Skip to main content

2010 As Seen By JRN Readers

JRN's most-read articles of 2010 by month:

January
Toyo University gets the star treatment.Jan. 4
Master shoe craftsman Mimura joins Adidas. - Jan. 13

February
Yoshihisa Hosaka gets world record #3 at Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon. - Feb. 7
Coach Ken Green talks about Jeff Hunt's race-making Beppu-Oita debut. - Feb. 9
"I'm hoping I can be that next chapter in the history books." - Newmade marathoner Jeff Hunt in his own words. - Feb. 10
A tale of two Fujiwaras - Tokyo Marathon 2010. - Feb. 28

March
Arata Fujiwara evaluates the 2010 Tokyo Marathon. - Mar. 2
The 2010 Rome Marathon in pictures. - Mar. 25

April
Yurika Nakamura on the frontlines in Boston. - Apr. 15

May
"I came here to test myself." - Stephen Mayaka on the Kenyan student runner's life. - May 5
Hakone's new star takes first 5000 m win - Taku Fujimoto. - May 24
Iizuka redux: the future king of Japanese sprinting? - May 25
Arata Fujiwara sets Ottawa Marathon course record. - May 30

June
Miss International Queen 2009 to run 100 km 'New Half Marathon.' - June 9

July
Shota Iizuka live up to expectations with first-ever Japanese World Junior 200 m gold. - July 24

August
Marathons maxing out - Tokyo expects applications 10x field limit. - Aug. 4

September
Mitsuoka schools Hakone stars, Nishihara and Takahashi score meet records, Iizuka flat on final day of Japanese University Nationals. - Sept. 12
Osaka and Kobe announce dates of new mass-participation marathons. - Sept. 13
Days shy of 100, Miyazaki targeting triple gold at Masters Championships. - Sept. 16

October
Kaori Yoshida sub-2:30 PB at Chicago Marathon.Oct. 11

November
On his own two feet: Arata Fujiwara faces New York. - Nov. 3
Arata Fujiwara ING New York City Marathon DNF.  - Nov. 8
Freshman Suguru Osako 1:01:47 Jr. national record at 2010 Ageo City Half Marathon. - Nov. 21
Japanese University Select Team takes first-ever International Chiba Ekiden win. - Nov. 23

December
Your 2010 Fukuoka International Marathon viewing guide. - Dec. 3
Murayama 28:23.18 for high school year-leader. - Dec. 4
Fast times depend on pacemakers - inside the strangeness at the Fukuoka International Marathon. - Dec. 12
Kagoshima Jitsugyo takes surprise National High School Boys Ekiden title. - Dec. 27

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

The Ivy League at the Izumo Ekiden in Review

Last week I was contacted by Will Geiken , who I'd met years ago when he was a part of the Ivy League Select Team at the Izumo Ekiden . He was looking for historical results from Izumo and lists of past team members, and I was able to put together a pretty much complete history, only missing the alternates from 1998 to 2010 and a little shaky on the reverse transliterations of some of the names from katakana back into the Western alphabet for the same years. Feel free to send corrections or additions to alternate lists. It's interesting to go back and see some names that went on to be familiar, to see the people who made an impact like Princeton's Paul Morrison , Cornell's Max King , Stanford's Brendan Gregg in one of the years the team opened up beyond the Ivy League, Cornell's Ben de Haan , Princeton's Matt McDonald , and Harvard's Hugo Milner last year, and some of the people who struggled with the format. 1998 Team: 15th of 21 overall, 2:14:10 (43

Hirabayashi Runs PB at Shanghai Half, WR Holder Nakata Dominates Fuji Five Lakes - Weekend Road Roundup

Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57. Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon , with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis