Nine Under 28 in Shizuoka TT 10000 m

by Brett Larner

In his first official track 10000 m, Kenyan Edward Waweru (Team NTN) ran one of the fastest 10000 m times of the year, 27:13.94, to lead nine men under 28 minutes at the 4th Shizuoka Prefecture Time Trials, Oct. 16 in Fukuroi, Shizuoka. Seven of the nine were Kenyan, while for both of the Japanese runners, Toyota teammates Yoshinori Oda and Yusuke Takabayashi, it was their first time to break 28 minutes. Oda was the faster, running 27:53.55 for 5th to break his 6 1/2 year-old PB by 10 seconds. The first-year pro Takabayashi, no doubt motivated by his former Komazawa University teammate Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) having broken Takabayashi's half marathon PB earlier the same day at the World Half Marathon, was 8th in 27:56.46. 10th placer Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota), who just turned 19 at the end of August, took over a minute off his PB with a strong 28:21.00.

2009 national champion Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) made good progress in his comeback from recent injury troubles with a 13:43.78 win in the men's 5000 m. High schooler Shogo Nakamura (Ueno Kogyo H.S.) outkicked Kenyan Jeremiah Karemi (Toyokawa H.S.) for 2nd, 13:50.38 to 13:50.79.

In women's results, Kenyan Ann Karindi (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) ran the fastest time of the year by a woman on Japanese soil with a 15:11.65 in the men's 5000 m, breaking her PB by 4 seconds. High schoolers dominated the women's 5000 m and 3000 m, with Tomoka Kimura (Chikushi Jogakuen H.S.) winning the 5000 m in 15:44.02 and Mutsumi Ikeda (Suma Gakuen H.S.) taking the 3000 m in 9:11.40. Altogether twenty high school women broke 9:30 in the 3000 m.

Shizuoka Prefecture Time Trials
click here for complete results
Men's 10000 m - Heat 2
1. Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) - 27:13.94 - debut
2. John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota) - 27:16.54
3. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 27:42.20 - PB
4. James Mwangi (Kenya/Team NTN) - 27:53.13
5. Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota) - 27:53.55 - PB
6. Micah Njeru (Kenya/Team Toyota Boshoku) - 27:54.55
7. Patrick Mwaka (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) - 27:56.39 - PB
8. Yusuke Takabayashi (Team Toyota) - 27:56.46 - PB
9. Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Steel) - 27:59.28
10. Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) - 28:21.00 - PB

Men's 5000 m - Heat 15
1. Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) - 13:43.78
2. Shogo Nakamura (Ueno Kogyo H.S.) - 13:50.38 - PB
3. Jeremiah Karemi (Kenya/Toyokawa H.S.) - 13:50.79 - PB

Men's 10000 m - Heat 1
1. Hiroaki Onishi (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) - 29:14.84
2. Naoki Sumida (Team Aichi Steel) - 29:17.08
3. Shunsuke Sakai (Team Chuo Spring) - 29:17.53

Mixed 5000 m - Heat 12
30. Ann Karindi (Kenya/Team Toyota Jidoshoki) - 15:11.65 - (PB)

Women's 5000 m - Heat 2
1. Tomoka Kimura (Chikushi Jogakuen H.S.) - 15:44.02
2. Kaori Akagawa - (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 15:54.94
3. Ayaka Mori - (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) - 15:58.85
4. Saeko Yuda - (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 16:00.96
5. Kazue Kojima (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) - 16:14.95

Women's 3000 m - Heat 10
1. Mutsumi Ikeda (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 9:11.40
2. Yuka Ando (Toyokawa H.S.) - 9:12.93
3. Miyuki Gokan (Tokiwa H.S.) - 9:13.23
4. Saori Noda (Chiharadai H.S.) - 9:13.95
5. Risa Yokoe (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 9:15.70
6. Erina Maki (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 9:16.29
7. Natsuko Omori (Kunei Jogakuin H.S.) - 9:16.34
8. Mao Kiyota (Chukyo Prep H.S.) - 9:18.30
9. Shiho Takeda (Tokiwa H.S.) - 9:19.05
10. Misaki Sango (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 9:21.26

Women's 3000 m - Heat 9
1. Hitomi Sato (Hadano H.S.) - 9:30.79
2. Minami Hasegawa (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 9:31.50
3. Ami Mayanagi - (Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 9:33.71

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...

japan running news

Search This Blog