Skip to main content

Mesfin and Kobayashi 1500 m MR at Kanaguri Memorial

by Brett Larner

Ethiopian Nahom Mesfin (Team Kanebo) and 1500 m national record holder Fumikazu Kobayashi (Team NTN) got the track season started off with a duel over 1500 m at the Kanaguri Memorial Track Meet April 10 in Kumamoto. With a PB performance Mesfin came out a step ahead as both runners broke Kobayashi's 5 year old meet record. Kenyan Ann Karindi (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) fell 0.11 seconds short of the women's 1500 m meet record but still set a PB of 4:09.41 and beat national record holder and teammate Yuriko Kobayashi by 9 seconds.

The other meet record of the day came in the high school boys' 5000 m, where Takashi Ichida (Kumamoto H.S.) ran 14:11.75 to break the existing meet record by 6.5 seconds. The old record holder, Ikuto Yufu (Komazawa Univ.), made his university debut in the men's 5000 m where he was 8th in a creditable PB of 13:53.20. Kenyan Josephat Ndambiri (Team Komori Corp.) took an unsurprising win in the men's 5000 m as Kenyans went 1-2-3. Only Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) prevented an all-Kenyan top 4 as he ran a solid early-season 13:33.61. Takezawa was pleased with his performance, saying afterwards, "I can't remember how many years it's been since I felt good right from the spring. This year I'm targeting my 5000 and 10000 m times." Defending national champion Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) was 6th, while 13:18 man Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu) showed the after-effects of his disappointing marathon debut in February, finishing over 14 minutes in 13th.

With top seed Doricah Obare (Kenya/Team Hitachi) a no-show in the women's 5000 m, Ethiopian Betelhem Moges (Team Denso) was just a hair off her PB as she outkicked Kenyan Danielle Filomena Cheyech (Team Uniqlo). University star Kazue Kojima (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) had a decent pro debut, 4th in 15:54.96 behind top Japanese finisher Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz). 10000 m junior national record holder Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno) was also a no-show. In the high school girls' 3000 m identical twins Eri and Mari Tayama (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) went 1-2.

2010 Kanaguri Memorial Track Meet - Top Results
click here for complete overall results
click event headers for complete event results

Men's 5000 m - Heat 3
1. Josephat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) - 13:25.57
2. Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Aidem) - 13:32.41
3. Nicholas Makau (Yachiyo Kogyo H.S.) - 13:33.06
4. Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) - 13:33.61
5. Kiragu Njuguna (Kenya/Daiichi Kogyo Univ.) - 13:38.17
6. Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) - 13:45.95
7. Stephen Njeri (Fukuoka Ichi H.S.) - 13:50.43
8. Ikuto Yufu (Komazawa Univ.) - 13:53.20 - PB
9. Cosmas Ondiba (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 13:55.30
10. Terukazu Omori (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 13:56.13
-----
13. Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 14:12.52

Women's 5000 m - Heat 2
1. Betelhem Moges (Ethiopia/Team Denso) - 15:25.36
2. Danielle Filomena Cheyech (Kenya/Team Uniqlo) - 15:25.83
3. Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) - 15:53.85
4. Kazue Kojima (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) - 15:54.96
5. Madoka Ogi (Team Juhachi Ginko) - 15:57.03
6. Yoshiko Fujinaga (Team Shiseido) - 16:01.78
7. Keiko Nogami (Team Juhachi Ginko) - 16:06.64
8. Chieko Kido (Canon AC Kyushu) - 16:20.63
9. Kaori Oyama (Team Noritz) - 16:27.36
10. Michi Numata (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 16:28.63
-----
DNS - Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno)

Men's 1500 m - Heat 2
1. Nahom Mesfin (Ethiopia/Team Kanebo) - 3:41.60 - MR, PB
2. Fumikazu Kobayashi (Team NTN) - 3:41.88 - (MR)
3. Hiroshi Ino (Team Fujitsu) - 3:46.52
4. Masato Kihara (Team Kanebo) - 3:46.72
5. Takahiro Onishi (Team NTN) - 3:48.84

Women's 1500 m - Heat 2
1. Ann Karindi (Kenya/Team Toyota Jidoshoki) - 4:09.41 - PB
2. Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) - 4:18.41
3. Yukari So (Asahi Kasei AC) - 4:22.81

High School Boys' 5000 m - Heat 6
1. Takashi Ichida (Kumamoto H.S.) - 14:11.75 - MR
2. Yuki Arimura (Kumamoto H.S.) - 14:19.88
3. Masashi Ishida (Kyushu Kokuritsu Prep H.S.) - 14:39.88

High School Girls' 3000 m - Heat 4
1. Eri Tayama (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 9:27.04
2. Mari Tayama (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 9:27.14
3. Tomoka Kimura (Chikushi Jogakuen H.S.) - 9:28.81

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...
2 comments
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...
Post a Comment
Read more

16 Women and 26 Men on the Current Olympic Trials Qualifier List

Last weekend's Nagoya Women's Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon the weekend before brought the main part of the first year of qualification for the Marathon Grand Championship Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials to be held in Nagoya in October, 2027, to an end. There are still a few races like the Nagano Marathon and overseas World Athletics platinum label races this season where people might qualify, but for the most part we're not likely to see many new additions until August's Hokkaido Marathon, where the qualifying period opened last year. As of right now 16 women and 26 men have qualified, although the first woman to make the cut, Ai Hosoda , announced that she was retiring after Tokyo earlier this month. Out of the 16 women to have qualified so far, Mikuni Yada is the fastest with her 2:19:57 debut at Osaka Women's in January. Including Hosoda that makes 2 qualifiers for the Edion corporate team, but Daihatsu has the biggest share of the field so ...
Post a Comment
Read more