japan running news

by Brett Larner Three half marathons over the long weekend marked the start of the transition from ekiden season to the winter and early spring road season.  The first elite-level Japanese half marathon of the year, Sunday's 41st Unzen Obama Half Marathon , saw a great battle almost to the line between pro Taku Miyahara  (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) and Keisuke Sago  (Takushoku Univ.).  Miyahara took the title in 1:04:21, just 2 seconds off the course record which dates back to 1996, with Sago 4 seconds back in 1:04:25.  Miyahara's teammate Hayato Mera  (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) was over a minute behind in 3rd in 1:05:40. The same day in Tokyo, Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref.) started off his season as usual at the 14th Mari Tanigawa Half Marathon .  Starting off at world record pace with a 2:42 opening km he soon settled down to take 1st in 1:05:31, his second win and fastest time at the Tanigawa Half. Kaori Yoshida (Puma RC) won he...

by Brett Larner Looking set to take its first Grand Tour Kyushu title since 2009, the Fukuoka Prefecture team spent the fifth of the Tour's eight days widening its lead over two-time defending champion Miyazaki Prefecture from 13 to 21 minutes thanks to wins on three of the day's five stages including new stage records by Second Stage runner Masato Imai and anchor Teruo Taneno . Yoshikazu Kawazoe was the only Miyazaki runner to stem the tide, winning the Third Stage to put Miyazaki back ahead of the Nagasaki Prefecture team in 2nd. A surprise came on the day's opening stage, where former Juntendo University captain Yuki Nanba , now teaching at a high school back home in Tomei, Oita but famous for breaking down with a huge lead on his stage late in his senior-year Hakone Ekiden and staggering his way in to the handoff, cracked the course record by 3 seconds to set a new mark of 52:55 for the 17.4 km stage. Miyazaki came out hard on Day Six, winning the first five ...