japan running news

After a seven-week break from the marathon, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) scored his third-straight marathon win, second-straight course record and came just shy of a third-straight negative split as he ran a completely solo 2:11:46 to take almost six minutes off the Kitakyushu Marathon course record. Following up on negative split wins at December's Hofu Yomiuri Marathon and January's Marshfield New Year's Day Marathon , the latter a course record by half an hour, Kawauchi was on his own in the first 100 m in Kitakyushu and never looked back. In the hilly first 10 km his pace fluctuated from high-2:12 to high-2:10, but once Kawauchi got into the flatter section of the course he settled out on track for a high-2:11 to low-2:12 time. After a 1:05:51 split at halfway he slowed slightly on the outbound trip to the turnaround near 31 km, but picking it up again after 35 km he marked a 6:34 from 40 km to the finish to stop the clock at 2:11:46,  a 1:05:55 second...

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. ...

by Brett Larner Fresh off the suspension of its three-time defending champion Tetiana Shmyrko (Ukraine) for systematic cheating revealed through the biological passport system, the Osaka International Women’s Marathon ’s elite field features a small overseas field that passes muster with IAAF labeling requirements while keeping the Eastern contingent to a bare minimum.  Karolina Nadolska (Poland) returns to Osaka with the fastest recent non-Japanese time in the field, 2:26:31, leading 2014 World Half Marathon Championships bronze medalist Sally Kaptich Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) and Seong Eun Kim (South Korea). More key is the domestic field competing for one of the two places still up for grabs on the Rio Olympic team. Half marathon national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal), elevated to the status of 2013 Osaka Women’s champ after Shmyrko’s defenestration, is poised to get the win for real this time as the clear favorite to find herself on the short list a...

http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/lemi-berhanu-warsaw-marathon Chiharu Takada (Team JR Higashi Nihon) ran 2:12:27 for 13th in Warsaw, just missing the 2:12:13 run in Zurich last week by Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) as the year's fastest time by a Japanese man outside Japan.   Click here for complete results . Elsewhere, Yuko Watanabe (Team Edion) was an apparent DNF at the Hamburg Marathon.  Click here for complete results .

by Brett Larner Sunday's Osaka International Women's Marathon features an interesting showdown between the race's last three winners, defending champion Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko (Ukraine), all-time Japanese #9 Risa Shigetomo  (Team Tenmaya), and, in her final race before retiring from the jitsugyodan corporate system, Yukiko Akaba  (Team Hokuren). Gamera-Shmyrko won last year's Osaka over future World Championships bronze medalist Kayoko Fukushi  (Team Wacoal) in a PB 2:23:58 with the kind of miraculously fast second half she and other Eastern European women have produced in recent years, especially at Japanese marathons.  Since then she was a DNF at November's New York City Marathon, where Shigetomo was 11th in 2:31:54.  Shigetomo has never run well in a marathon since her 2:23:23 win at Osaka in 2012, but she has been on top of her game this ekiden season most recently with a 31:50 win on the Jan. 12 National Women's Ekiden's 10 km anchor stage.  ...

by Brett Larner A quick weekend preview as JRN is in international transit for the holidays. The Nittai University Time Trials track series wraps up Saturday with its annual women-only edition featuring fast 3000 m, 5000 m and 10000 m heats. Sunday sees the National High School Ekiden Championships go down, with both the boys' and girls' races broadcast live nationwide and commercial-free on NHK.  The level of competition is extremely high; based on track credentials the 2012 NCAA XC champions University of Oregon women's team would have struggled to make the top ten in last year's girls' race , while the boys' race features at least five high schoolers with 5000 m bests under 14:00.  The National High School Championships offer the first chance to see future greats, like Samuel Wanjiru  in the past, in action. The Dec. 23 national holiday on Monday is the date of the first running of the newly relaunched  National University Women's Invitational Ek...

by Brett Larner The organizers of the 33rd edition of the Osaka International Women's Marathon on Jan. 26, 2014, have announced their elite field.  With places on the 2014 Asian Games team at stake, national record holder, Athens Olympics gold medalist and 2003 Osaka winner Mizuki Noguchi  (Team Sysmex) leads the way along with fellow late-career greats Mari Ozaki (Team Nortiz) and 2011 Osaka winner  Yukiko Akaba  (Team Hokuren), the latter of whom has already announced her retirement following Osaka.  Noguchi was on the entry list the last two years only to pull out shortly before the race and run March's Nagoya International Women's Marathon instead, so whether she actually starts remains to be seen. Yuko Watanabe (Team Edion) tops the younger set after showing great potential in Osaka last year, with  Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya) on the roster after struggling in all her marathons since winning Osaka in 2012 in a solid 2:23:23.  Promising de...

http://www.sanyo.oni.co.jp/feature/sports/other/2013/11/30/20131130225458.html translated and edited by Brett Larner The invited athlete list for Japan's last major road race of the year, the 32nd Sanyo Women's Road Race on Dec. 23 in Okayama, was released by race organisers on Nov. 30. Coinciding with main sponsor Sanyo Newspapers' 135th anniversary, the Yuko Arimori Cup half marathon division at the Sanyo Women's Road Race will for the first time be a selection race for the World Half Marathon Championships national team, with next year's World Half due to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark next March. Targeting the first three-peat in Sanyo history, 2013 National Corporate Half Marathon champion Yukiko Akaba  (Team Hokuren) heads the invited field along with 2013 Hokkaido Marathon winner Yuko Watanabe  (Team Edion) and, from overseas, London Olympian Desiree Davila  (U.S.A.).  Others in the half  marathon include past World Championships marathoners Mai I...

by Brett Larner With Japan's premier summer marathon bringing back its elite field this year, corporate league runners Koji Gokaya  (Team JR Higashi Nihon) and Yuko Watanabe  (Team Edion) scored their first marathon wins, taking the men's and women's Hokkaido Marathon titles in 2:14:26 and 2:29:13 on Aug. 25 in Sapporo. Following an early break by Shingo Igarashi  (Team Subaru) and by 2010 Nobeoka Marathon winner  Masaki Shimoju  (Team Konica Minolta), Gokaya, who finished 7th at the 2011 Chicago Marathon in 2:12:15, ran in a dense lead pack through 35 km before turning it on, grinding down Shigeki Tsuji  (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) to open a margin of 19 seconds before crossing the finish line.  Tsuji, the only runner to try to stay with Gokaya, was a comfortable 2nd in 2:14:45, 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack led by Shimoju, who held off past Gold Coast Marathon winner Dickson Marwa (Tanzania) in the last sprint for 3rd in 2:15:1...

by Brett Larner After cutting its elite program in 2012, the Hokkaido Marathon returns to the top of Japan's summer circuit this year with a solid silver label-quality men's and women's fields sure to be wasted in the heat of its 27th running on August 25th.  Highlights of the men's and women's entry lists are below. Men Gezahegne Abera (Ethiopia) - 2:10:17 (Barcelona 2013) Satoshi Yoshii (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 2:10:45 (Biwako 2011) Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team Honda) - 2:10:59 (Biwako 2013) Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:11:02 (Tokyo 2013) Kazuya Ishida (Team Nishitetsu) - 2:11:57 (Nobeoka 2012) Masaki Shimoju (Team Konica Minolta) - 2:12:18 (Nobeoka 2010) Tatsunari Hirayama (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 2:12:38 (Nobeoka 2013) Dickson Marwa (Tanzania) - 2:12:53 (Gold Coast 2003) Masanori Ishida (Team Sagawa Express) - 2:13:07 (Beppu-Oita 2013) Sho Matsumoto (Nikkei Business AC) - 2:13:38 (Nobeoka 2013) Takehiro Arakawa (Team Asahi Ka...

San Diego, U.S.A., 6/2/13 click here for complete results Women 1. Edna Kiplagat (Kenya) - 1:08:56 2. Georgina Rono (Kenya) - 1:09:03 3. Firehiwot Dado (Ethiopia) - 1:09:46 4. Embet Bedada (Ethiopia) - 1:09:56 5. Paskalia Kipkoech (Kenya) - 1:10:14 6. Asami Kato (Japan/Team Panasonic) - 1:10:49 7. Yuko Watanabe (Japan/Team Edion) - 1:11:40 8. Lidia Simon (Romania) - 1:12:36 9. Deena Kastor (U.S.A.) - 1:15:51 10. Joanne Zeiger (U.S.A.) - 1:16:45

by Brett Larner London Olympics marathon 5th-place Tetyana Gamera-Shmyrko  (Ukraine) once again put on a show of her astounding finishing speed, running down race leader Kayoko Fukushi  (Team Wacoal) in the final km to break her best for the third time in the last year as she won the 2013 Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2:23:58.  Fukushi managed a PB of 2:24:21 for 2nd, just missing the Federation's sub-2:24 requirement for a guaranteed place on the Moscow World Championships team, with 25-year-old Yuko Watanabe  (Team Edion) coming through with a 3 1/2 minute best for 3rd in 2:25:56. A cold and sunny day and the carrot provided by the Federation's time goal meant a quick race.  After a rocky and erratic start the pace settled into a steady mid-to-low-2:23 groove, with Gamera-Shmyrko, Fukushi, Watanabe, 10000 m national record holder Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and, in her first marathon since giving birth, Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) ma...

by Brett Larner 2012 was not a great year for Japanese women's distance running.  Despite a few outstanding top-end performances, including all-time Japanese top ten marks by Hitomi Niiya  (Team Univ. Ent.) and Risa Shigetomo  (Team Tenmaya) and a slight improvement over recent years in marathon depth, overall the year showed a decline.  The death of Japanese women's half-marathoning has been the most puzzling trend; ten years ago over a half dozen Japanese women running times in the 67 to 69 minute range was a given, but this year only two broke 70 minutes, barely.  Depth was also down over 5000 m and 10000 m.  While the men seem to have turned the corner and have regained some upward momentum and positivity, Japanese women are still on the downhill. It wasn't all bad, though.  London Olympics track runners Kayoko Fukushi  (Team Wacoal), Niiya and Mika Yoshikawa  (Team Panasonic) were a credit to the country, saying to their competitors...

http://www.excite.co.jp/News/sports_g/20121223/Jiji_20121223F725.html http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/121223/oth12122314090010-n1.htm http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/121223/oth12122317160013-n1.htm http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/121223/oth12122317380016-n1.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner At the Dec. 23 Sanyo Ladies Road Race in Okayama, defending champion Yukiko Akaba  (Team Hokuren) ran 1:09:56 to successfully claim her second-straight Yuko Arimori Cup Half Marathon title, breaking away at 18 km to redeem her disappointing 8th-place finish at November's Yokohama International Women's Marathon and bad performance at last week's National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships.  "I didn't want to end the year with nothing but bad runs," she said with a smile.  "There was nothing good about this year, but with this run I make a fresh start."  Aiming for the Moscow World Championships team, she plans to run either Bo...

http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/News/Tn201208190051.html translated and edited by Brett Larner click here for complete results Don't give in to the heat!  On Aug. 18 at Dogoyama Cross Country Park in Shobara, Hiroshima, 2382 runners from the five prefectures of the Chugoku region and as far away as Kanto took part in the 13th Hiroshima Cross Country Meet, competing in 36 different age and gender divisions over five hilly courses from 1 to 8 km in length at 700 m elevation.  At the start of the first race at 11:15 the temperature was 32 degrees.  Cheers of "Keep going!" and "Just a little further!" from the sidelines urged on the sweat-soaked athletes as they covered the course.  With the intense heat slowing them down, most could only shrug in resignation as they checked their watches after crossing the finish line. The invited athlete field included athletes from the Chugoku Denryoku and Edion corporate teams.  With experience on the Japanese national team...

2012 Bolder Boulder 10 km - Top Women's Results Boulder, CO, 5/28/12 click here for complete results 1. Mamitu Daska (Ethiopia) - 33:06 2. Janet Cherobon-Bawcom (U.S.A.) - 33:23 3. Deena Kastor (U.S.A.) - 33:28 4. Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) - 33:32 5. Ashu Kasim (Ethiopia) - 34:03 6. Alemitu Abera (Ethiopia) - 34:16 7. Marisol Romero (Mexico) - 34:25 8. Genoveva Kigen (Kenya) - 34:43 9. Adrianna Nelson (U.S.A.) - 34:55 10. Benita Willis (Australia) - 34:58 ----- 19. Yuko Watanabe (Team Edion) - 36:01 30. Eri Okubo (Second Wind AC) - 39:59

by Brett Larner The Japanese National Corporate Half Marathon Championships have a long-standing relationship with overseas half marathons, the top domestic finishers being named to the Japanese team for the World Half Marathon and the next tier being sent to the Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon and the Great Scottish Run Half Marathon.  This year's Corporate Half was cancelled in the wake of March's natural disasters and the World Half Marathon is likewise not being held, but Japanese athletes turned out as usual at both Rock 'n' Roll and the GSR. Yoko Miyauchi  (Team Kyocera), the top Japanese woman over the half marathon distance in 2010, won Rock 'n' Roll in 1:11:48 after a patient race in which she hung back while Kenyan Jane Kibil  battled with Olympian Yurika Nakamura  (Team Tenmaya) and newcomer Fumiko Hashimoto  (Team Shimamura).  Inaugural Gifu Half Marathon winner Mao Kuroda  (Team Yutaka Giken) was only 7th in 1:13:37 as ...

2011 Bolder Boulder 10 km Boulder, CO, 5/30/11 click here for complete results Women 1. Lineth Chepkurui (KEN) - 32:30 2. Mamitu Daska (ETH) - 32:35 3. Meseret Mengistubiru (ETH) - 34:06 ----- 10. Yuri Kano (JPN) - 35:17 11. Yuko Watanabe (JPN) - 35:20 17. Yumi Hirata (JPN) - 36:53

by Brett Larner On the second of three consecutive weekends of regional corporate track championships, 2011 World XC Championships runner-up Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) had the biggest run in the country. He and Ethiopian Alemu Desta (Team Yasukawa Denki) set out in the Kyushu Jitsugyodan Championships 10000 m at a blazing 2:36 for the first km, well under world record pace. The pair held to sub-27 minute pace through 6000 m, Desta burning up but Tanui pushing on to a 27:18.58 meet record, just a second off his PB and the 2nd-fastest time in the world so far this year. With Tanui's mark the top four men worldwide for 10000 m are currently all Japan-based Kenyans. His teammate Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) had the fastest 5000 m of the weekend in Japan, taking the Kyushu Jitsugyodan women's 5000 m in 15:46.69. The Hokuriku Jitsugyodan Championships, traditionally the weakest of the major corporate league regions, had the next-strongest performances, with meet ...