Skip to main content

Paul Tanui Just Off Men's 10000 m World Leader at Kyushu Corporate Champs

by Brett Larner

On the second of three consecutive weekends of regional corporate track championships, 2011 World XC Championships runner-up Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) had the biggest run in the country. He and Ethiopian Alemu Desta (Team Yasukawa Denki) set out in the Kyushu Jitsugyodan Championships 10000 m at a blazing 2:36 for the first km, well under world record pace. The pair held to sub-27 minute pace through 6000 m, Desta burning up but Tanui pushing on to a 27:18.58 meet record, just a second off his PB and the 2nd-fastest time in the world so far this year. With Tanui's mark the top four men worldwide for 10000 m are currently all Japan-based Kenyans. His teammate Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) had the fastest 5000 m of the weekend in Japan, taking the Kyushu Jitsugyodan women's 5000 m in 15:46.69.

The Hokuriku Jitsugyodan Championships, traditionally the weakest of the major corporate league regions, had the next-strongest performances, with meet records in the men's 10000 m and women's 5000 m thanks to a 28:09.99 by Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) and a 16:25.71 by Manami Murayama (Niigata Albirex RC).

Among the members of the Japanese marathon teams for this summer's Daegu World Championships, Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Asahi Kasei) and Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) were both off their recent 10000 m PBs, Horibata just breaking 29 minutes. Women's team member Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) was only 5th in the 5000 m but finished 2nd in the 10000 m behind the leading Japanese women's half-marathoner of 2010, Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera). Miyauchi's 32:40.14 was the fastest women's 10000 m of the weekend.

Also noteworthy was the return to competition of half-marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku), who clocked 29:34.76 for 10000 m at the Chugoku regional meet in his first race since finishing 3rd at the 2010 Tokyo Marathon. The regional corporate meets wrap up next weekend with the Kanto Jitsugyodan Championships.

54th Kyushu Jitsugyodan T&F Championships
Kitakyushu, 5/14-15/11
Men's 10000 m - Heat 3
1. Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 27:18.58 - MR
2. Alemu Desta (Ethiopia/Team Yasukawa Denki) - 27:57.17 (MR)
3. Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko) - 28:28.65
4. Kazuya Deguchi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:31.43
5. Ryo Kiname (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 28:32.36
-----
8. Masato Imai (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 28:50.58
10. Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:56.00

Women's 10000 m
1. Mayumi Fujita (Team Juhachi Ginko) - 33:27.98
2. Yoko Nishimi (Team Juhachi Ginko) - 33:28.33
3. Saori Kabeshima (Canon AC Kyushu) - 35:10.28

Men's 10000 m - Heat 2
1. Takehiro Arakawa (Team Asahi Kasei) - 29:07.48
2. Kenichi Kita (Team Kyudenko) - 29:10.78
3. Daiki Kubota (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 29:12.22
-----
7. Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 29:15.36

Women's 5000 m
1. Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 15:46.69
2. Yuka Yano (Canon AC Kyushu) - 16:22.54
3. Chieko Kido (Canon AC Kyushu) - 16:26.33

Men's 5000 m
1. Takehiro Arakawa (Team Asahi Kasei) - 14:12.63
2. Fumihiro Maruyama (Team Asahi Kasei) - 14:16.00
3. Masayuki Obata (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 14:17.06

55th Kansai Jitsugyodan T&F Championships
Tokushima, 5/13-15/11
Women's 10000 m
1. Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 32:40.14
2. Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 32:59.25
3. Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 33:23.53
4. Tomoka Inadomi (Team Wacoal) - 33:31.98
5. Noriko Higuchi (Team Wacoal) - 33:37.10

Men's 10000 m
1. Yusuke Kawaminami (Team Osaka Gas) - 29:34.53
2. Ryo Matsumoto (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 29:36.31
3. Takaya Iwasaki (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 29:37.75
4. Hiroki Mitsuoka (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 29:39.61
5. Tatsunori Sento (Team Sagawa Express) - 29:40.31
-----
8. Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 29:45.60

Women's 5000 m
1. Ai Igarashi (Team Sysmex) - 15:55.18
2. Seika Nishikawa (Team Sysmex) - 16:02.46
3. Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 16:02.76
4. Miho Ihara (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 16:07.26
5. Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 16:10.29

Men's 5000 m
1. Ryo Matsumoto (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 14:09.37
2. Shogo Matsugaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 14:09.85
3. Yohei Yamamoto (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 14:11.19

50th Chugoku Jitsugyodan T&F Championships
Miyoshi, 5/14-15/11
Men's 10000 m
1. Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) - 28:36.23
2. Hironori Arai (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 28:43.19
3. Peter Kariuki (Kenya/Team Mazda) - 28:54.56
4. Hiroki Tanaka (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 29:06.16
5. Daisuke Koyama (Team Chudenko) - 29:11.71
-----
18. Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 29:34.76

Women's 10000 m
1. Yuko Watanabe (Team Edion) - 33:16.78
2. Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) - 33:24.76
3. Yoshie Kurisu (Team Tenmaya) - 33:35.90

Women's 3000 m
1. Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) - 9:34.27
2. Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya) - 9:57.24

41st Hokuriku Jitsugyodan T&F Championships
Niigata, 5/14-15/11
Women's 10000 m
1. Maiko Kushima (Niigata Albirex RC) - 34:27.21
2. Manami Murayama (Niigata Albirex RC) - 35:20.76
3. Akiko Masuda (Tanai City Hall) - 37:40.09

Men's 10000 m
1. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 28:09.99 - MR
2. Tsubasa Maeda (Team YKK) - 29:37.40
3. Tetsuo Nishimura (Team YKK) - 29:41.96

Women's 5000 m
1. Manami Murayama (Niigata Albirex RC) - 16:25.71 - MR
2. Azusa Saito (Niigata Albirex RC) - 16:31.00 (MR)
3. Maiko Kushima (Niigata Albirex RC) - 16:44.52
Men's 5000 m
1. Kosuke Murasashi (Team YKK) - 14:20.31
2. Yoshihiro Hinomoto (Team YKK) - 14:21.76
3. Tsubasa Maeda (Team YKK) - 14:25.93

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance?  Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance.  This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere.  It was put into place in 1986.  In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made.  Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km.  When a bicycle is u...

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...