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

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .
Post a Comment
Read more

Chesang Wins Osaka Women's Marathon in 2:19:31, Yada Drops 2:19:57 Debut NR

This year's Osaka International Women's Marathon was a race run with a high level of methodicalness, starting slower than the planned 3:19/km but ramping up until the lead pack was skimming around the 2:20:15-30 projected finish level. After hitting halfway in 1:10:13 with a group of 6, by 25 km only 4 were left up front, sub-2:19 runners Workenesh Edesa , Stella Chesang and Bedatu Hirpa , and the debuting Mikuni Yada , and when the last 2 pacers stepped off at 30 km it was Yada who went to the front. Despite never have raced longer than the 10.6 km Third Stage at November's Queens Ekiden where she had helped the Edion team score its first-ever national title, Yada was very, very impressive, fearlessly surging from 12 km and never letting up, even laughing and smiling to fans along the course. When she started sustaining a pace around 3:15/km the projected finish dropped under 2:20 and all the way down to 2:19:28 by 35 km, and even when all 3 of the more experienced ru...
2 comments
Read more

Hirayama Breaks Osaka Half CR, Martinez Set Puerto Rican NR

The Osaka Half Marathon took another big step up the domestic half marathon rankings from a mass-participation race run alongside the Osaka International Women's Marathon to one of the country's top-tier races. In the women's race, the debuting Jecinta Nyokabi (Denso) went out fast, only to be run down by veteran Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon AC) by 10 km. Nyokabi faded to 6th in 1:10:41, but Yoshikawa pushed on to a PB 1:09:14 for the win. Rina Shimizu (Noritz), Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) and Makoto Tsuchiya (Ritsumeikan Univ.) all broke 70 minutes, Tsuchiya taking the Kansai Region collegiate title in 1:09:32 for 4th overall. Everyone in the top 10 who wasn't debuting ran a PB, a mark of how fast the day was even with cold and windy conditions. The men's race went out on sub-61 pace courtesy of Yudai Shimazu (GMO), then got a big injection of speed when Kyuma Yokota (Toyota Kyushu) took off close to 60-flat pace. Yokota opened a 10-second lead by 15 km, but over ...
Post a Comment
Read more