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 ..read more

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet, Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back ..read more

 In the midst of a lot of talk about how to keep the aging population young, there are people with long lives who are showing extraordinary physical abilities. One of them is Hiroo Tanaka, 93, a multiple world champion in masters track and field.Tanaka began running when he was 60, before which he'd never competed in his adult life. "He's so fast he's world-class." "His running form is so ..read more

 Following 400 m hurdler Masaki Toyoda's suspension for a violation of anti-doping regulations, the Fujitsu corporate team published a statement on its website, including comments from Toyoda's legal team, explaining the ruling and the circumstances surrounding the case.Toyoda was a member of the 2019 Doha World Championships team and holds a best of 48.87. Early in the morning of May 19 ..read more

NHK has reported finding that 40% of mass-participation races across the country sponsored or co-sponsored by local prefectural governments reported lower participation levels. Experts in the field suggested that events need to take creative approaches to increase their popularity. February's Kochi Ryoma Marathon had a maximum field size of 12,000, but only 9,300 people entered. It was the second ..read more

 On April 8 the Japan Sports Arbitration Agency upheld a two-year doping suspension against 2019 Doha World Championships team member Masaki Toyoda, 26, of the Fujitsu corporate team, rejecting an appeal from the Japan Anti-Doping Agency for a stricter sentence.Metabolites of the prohibited substance trenbolone were detected in a urine sample taken from Toyoda during a drug test in May, 2022 ..read more

The 39th Yaizu Minato Half Marathon happened Sunday, starting and finishing in the fishing port area of Yaizu, Shizuoka. In Yaizu Minato's unique Pair Marathon team competition that combines the two fastest times from competing universities to determine the winner, 2024 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University took the team title thanks to 4th-year Masaya Tsurukawa's overall win in 1:02:49 ..read more

Women's marathon NR holder and Paris Olympic team member Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) ran Friday's Paris Festival of Running, one of six Japanese athletes across the four main distances at the event. Maeda was 19th of 24 finishers in the elite women's 5 km, running 16:13 to winner Caroline Nyaga's 14:40. Haruka Ogawa (Rikkyo Univ.) was next in 16:24 for 20th. Tomo Muramatsu (Ritsumeikan Univ.) was the ..read more

On April 4 the JAAF announced its medal targets and other plans for this summer's Paris Olympics. At a press conference in Tokyo, development committee chair Kazuhiko Yamazaki told reporters, "Last summer at the Budapest World Championships we had two medals and eleven top 8 placings. We'd like to equal or do better than that."The Japanese Olympic team will be based in Cergy, France outside Paris ..read more

The Kanto Student Athletics Federation (KGRR), organizers of the Hakone Ekiden, announced this week that as of April 1 they have changed their legal status from a volunteer organization to an incorporated foundation. Having served as the KGRR's chairperson for eight years since his appointment in 2016, Masahiro Ariyoshi, 76, has stepped down to be replaced by Yasushi Ueda, 68, a 1984 Olympian in ..read more