuo . Yamauchi was ultimately 4th in 6:47:32, splitting 3:07:39/3:39:53, with Nojo 5th in 6:49:37 with even more painful splits of 3:07:30/3:42:07. In the women's race Mik...

The National Track and Field Championships in Niigata were the main event this weekend, but up north where it's cooler there were three important road races.   Chuo University won the 7-stage, 66.2 km university men's race at Saturday's 71st Oga Ekiden in Akita. Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University led on the first two stages, but on the 7.5 km Third Stage Chuo's Rei Yamahira took over the top spot and never let go. Chuo won in 3:22:42, with Aoyama Gakuin ultimately a minute and a half back in 3:24:12. Tokyo Kokusai University was a close 3rd in 3:24:53. Running the same distance, the Shingenden corporate team was the top placer in the open division in 3:31:06, well back from 4th-place university team Toyo University . Omuta H.S. won the 7-stage, 49.5 km high school boys' division in 2:30:10, with Sendai Ikuei H.S. taking the top 2 spots in the 5-stage, 21.3 km high school girls' race, its A-team winning in 1:08:56. Complete results here . At th...

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...

For the next two months most of Japan's main domestic racing on the roads and track happens up north on Hokkaido. This weekend has two major road races there, the Lake Saroma 100 km and 50 km Ultramarathon , and Hakodate Half Marathon and Marathon. The home of the women's 100 km world record and until last month the men's world record, pending ratification of Lithuanian Aleksandr Sorokin 's new mark, Lake Saroma isn't missing any of its usual top-end Japanese talent this year. After a world record attempt at May's Shibamata 100 km , last year's World Championships gold and silver medalists Haruki Okayama and Jumpei Yamaguchi are both doubling back, along with pending former WR holder Nao Kazami , two-time World Champion Hideaki Yamauchi , and more. Last year's World Championships 6th-placer Miho Nakata leads the women's field, where her main competition is 2018 Lake Saroma winner Mai Fujisawa . There's no real streaming of the race, but a fin...

The 100 km ultramarathon World Championships took place in Germany on Aug. 27. Japanese national team member Haruki Okayama (27, Comodi Iida) went in with the fastest time in the world this year, the favorite for the gold medal. And he ran like it, winning in 6:12:10, less than 3 minutes from the world record. Okayama is a non-elite, someone who dreamed of running the Hakone Ekiden but couldn't make his university's team, someone who ran with a corporate team as an ordinary employee. Where did this miracle breakthrough come from? Sportswriter Masato Sakai talked to him before Berlin about his "never give up no matter what" attitude and training. In the world of sports, where ability is everything, there's a man who came all the way from the bottom to stand atop Japan. His name is Haruki Okayama. In 10 years he's gone from being turned away by one of the old school Hakone Ekiden universities teams to representing Japan on its national team. Aug. 27 was the d...

Relative newcomers Haruki Okayama and Jumpei Yamaguchi ran big PBs to take the top two spots in the men's race at the IAU 100 km World Championships Saturday in Berlin. 2018 world champ Hideaki Yamauchi was a last-minute scratch after testing positive for COVID-19, leaving Okayama, Yamaguchi and world record holder Nao Kazami to take things out hard in a quintet with Brazilian Felipe Silva and French athlete Guillaume Ruel . Ruel soon broke away to open a lead of around 2 minutes by halfway. Behind him, a South African trio caught up to the Japanese group, prompting Yamaguchi to take off in pursuit of the lead. On every 7.5 km lap he closed around 30 seconds on Ruel, finally coming within 20 seconds at around 70 km. But just as he was about to take the lead, Yamaguchi ran into trouble, at exactly the time that Okayama drove by hard to move into 1st instead of him. Running the 100 km distance for only the second time, by 77.5 km he had almost a minute lead over Ruel and never ...

At the current time the number of coronavirus cases is on the decline across Japan, and bright signs have begun to appear on the road toward a resumption of normal activity. But in Hokkaido infections remain a serious issue, and with a resumption of activity a resurgence in numbers due to the increased movement and interaction of people can be expected. As such, it is almost impossible to foresee an end to the pandemic. The Lake Saroma 100 km Ultramarathon is an event that brings together thousands of runners from across the country as well as over 2,000 local junior high, high school and university students, volunteers and race staff. With new variants of the virus remaining an ongoing concern, the organizing committee has determined that it would not be possible to stage the race this year in a way that would be safe for both runners and the locals who put it on.  We are very disappointed that again this year we will not be able to welcome you all to the shores of Lake Saroma, b...

On Apr. 16 the organizers of the Lake Saroma 100 km Ultramarathon in Hokkaido announced that this year's 35th running on June 28 has been canceled due to the coronavirus crisis. Founded in 1986, Lake Saroma is the world's premier 100 km, the site of both the current women's and men's world records. This is the first time the race has been canceled. The roughly 4100 entrants will receive partial refunds in the form of credits they can use for online entry in other races, and will get priority in entry for next year's event. source article: https://www.hokkaido-np.co.jp/article/412990 translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Feb. 6 the JAAF announced that it will disallow times run in the 100 km division at last June's Lake Saroma Ultramarathon due to an unauthorized change made to the event's World Athletics and AIMS-certified course. Placings in the race will remain unchanged. According to the JAAF, at the 2019 edition of the race for safety reasons security staff and volunteers directed runners onto a route different from the certified version of the course used in all previous editions. source article: https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20200206-00000163-kyodonews-spo translated by Brett Larner

The 34th Lake Saroma 100 km Ultramarathon took place June 30 on the northern shores of Hokkaido. In the women's 100 km  Mai Fujisawa (Excel AC) ran 7:32:50 for her fourth Lake Saroma title with a margin of victory of over six minutes. In the men's race  Tatsuya Itagaki  (Tokinosumika) ran 6:25:52 to win Lake Saroma for the third time, two years after his last victory. Runner-up Yasuyuki Nakamura (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) was just 37 seconds behind, with world champion Hideaki Yamauchi  (Hamamatsu Hotniks) another six minutes back. Between Lake Saroma's 100 km and 50 km divisions a total of 3770 people started the race, with 2861 finishing. In the 100 km division 3281 people started of which 2435 finished, a finishing rate of 74.2%. 34th Lake Saroma 100 km Ultramarathon Yubetsu, Hokkaido, 6/30/19 Women's 100 km 1. Mai Fujisawa - 7:32:50 2. Mikiko Ota - 7:38:53 3. Konoka Azumi - 7:53:48 Men's 100 km 1. Tatsuya Itagaki - 6:25:52 2. Yasuyuki Nakamura - ...

JRN's ten most-read stories in the best year in Japanese men's marathoning history and one of the best for Japanese women . 1. How it Happened - Apr. 20 Inside the first Japanese men's  Boston Marathon  win in 31 years. JRN's all-time most-read story. Based on actual events. Preview . 2. Kazami Breaks 100 km World Record at Lake Saroma - June 24 Nao Kazami (Aisan Kogyo) broke the longstanding men's 100 km world record on the same course where it had been set previously. The top five all broke 6:30, with 3rd and 4th-placers Takehiro Gyoba and Hideaki Yamauchi going on to medal at the 100 km World Championships . 3. Kawauchi Breaks Sub-2:20 World Record in Sub-Zero Temperatures - Jan. 1 Running solo in below-freezing temperatures, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) became the first person to run under 2:20 in the marathon 76 times with a 2:18:59 course record win at the Marshfield Road Runners New Year's Day Marathon. 4. Guinness Certifi...

Higashiura resident and Aisan Kogyo employee Nao Kazami , 35, will represent Japan at the September 8 IAU 100 km World Championships ultramarathon in Croatia. An amateur runner with a regular full-time job, Kazami set the 100 km world record in June. "I'm ready for the next challenge," he says. "I'm not satisfied with just the time. I want to win the title too." The term ultramarathon refers to any race longer than the standard 42.195 km distance. On June 24 at the 33rd Lake Saroma 100 km Ultramarathon Kazami beat the world record for the distance which had stood unbroken for 20 years by 4 minutes and 19 seconds. That performance was enough to earn him a place at the World Championships. It was only his second time to finish a 100 km race. Born in Tokyo, Kazami began to run long distance while in junior high school. He went to ekiden powerhouse Komazawa University but never made its starting team for any of the major competitions. After graduating in...

It's Sunday, June 24. At the western end of Japan's main island of Honshu the competition at the Yamaguchi National Track and Field Championships has been heating up. On this day alone, the final day of the Championships, the national records have fallen in both the men's 110 m hurdles and men's discus throw. On the very same day, far to the northeast of Yamaguchi at Lake Saroma, Hokkaido, another new record was born . After standing for 20 years, the 100 km ultramarathon world record has finally fallen. The man who accomplished this deed is Nao Kazami (Aisan Kogyo). The previous world record of 6:13:33 was set at Lake Saroma by Takahiro Sunada (Sekisui Kagaku) in 1998. Kazami improved that mark by more than four minutes with a new record of 6:09:14.  "I was targeting place more than time," said Kazami of the race where he needed to finish in the top four to have a chance of being selected for the Japanese national team for this year's Croatia World ...

Running on the same course where Japan's Takahiro Sunada set the road 100 km world record of 6:13:33 twenty years ago, 2:17:23 marathoner Nao Kazami   bested a deep and competitive field to win the Lake Saroma 100 km Ultramarathon in a world record 6:09:14. Part of a front group of at least five that went through the marathon split in 2:33:36, on pace for 6:04:01, Kazami lost touch with the lead as rivals Koji Hayasaka and Takehiko Gyoba surged just before halfway to open a roughly 30 second lead that lasted until nearly 75 km. But in the last quarter of the race Kazami, a graduate of Hakone Ekiden powerhouse Komazawa University , was the only one who could sustain anything close to the early pace, overtaking Hayasaka and Gyoba before pulling away to open a lead of over 11 minutes. Kazami's mark took more than 4 minutes off the world record, and he also bettered the 100 km track world record of 6:10:20 set in 1978 well before he was born by the late Don Ritchie . ...

The IAAF-certified  Lake Saroma 100 km Ultramarathon took place June 25 along the lake's interior shore in the Okhotsk coast towns of Yubetsu, Saroma and Kitami, the selection race for the Japanese national team for the 2018 IAU 100 km World Championships. Three weeks after winning the JAL Chitose Marathon in 2:17:19 , Tatsuya Itagaki (Sapporo Kokusai Univ.) won the men's race for the second year in a row. His time of 6:14:18 was the second-fastest ever run for 100 km on the roads, missing the 6:13:33 world record set at Lake Saroma in 1998 by Takahiro Sunada by just 45 seconds after going through halfway in 3:00:50. In the women's race 2009 Berlin World Championships marathon 7th-placer and 2010 Nagoya International Women's winner  Yuri Kano  (Will Forward RC) ran 7:37:21 to win her debut. 32nd Lake Saroma Ultramarathon Yubetsu, Hokkaido, 6/25/17 Men's 100 km 1. Tatsuya Itagaki (Sapporo Kokusai Univ.) - 6:14:18 2. Yasuyuki Nakamura (Suzuki Hamamatsu...

by Brett Larner Sakamoto photo c/o Yichen Ding The 100th Japanese National Track and Field Championships were the weekend's main event, but there was no shortage of road racing action at home and abroad.  The Hakodate Half Marathon was the most major, this year featuring the addition of a full marathon division for the first time.  2015 Marugame Half Marathon winner Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta) took another Japanese half title, pushing through rain and winds for the win in 1:03:14 over a small pack including Charles Ndungu (Komori Corp.), defending champion Michael Githae (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta).  Just a week after setting the 50 km national record, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) pushed up through the field late in the race to pass ten people in the last 5 km for 5th overall in 1:04:24.  Sayo Nomura (Daiichi Seimei) took the women's half in 1:13:02, while Tokyo-based amateur Takehiko Gyoba became Hakodate's first mar...

http://dd.hokkaido-np.co.jp/news/area/doto/1-0151017.html http://www.sankei.com/affairs/news/150628/afr1506280022-n1.html translated and edited by Brett Larner A total of 3827 people took part in the 30th anniversary Lake Saroma Ultramarathon in Hokkaido on June 28, challenging their own limits as they ran with support and warm cheering from volunteers, local residents of the towns of Yubetsu, Saroma and Kitami, and the runners' friends and family members. 3326 people ran in the 100 km division.  At the 5:00 a.m. start the temperature in Yubetsu was 8.7 degrees, 1.9 degrees cooler than the usual average temperature.  Running the 100 km for the sixth-straight year, two-time Olympic medalist Erick Wainaina (Kenya) addressed the runners in front of Yubetsu Sports Center, telling them, "100 km is a long way, but just stay focused on your own pace and making it to the finish line," before joining them for the race. 501 runners started in the 50 km division from 100 ...

by Brett Larner In the fall of 2010 Tsutomu Nagata was in his mid-20's, a nearly-elite runner who had done 14:16 and 29:44 on the track before leaving the Self-Defense Forces team to join the ranks of the world's countless full-time working amateur runners.  On November 28, 2010, he raced the Tsukuba Marathon, running down four people in the last 5 km to take 3rd in a PB 2:27:36.  Nine days later Nagata's right arm was caught in the conveyor belt of a can-pressing machine at the factory where he worked, causing serious damage that left him hospitalized for almost two months.  Reconstructive surgery was unsuccessful, leaving his right arm permanently in a brace with limited use of his hand and fingers. After months in the hospital he was unsure of the impact on his running, but, he says, "there was never any question of quitting.  Instead, I felt very strongly that 'I can still do it!'"  Once he returned home he started with walking, building up to...

by Brett Larner complete results coming shortly Sunny skies and warm temperatures greeted the 29th running of the world's fastest ultra, Hokkaido's Lake Saroma 50 km and 100 km Ultramarathon .  Predicted temperatures over 25C meant probable slow times on the course that hosts both the men's and women's 100 km world records, but that did not stop defending men's 100 km winner Hideo Nojo (New Balance) from going for it.  An opening split of 36:03 for the first 10 km put him right on the cusp being on track to break 6 hours, but while that was clearly not going to be sustainable Nojo pushed on ahead of Takahiro Sunada 's 6:13:33 world record pace until nearly halfway before the heat got the better of him.  Slowing to close to 45 minutes per 10 km by 70 km, Nojo rallied late in the race and went back under 40 minutes for the final 10 km to take the win in 6:40:15, three minutes slower than his winning time last year but a world lead by seven and a half minutes....

by Brett Larner Update: It appears that the IAAF's World Running website has lifted the content of this article and the linked Kawauchi Counter without permission or credit for their own piece on Kawauchi's unofficial NR published a day after this article.  I've contacted them asking for clarification of their authorship and sources. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov’t) capped sixteen straight weeks of racing with another shot at the longest distance in his repertoire. For the fourth-straight year Kawauchi returned to his late father’s home island of Okinoshima to pay his respects by running the Father’s Day Okinoshima 50 km Ultramarathon . Two years ago Kawauchi honored him by running 2:51:45, the fastest time ever by a Japanese man over a distance for which the Japanese Federation does not have an official national record . This year Kawauchi himself was honored by the residents of Okinoshima, who held a new children’s race the day before the ultra with the winne...