complete report coming shortlyIt's hard to beat the numbers, and 3-time National Men's Ekiden defending champ Nagano had enough of them to score a record 4th-straight win Sunday in Hiroshima. With a whole team of current students at 2024 National High School Ekiden champ Saku Chosei H.S., Saku Chosei alumni, and junior high schoolers bound to go there the30th National Men's ..read more

 It's a big year at the Marugame Half on Feb. 2. On the women's side you've got two of the fastest Japan-based Kenyans and past Marugame winners Dolphine Omare and Pauline Kamulu vs. Sara Hall, Dominique Scott, Calli Hauger-Thackery and Isobel Batt-Doyle and home team Rika Kaseda, Kaede Kawamura and Haruka Kokai.On the men's side you've got sub-60 Kenyans ..read more

 With just over 2 weeks to go the Feb. 2 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon has finally announced its elite field. It looks pretty good at the front end at first glance, but #1-ranked Vincent Kipchumba hasn't finished a marathon since his 2:04:28 best in London 4 years ago and has only run one race, a 29:05 10 km in 2023. #2-ranked Kiyoto Hirabayashi of Koku Gakuin University, winner in ..read more

The Panasonic women's corporate team announced this week on its official website that Sora Shinozakura has left its program. Shinozakura placed 5th in the 5000 m at last June's National Track and Field Championships, and last Sunday she was 3rd on the opening leg at the National Women's Ekiden while running for the Kanagawa prefecture team.Shinozakura joined Panasonic after graduating from ..read more

 After having led Surugadai University to its first-ever Hakone Ekiden appearances in 2022 and 2024, Kazuyoshi Tokumoto, 45, announced on Jan. 12 that he is stepping down as head coach.A star Hakone runner during his days at Hosei University, Tokumoto took over as head coach at Surugadai in 2012. In his 10th season in 2021-22 Surugadai made the qualifying bracket at the Hakone Ekiden ..read more

In our post-Hakone Ekiden analysis of this year's record-breaking race we wrote that winner Aoyama Gakuin University head coach Susumu Hara excels at developing depth of quality and can usually fill gaps caused by graduation. It's a sign of how much depth he has that his B- and C-squad runners occupied podium places at two fast half marathons just a week after Hakone.The Takanezawa ..read more

Host team Kyoto was back on top at Sunday's National Women's Ekiden, taking the lead on the 2nd of the 42.195 km race's 9 legs and rolling on to win its 19th national title in the event's 43-year history in 2:15:26 with 4 individual stage wins.Kyoto's lead runner Kokoro Nakachi was only 3 seconds behind First Stage winner Erika Tanoura of Chiba, and 43rd National Women's ..read more

Real estate company Makes has announced on its team website that its men's corporate team will be disbanded at the end of March. The team was launched in April, 2021 with the twin missions of "becoming #1 in the world in the marathon" and "getting society excited." Based in Yoga in suburban Tokyo, Makes currently has 7 athletes on its roster. Its coaching staff includes head coach ..read more

【開門神事「福男選び」】「一番福」は宝塚市の高校生・大岸史弥さん? pic.twitter.com/VQI9uHb5eD— カンテレNEWS (@kantele_news) January 9, 2025 The traditional Lucky Man Selection race was held at Hyogo's Nishinomiya Shrine, with Takarazuka high school 2nd-year Fumiya Ogishi winning the title of this year's luckiest man. Chosen by lottery to compete, 108 worshippers at the shrine started the race at 6:00 a.m. on Jan. 10 when the ..read more

The JAAF has announced that the 2025 National Cross Country Championships on Feb. 22 will act as the selection race for the senior teams for the 2026 World Cross Country Championships to be held Jan. 10 in Tallahassee, U.S.A. for both the senior men's and women's 10 km, up to 8 athletes will be selected, with 6 ultimately running. Team scoring is based upon each team's first 4 finishers. Member ..read more