Skip to main content

Mok Ying Ren Runs Singaporean Men's 5000 m NR at Tokai Univ. Time Trials



by Brett Larner

Singaporean medical student and half-marathon national record holder Mok Ying Ren travelled to Japan this weekend to run in the May 28 Tokai University Time Trials meet in Kanagawa, south of Tokyo, with the aim of breaking the old Singaporean men's 5000 m national record of 14:57.61. In rainy conditions Ren succeeded in his goal, patiently following the advice of his training partner Jason Lawrence to start at the back of the field and progressively move up. Ren executed the plan perfectly and easily achieved his mark with a new national record of 14:51.09. "I'm so happy today," Ren said afterwards. "This year we did three 5000 m races. The first one was 15:17, then 15:06, and today 14:51. Jason organized this race in Japan because Japanese [meets] are known to have many heats and many people in one heat and they all run about the same time. So today I hoped to follow when the race started and hoped to catch them one by one, and then hopefully a new Singapore national record. I think it went as planned."

Top-ranked university man Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) led the heat with a solo 14:05.12 before returning shortly afterwards with a 3:53.57 for 1500 m against teammate and 2011 Kanto region 10000 m champion Tsubasa Hayakawa (Tokai Univ.) who won in 3:53.11.


Tokai University Time Trials
Tokai Univ., Kanagawa, 5/28/11
Men's 5000 m Heat 6
1. Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) - 14:05.12
2. Hisanori Nonaka (Tokai Univ.) - 14:36.25
3. Hiroyuki Ishikawa (Tokai Univ.) - 14:40.24
4. Ryo Koizumi (Tokai Univ.) - 14:48.03
5. Mok Ying Ren (Singapore) - 14:51.09 - NR

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Thanks for taking the time out to write about this.

Fantastic achievement for a medical student, and in a country where sports in hardly a priority.
May 29, 2011 at 3:28 PM
Anonymous said…
and major credit to Jason Lawrence too, who must've played a big role in arranging the whole thing.
May 29, 2011 at 3:34 PM
TokyoRacer said…
That's terrific. Congratulations, Mok!
May 29, 2011 at 3:54 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...
3 comments
Read more

Mashiko Breaks U20 5000 m NR - Weekend Track Roundup

Saturday's Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto was the weekend's main event in Japanese track, but there were good results at the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama too. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) led the men's 5000 m A-heat at Kanakuri in 13:14.06, with Tomonori Yamaguchi (SGH) clocking the fastest Japanese time in 13:16.38 in his first race as a corporate leaguer. Waseda University duo Rui Suzuki and Yota Mashiko went 6-7 in 13:20.64 and 13:22.87, the 18-year-old Mashiko shaving 0.04 off the U20 NR. In 8th, Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) ran a PB of 13:23.92. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) continued to struggle after a weak indoor season, finishing 18th of 20 finishers in 13:45.10. 19-year-old Festus Kimorwo (Kurosaki Harima) was under 13:20 in the B-heat too, winning in a 13:19.59 PB. 2 more collegiate men broke 13:30, Daichi Fujita (Chuo Univ.) 8th in 13:28.93 and Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) 9th in 13:29.09. The top 6 in the men's 800 m A-hea...
Post a Comment
Read more