brainboxed wrote:
social harmony goes to their running as well.. all those guys under 29:00 and non will ever go under 28:00. They are culturally stuck in many regards and that extends to athletics. going under 28:00 would be impolite and apologies would ensue for doing something differently. I live in japan.. and I am not even joking...
the breakthrough is NOP's Osako and that is only because he left Japan. kawauchi same thing.... he runs lots of marathons in 2:08 but never podiums outside japan.
put our top collegiates in an ekiden all star race with japan all stars and it would be close to equal. after college, forget about it. they have no medals in recent generations on an international level.... they can't do things outside of Japan well.... except swimming.
If you live in Japan then it sounds like you are missing a lot of what's happening around you.
-The top Japanese university guy so far this year has run 27:58. In 2014 the fastest college kid ran 27:49. In 2013 three university guys broke 28. Lots more regularly go for it, one of them this coming Saturday.
-Many years, 2014 for example, more Japanese guys break 28:00 than Americans. It may end up that way this year too after Saturday.
-Two Japanese guys running in Japan ran faster this year than Osako did for 10000 m. One of them also beat him for the 5000m national title.
-In the last three years Kawauchi has won 5 marathons outside Japan, finished 2nd in 2 and 3rd in 2, a total of 9 podium finishes. Many of these were in IAAF label races.
-In terms of top U.S. collegiates in an ekiden, that would be a pretty exciting race to watch. "Close to equal" would be a stretch at the Hakone level, but at something much shorter like Izumo it would be great.
I hope this helps.