Skip to main content

Hayakari Breaks Own Steeplechase National Record in Heusden

by Brett Larner


Minori Hayakari`s 3000 m SC national record.

2008 National Track and Field Championships women`s 3000 m steeplechase champion Minori Hayakari (Kyoto Koka AC) ran 9:33.93 to break her own Japanese national record by almost 5 seconds at the KBC Night of Athletics in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium on July 20th. Her time, which was nearly 15 seconds better than her winning time at last month`s Nationals, landed Hayakari in 4th place just a step behind 3rd place finisher Irini Kokkinariou of Greece. 1st and 2nd place finishers Jenny Barringer and Anna Willard finished in a virtual tie, both breaking the U.S. national record. Heusden remained a lucky meet for Hayakari after having set the former Japanese national record at last year`s KBC Night of Athletics.

In the men`s 1500 m B-group, Kazuya Watanabe (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko), infamous for falling just meters before the finish while leading the 1500 m at last month`s Nationals, ran his best time of the season but just missed the Olympic B-standard. Osaka World Championships men`s 10000 m team member Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko) ran a PB to break the Olympic B-standard in the men`s 5000 m B-group but came up short of making the Olympic A-standard and securing the final spot on the Beijing Olympic team. It was a good day overall for the Japanese men in the 5000, with 5 of the 8 men entered running PBs. 2007 National 3000 m steeplechase champion Jun Shinoto (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko), who fell during the steeplechase at this year`s Nationals and finished last, continued his run of bad luck when he scored a DNF in the 5000 m.

Japanese results at Heusden (click for video):

Men`s 800 m B-group
8. Hiroshi Sasano: 1:49.57

Women`s 1500 m
13. Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic): 4:12.73
17. Nanae Kuwashiro (Team Acom): 4:21.79

Men`s 1500 m B-group
6. Kazuya Watanabe (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko): 3:40.97

Women`s 3000 m SC
4. Minori Hayakari (Kyoto Koka AC): 9:33.93 - NR

Men`s 5000 m B-group
5. Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko): 13:25.24 - PB
16. Hidekazu Sato (Team Toyota Boshoku): 13:33.86 - PB

Men`s 5000 m National 1-group
4. Tsuyoshi Makabe (Team Kanebo): 13:40.04 - PB
5. Kazuharu Takai (Team Kyudenko): 13:40.10
7. Yuki Iwai (Team Asahi Kasei): 13:46.14 - PB
8. Hiroyuki Yamada (Team Konica-Minolta): 13:48.71 - PB
DNF: Jun Shinoto (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko)

Men`s 5000 m National 2-group
5. Tsuyoshi Takahashi: 14:22.51

A complete list of results is available here.

(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

CHN and JPN National Records Go Down - Weekend Track Update

There weren't any Japanese athletes in action at the Rabat Diamond League meet Sunday, but 2 lower-tier domestic meets produced new national records. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama, Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) led the top 5 in the men's 10000 m under 28 minutes in 27:39.97. In 3rd, China's Wenjie Wang took just over a second off his own NR from the same meet last year, setting a new record of 27:47.53. His teammate Haoran Tang was 6th in a 28:27.44 PB, with the top Japanese time in the race being a 28:33.39 for 8th from Jin Yuasa (Toyota). Amazingly, Wang and Tang were back the next day on day 2 of the Nittai meet, Wang running a PB of 13:35.58 for 4th in the A-heat and Tang winning the B-heat in a PB of 13:38.80. Isaac Ndiema took the A-heat in 13:26.49, with the fastest Japanese time going to Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) with a 13:35.94 for 5th behind Wang. Other Nittai highlights: Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) won a photo finish against Yua Nagamori ...

Batt-Doyle and Strintzos Break Records at Launceston Half

Australians Isobel Batt-Doyle and Haftu Strintzos turned in record-breaking performances to win the McGrath Launceston Running Festival Peppers Silo Half Marathon in Tasmania. Running with a private male pacer, NR holder Batt-Doyle dusted the field with the fastest half marathon ever by an Australian woman on Australian soil, a 1:08:46 CR that put her 2 and a half minutes ahead of runner-up Genevieve Gregson . Last year's runner-up Yumi Yoshikawa was almost a minute back from Gregson in 3rd in 1:12:03, but was almost run down by club runner Ayaka Shimoyamada . Starting slow in her international debut, Shimoyamada moved up from 7th over the 2nd half of the race to finish 4th in 1:12:06, kicking hard in the home straight to try to catch Yoshikawa and momentarily blacking out after finishing. Kaho Onishi was 7th in 1:12:45 in her own international debut. The men's half had pacing set at 2:53/km to try to deliver the first-ever sub-61 half marathon on Australian soil. CR holde...