Skip to main content

Anzai Just Misses 1000m National Record at Hokuren Distance Challenge Abashiri Meet

by Brett Larner

Team S&B rookie Aruto Anzai just missed Fumikazu Kobayashi`s men`s 1000 m national record of 2:19.65 at the Hokuren Distance Challenge Abashiri Meet on July 9th. Anzai ran a duel with Team Fujitsu`s Hiroshi Ino, leaving the rest of the field behind and winning in 2:20.43 with Ino 2nd in 2:21.89.

Athens Olympics men`s 10000 m team member Ryuji Ono of Team Asahi Kasei likewise came up short in the 5000 m, landing 2nd behind Kenyan winner John Thuo of Team Toyota Jidosha in 13:32.67. Ono`s mark was well off the Olympic A-standard he needs to have in order to become a last-minute addition to the Beijing Olympic team. His last chance will come in the 10000 m at the Hokuren Distance Challenge Kushiro Meet on July 16.

The Abashiri Meet also included rarely-contested men`s and women`s 600 m races. Ayako Jinnouchi of Saga University won the women`s competition in 1:28.41, while Takeshi Kuchino of Nittai University took the men`s race in 1:16.74.

The Hokuren Distance Challenge continues July 13 in Kitami, Hokkaido. 1500 m national record holder Fumikazu Kobayashi of Team NTN will race have a rematch of his fluke National Track and Field Championships victory over Team NTT Nishi Nihon`s Kazuya Watanabe and Team Chugoku Denryoku`s Yasuhiro Tago as all three make their final attempt to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

Top Finishers
Women`s 600 m
1. Ayako Jinnouchi (Saga Univ.): 1:28.41
2. Heo Jung Yeon (Korea): 1:29.34
3. Miki Nishimura (Self-Defense Force Sports Academy): 1:31.08

Men`s 600 m
1. Takeshi Kuchino (Nittai Univ.): 1:16.74
2. Sung Soo Park (Korea): 1:17.03
3. Masaharu Nakano (Team Otsuka Seiyaku): 1:17.48

Men`s 1000 m
1. Aruto Anzai (Team S&B): 2:20.43
2. Hiroshi Ino (Team Fujitsu): 2:21.89
3. Hiroaki Morikawa (Osaka Police): 2:25.70

Women`s 3000 m
1. Chisa Nishio (Team Starts): 9:09.44
2. Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz): 9:10.04
3. Hitomi Nakamura (Team Panasonic): 9:20.06

Men`s 3000 m
1. Yasunori Murakami (Team Fujitsu): 7:58.28
2. Makoto Fukui (Team Fujitsu): 8:01.24
3. Satoru Kitamura (Team Nissin Shokuhin): 8:11.46

Women`s 5000 m
1. Chiaki Takagi (Team Starts): 15:42.96
2. Yuka Izumi (Team Tenmaya): 15:46.46
3. Miki Ohira (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo): 15:51.98

Men`s 5000 m A-group
1. John Thuo (Team Toyota): 13:32.02
2. Ryuji Ono (Team Asahi Kasei): 13:32.67
3. Martin Waweru (Team Fujitsu): 13:46.77

Men`s 5000 m B-group
1. Atsushi Fujita (Team Fujitsu): 13:54.65
2. Takamasa Uchida (Team Toyota): 13:56.60
3. Kenta Oshima (Team Nissin Shokuhin): 13:59.39

Men`s 5000 m C-group
1. Keizo Maruyama (Team Nissin Shokuin): 14:03.67
2. Keun Tae Yuk (Korea): 14:08.24
3. Yun Ho Shin (Korea): 14:10.00

A complete list of results is available here.

(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Tokyo Olympics Marathon Trials Winner Nakamura Enters Waseda Grad School

An Olympian in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics, Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) announced on his social media that he has entered Waseda University 's Graduate School of Sport Science with the start of the new academic year this week. A graduate of Mie's Ueno Kogyo H.S. , Nakamura went to Komazawa University before joining Fujitsu in 2015. His senior year of high school he was 3rd overall and 2nd Japanese in the 5000 m at the National High School Track and Field Championships, and in the fall the same year he ran what was at the time the 7th-fastest high school mark ever, 13:50.38. At Komazawa he scored four individual stage wins across the three big university ekidens. In 2019 he won the MGC Race, Japan's marathon trials for the Tokyo Olympics, where he was 62nd in 2:22:23. Nakamura indicated that he would be studying "top sports management" under professor Takeo Hirata . "I'll be balancing competition and academics," Nakamura wrote. "I'm r...

Weekend Road and Track Roundup

A roundup of the main road and track action on the last weekend of Japan's 2024-25 academic and fiscal year: Doubling off a 2:07:06 PB at the Tokyo Marathon 4 weeks ago, Tatsuya Maruyama took bronze at the Asian Marathon Championships in Jiaxing, China in 2:11:56. Gold went to North Korea's Il Ryong Han in a breakaway 2:11:18, with silver medalist Tianyu Chen of China just ahead of Maruyama in 2:11:50. Japan's Shungo Yokota was a distant 4th in 2:14:00, with Japan-based Mongolian NR holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir 6th in 2:15:14. Japanese women Kaede Kawamura and Natsumi Matsushita were 5th and 6th in 2:31:26 and 2:34:40, with medals going to China's Bing Wu , gold in 2:26:01, North Korea's Kwang-Ok Ri , silver right behind her in 2:26:07, and defending gold medalist Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh landing in bronze this time in 2:28:56, her third sub-2:29 performance so far in 2025. Back home, four men broke 2:20 at the Fukui Sakura Marathon . Ko Kobayashi from the Shi...

Japan Names Marathon Teams for Tokyo World Championships

On Mar. 26 the JAAF named its women's and men's marathon teams for September's Tokyo World Championships. On the women's side the team has veterans Sayaka Sato and Yuka Ando off the strength of a runner-up finish for Sato in Nagoya this year and a win in Nagoya last year by Ando, and newcomer Kana Kobayashi , 23, who has risen quickly from being a fun runner at Waseda University last year to a 2nd-place finish in Osaka Women's this year. Paris Olympics 6th-placer Yuka Suzuki was named alternate after finishing 3rd behind Kobayashi in Osaka Women's. On the men's side the team is led by last year's Fukuoka International Marathon CR breaker Yuya Yoshida and this year's Osaka runner-up Ryota Kondo . The 3rd spot on the team is reserved for JMC Series winner Naoki Koyama , who hasn't cleared the 2:06:30 World Championships qualifying standard and has to wait for the May 4 qualifying deadline for confirmation that the 1184 points he has in the Roa...