Just insane field depth in a non-professional (amateur) race with NO international participants (only tax-paying residents of Japan were allowed entry). The top two finishers got trips to the US to compete for the first time internationally at the NYC Half - no other monetary awards at the race.
1st: 1:01:26
10th: 1:02:54
25th: 1:03:23
50th: 1:03:53
100th: 1:04:37
150th: 1:05:37
200th: 1:06:15
Just for reference, only 82 Americans have run 1:06:15 or faster in the past year.
and god forbid anyone wore Vapor Fly Next %. The depth of Japanese Distance running is fantastic.
Nice.
Only tax paying residents? No students, no retired, no unemployed?
What's even more amazing is that Japan doesn't have a single pro who is faster than Patrick Tiernan (1:01:22) this year.
Well, neither does the US.
Do we need to import more Australians?
I was actually WRONG about this because I only read the race website quickly without doing a better translation - participants only need to have a Japanese address to enter (you get an entry card in the mail that you must hand in to get your number). There is reduced entry for people who people who choose to allot a portion of their tax payment to certain less populous / rich prefectures.
SonicandTrails wrote:
Just insane field depth in a non-professional (amateur) race with NO international participants (only tax-paying residents of Japan were allowed entry). The top two finishers got trips to the US to compete for the first time internationally at the NYC Half - no other monetary awards at the race.
1st: 1:01:26
10th: 1:02:54
25th: 1:03:23
50th: 1:03:53
100th: 1:04:37
150th: 1:05:37
200th: 1:06:15
Just for reference, only 82 Americans have run 1:06:15 or faster in the past year.
The Winner is Kenyan
SonicandTrails wrote:
Just insane field depth in a non-professional (amateur) race with NO international participants (only tax-paying residents of Japan were allowed entry). The top two finishers got trips to the US to compete for the first time internationally at the NYC Half - no other monetary awards at the race.
1st: 1:01:26
10th: 1:02:54
25th: 1:03:23
50th: 1:03:53
100th: 1:04:37
150th: 1:05:37
200th: 1:06:15
Just for reference, only 82 Americans have run 1:06:15 or faster in the past year.
Seriously, this is the way the sport needs to go in ALL countries ,for all races with the exception of the Olympics and World Champs. Europe and the US need to follow suit ASAP. These measures will stem the doping problem in E Africa pretty much overnight.
SonicandTrails wrote:
Just insane field depth in a non-professional (amateur) race with NO international participants (only tax-paying residents of Japan were allowed entry). The top two finishers got trips to the US to compete for the first time internationally at the NYC Half - no other monetary awards at the race.
1st: 1:01:26
10th: 1:02:54
25th: 1:03:23
50th: 1:03:53
100th: 1:04:37
150th: 1:05:37
200th: 1:06:15
Just for reference, only 82 Americans have run 1:06:15 or faster in the past year.
WTF..! 200# 1:06:15 , what is wrong with the USA ??..?!
It is obvious that their depth is so good because they have a lot of people doing very heavy mileage, and that they have very few people doing exceptionally well on the world stage because very few people are doing the kind of training they do at the upper levels of the sport (less mileage, more speed, harder/shorter tempos). They cluster around 1:02-1:06. If Americans adopted that kind of training, they'd be around that, and if they adopted Kenyan style training but without doping, they'd cluster around 59-1:02. What is the typical Japanese training program more precisely?
Make the sport great again wrote:
SonicandTrails wrote:
Just insane field depth in a non-professional (amateur) race with NO international participants (only tax-paying residents of Japan were allowed entry). The top two finishers got trips to the US to compete for the first time internationally at the NYC Half - no other monetary awards at the race.
1st: 1:01:26
10th: 1:02:54
25th: 1:03:23
50th: 1:03:53
100th: 1:04:37
150th: 1:05:37
200th: 1:06:15
Just for reference, only 82 Americans have run 1:06:15 or faster in the past year.
Seriously, this is the way the sport needs to go in ALL countries ,for all races with the exception of the Olympics and World Champs. Europe and the US need to follow suit ASAP. These measures will stem the doping problem in E Africa pretty much overnight.
I don't disagree. There are some half marathons in the US set up for fast racing -Montery, BAA Boston, Houston, etc. Problem 1 is travel in the US is incredibly expensive. We get decent showings at CIM, Chicago, Houston, and Boston marathons but nothing like Japan.
At the college level, athletes (other than the naia) are restricted to 10k and down by their racing season. Usually they're racing so much that they wouldn't want to run a road race. Post college few can continue their training because of the demands of work. I bet we have more depth at 15 and 5 than Japan.
