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Showing posts from December, 2013

San Silvestre Vallecana - Results

49th San Silvestre Vallecana - Top Results Madrid, Spain, 12/31/13 click here for complete results Men 1. Leonard Komon (Kenya) - 28:02 2. Ayad Lamdassem (Spain) - 29:05 3. Roberto Alaiz (Spain) - 29:08 4. Javier Guerra Polo (Spain) - 29:10 5. Arturo Casado (Spain) - 29:23 ----- 13. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 29:52 Women 1. Linet Masai (Kenya) - 31:33 2. Malika Asahssah (Morocco) - 31:57 3. Rita Jeptoo (Kenya) - 31:59 4. Magdalane Masai (Kenya) - 32:36 5. Jessica Augusto (Portugal) - 32:58

'Kenyans Seek to Get Back to the Top in Madrid's San Silvestre Vallecana'

http://www.iaaf.org/news/preview/madrid-san-silvestre-vallecana-iaaf-silver-la Note: Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't) is running the San Silvestre Vallecana with support from JRN.  Pre-race he told JRN, "I'm really looking forward to running a big race like this that the best college and corporate league runners couldn't run even if they wanted to.  I'm excited to run under 29 minutes for the first time and if I do there won't be any reason to ever run 10000 m on the track again."

Komazawa, Waseda and Toyo Go for Glory at 90th Hakone Ekiden - Preview

by Brett Larner Japan’s distance year hits its peak Jan. 2 and 3 with the 90th running of the biggest sporting event in the country, the Hakone Ekiden . 23 teams of ten Kanto Region university men each, three more teams than usual in honor of the anniversary year face off over the course of two days and 217.9 km on ten stages of from 18.5 km to 23.4 km in front of a live TV audience in the tens of millions with millions more lining the course, and short of an Olympic medal there is nothing more prestigious in Japanese athletics than a Hakone title. The level of Kanto Region men’s distance running has increased rapidly over the last three years, with multiple course records at Hakone and both of the other Big Three university ekidens, October’s Izumo Ekiden and November’s National University Ekiden, and this year alone has seen national collegiate records for 10000 m and 30 km and near-misses for 5000 m and half marathon. The sheer numbers of collegiate men running quality time

2014 New Year Ekiden Preview

by Brett Larner Jan.1 is the day for which Japan’s corporate men’s running league exists, the national championship New Year Ekiden . Seven-man teams from across the country square off over 100 km on stages ranging from 8.3 km for foreign runners to 22.0 km for the best pros, with all the action broadcast live nationwide on TBS starting at 8:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day. Defending champion Konica Minolta comes back as the heavy favorite, having won the Nov. 3 East Japan regional qualifier in course-record time by a minute and a half over 2012 New Year Ekiden course record setter Nissin Shokuhin . Nissin Shokuhin was strong to be sure with a stage record from ace Yuki Sato  but Konica Minolta was just that much stronger, winning four of East Japan’s seven stages including two individual stage records. Anchor Tomohiro Tanigawa was the team’s secret weapon, just off the anchor stage record as he continued his quiet rise to Japan’s top ranks. Team Fujitsu took the remaining two i

The Top Ten Japanese Men of 2013

by Brett Larner click here for Japanese women's 2013 rankings 2013 continued Japanese men's upward trend, the fifth year in history that the country has produced at least ten sub-2:10 marathon performances and the all-time second-best average of its top ten fastest marathons, all-time top ten performances over 5000 m, 10000 m and half marathon, new world records for depth at several races, just shy of a World Championships marathon medal, incredible growth among its collegiates, and a charismatic and independent star to drive the sport's popularity. One of the most important things to happen this year was the nearing of parity between the collegiate and corporate systems.  In JRN's top ten rankings, scored using a system that takes into account quality, placing and competitiveness relative to other ranked athletes, only five of the overall top ten hailed from the corporate leagues, with four university men and one indy filling out the list.  Collegiates and said in

The Top Ten Japanese Women of 2013

by Brett Larner click here for Japanese men's 2013 rankings Where 2012 was largely negative, 2013 was a mixed year for Japanese women.  On the one hand a Japanese woman won a World Championships marathon medal , another placed 3rd in the even more competitive London Marathon , there was a new all-time Japanese #3 mark for 10000 m , and the state of Japanese women's half marathoning seemed to turn around from its recent slide with a sub-1:09 for the first time since 2009 and five women sub-1:10 , the most since 2008.  On the other hand there were only three marathoners at the Moscow World Championships  thanks to new tough love policies from the Federation with just two finishing , only seven women broke 2:27 , none went under 15:20 for 5000 m , and the nominally elite Yokohama International Women's Marathon registered barely a blip of significance on the international radar. Marathon national record holder and Athens Olympics gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysme

2013 as Seen by JRN Readers: Our Top Thirteen Stories of the Year

2013 was a big year for JRN, with total views since JRN's founding in 2007 crossing the one million mark in June and closing in on 1.5 million by year's end.  Needless to say, much of the readership revolved around the adventures of  Japan's most popular indy runner  Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't), who factored into eight of our thirteen most-read stories of the year including all of the top three. 1. Mathathi Makes Transition to Marathon in Fukuoka, Kawauchi 3rd in Third Sub-2:10 of 2013  - Dec. 1 2007 Osaka World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Martin Mathathi (Kenya/ Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) made a successful return to the marathon with the second-fastest-ever closing split on the Fukuoka course, while Kawauchi became the first Japanese man to break 2:10 three times in one year.   Click here for JRN's race preview . 2. Kawauchi Over Nakamoto in 2:08:15 Beppu-Oita Course Record  - Feb. 3 Kawauchi and London Olympian Kentaro Nakamoto  (Team Yasukawa

Ritsumeikan Closes Year With Win at New Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden

by Brett Larner Kyoto's  Ritsumeikan University  closed out Japan's last elite race of 2013 with a national title at the new Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden , a relaunch of the short-lived National University Women's Invitational Ekiden Championships previously held in Tsukuba, Ibaraki.  First-year Nanako Kanno  got Ritsumeikan off to a good start on the 6.6 km First Stage and from there Ritsumeikan led the entire race, five of its seven women winning their stages.  Senior Akane Yabushita  brought the team home on the challenging Seventh Stage, 7.7 km with 166 m elevation gain, the team covering the 43.4 km course in 2:21:48. Ritsumeikan's nearest competitor, Kagoshima's Kanoya Taiiku University , was over two minutes behind, 2nd in 2:23:58.  Top-ranked Kanto Region school Daito Bunka University  took 3rd in 2:24:44.  On the individual level only  Minami Nakaarai (Osaka Gakugei Univ.) and  Sairi Maeda (Bukkyo Univ.) were able to make dent in Ritsumeikan's ar