High-volume live road race commentary brought to you by JRN, the world's window into elite Japanese distance running since 2007. Main feed is
@JRNHeadlines
Another great bit from the Olympic marathon trials yesterday: Just before final downhill w/<2k to go, chasing Nakamura and trying to hold off NR holder Osako, Yuma Hattori thumps his chest to push himself on. He finished 2nd to make the Olympic team.
Awesome! Anncr asks Yonemitsu how he feels about tying legend Yasuyuki Watanabe's all-time
#2
time and he says, "Well, these days there's the shoes, the Vaporfly, so I don't feel especially psyched about it."
#honesty
Yuki Kawauchi wins Saitama Int'l Marathon in 2:15:53 unoff a week after 2:15:02 at Nice-Cannes Marathon. CR by ~3 min and 60th career sub-2:16 marathon.
Naoya Koyama wins Japan's Olympic marathon trials in 2:08:56 in heavy rain. Akira Akasaki 2nd in 2:09:6. Both make Paris team. Suguru Osako 3rd for provisional spot again in 2:09:10.
It's great that there were people watching the stream and following on every continent. I work with NTV broadcast production team when I do commentary on the Tokyo Marathon broadcast and tell them every time that there's global potential for Hakone, but they just stare at me.
Men's NR holder Kengo Suzuki, a DNF today, cheers on wife Mao Ichiyama, women-only NR, to 2nd-place finish and place on Paris Olympic team. Suzuki will have one more shot in winter to join her if he can run 2:05:50 or better again.
18-yr-old Seira Fuwa, who just ran 28:00 for 9.2km, said her goal was to run 29:10. Says she's just getting started. And she's trending nationally now.
Next live coverage:
Jan.1: New Year Ekiden, 8:30 a.m. local time
Jan.2: Hakone Ekiden day 1, 7:50 a.m.
Jan.3: Hakone Ekiden day 2, 7:50 a.m.
Previews here:
If you have a VPN, watch all 3 days live here:
We’re out on the National University Ekiden course and not able to cover the race live. Highlight so far has been 31:01 CR for 11.1k 2nd leg by 19-yr-old Keita Sato, 27:57 road 10k pace, to put defending champions Komazawa University into the lead. Lead >1:20 at 4th exchange.
Naoya Koyama wins Japan's Olympic marathon trials in 2:08:56 in heavy rain. Akira Akasaki 2nd in 2:09:6. Both make Paris team. Suguru Osako 3rd for provisional spot again in 2:09:10.
Hironobu Nakakura anchors Aoyama Gakuin University to 10:43:42 CR win at Hakone Ekiden, AGU's 6th win in last 8 years. Runs 1:07:50 CR for 23.0km anchor stage.
Ruth Chepngetich wins Nagoya Women's Marathon and $250,000 prize money in 2:17:18 , 2nd-fastest ever in a women-only race. Solo almost entire way. Misses PB by only 10 sec.
Pleased to report that according to JPN media Katakai didn't suffer any serious damage from this. She was examined by doctors afterward and had cuts and scrapes on her feet but no broken bones or other major issues.
Haruka Yamaguchi wins Hokkaido Marathon women's race in 2:29:52 to qualify for next year's 2024 Olympic marathon trials. Japan's best-ever female marathoner to never run in the corporate team system.
Luka Musembi/Tokyo Kokusai Univ wins Hokkaido Marathon men's race in 2:10:49 debut. All smiles. Yugo Kashiwa/Toyo Univ 2nd in 2:11:40 debut to qualify for 2024 Olympic marathon trials. Masaru Aoki 3rd 2:11:45 to qualify for trials too.
Hibiki Aogaki anchors Komazawa University to 2023 Hakone Ekiden win in 10:47:10 for full 10-stage, 217.1 km. 3rd-fastest winning time ever. Komazawa head coach Hiroaki Oyagi's first-ever triple crown of single-season wins at Izumo, Nationals and Hakone.
So we had college students go 1-2 in the men's race and a mid-30s club runner win the women's race today in Hokkaido. A bit of a spank to the corporate team system.
Onodera/Soka crying in home straight as he crosses line. Finishes 53 sec behind Komazawa in 2nd, collapses. Soka almost pulls off biggest upset win in Hakone history, but still a school record. Onodera taken out in stretcher, given oxygen.
Sadly, that's about it for today. Results and report on JRN main site shortly. Thanks for following. Seemed like there was more interaction this yr, which is great. Feel free to help keep us in caffeine below. Thanks either way, and all the best for 2021.
Love to see the 2:15 and 2:17 guys unafraid to go for low 2:05. It's a numbers game like the Dubai approach: throw enough people at a target and most will self-destruct, but a few of them will stick.
Historical episode with Shota Jige, Jobu Univ grad who is one of top amateur runners in Japan now. Jobu story was incorporated into live action version of "Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru."
And that's it, all 21 teams have finished the 2021 Hakone Ekiden. Still processing what we saw there on the anchor stage. Wish there were more like that.