Shibui Takes Nittai 5000 m, Fujimoto Wins 1500 m A-Heat

by Brett Larner

With most of the country's top athletes lining up at the Oda Memorial, Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational and Shizuoka International meets, the 215th edition of the Nittai University Time Trials meet Apr. 30-May 1 in Yokohama saw mostly second-string runners tuning up for bigger meets later in the season. Times were hampered by wind and rain, particularly on the meet's second day, but there were several noteworthy performances neverthless.

In the men's 10000 m, newcomer Joseph Onsarigo (Kenya/Sozo Gakuen Univ.) was the only man to break 29 minutes. Onsarigo is coached by Stephen Mayaka, the first Kenyan runner to go the full circuit through the Japanese high school, university and corporate running system. Onsarigo should make an impact at October's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai 20 km road race. In the women's 5000 m A-heat, 10000 m national record holder Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) won by 5 seconds over teammate Ikuyo Yamashita a day before rival Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) takes another swing at Shibui's record in Stanford.

A week after setting a short-lived world leader in the 10000 m at the Hyogo Relay Carnival meet, Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) added another win over former Sendai Ikuei H.S. star Paul Kuira (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) to his resume with a 13:38.84 time in the men's 5000 m. Kenyan high schooler Wainaina Murgi (Toyokawa H.S.), winner of the women's 3000 m at the 214th Nittai Time Trials, won this round as well, beating countrywoman Rose Maranga (Team Toto) by 13 seconds with a 9:18.64 clocking.

Perhaps the most interesting result came in the men's 1500 m A-heat, where surprise 2010 Kanto Regional University 5000 m champion Taku Fujimoto (Kokushikan Univ.) beat pro middle-distance runners Shunta Kubo and Keisuke Tanaka (both Team Fujitsu) as he clocked a PB of 3:47.21 just a week after running 28:57.79 at the Hyogo Relay Carnival 10000 m. Fujimoto's closing speed was instrumental in last year's Kanto win over top-ranked distance men Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) and Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Meiji Univ.). He looks to be in a good position to have a shot at repeating later this month at the 2011 Kanto Regionals.

215th Nittai University Time Trials - Top Results

click here for complete results

Men's 10000 m - Heat 5

1. Joseph Onsarigo (Kenya/Sozo Gakuen Univ.) - 28:50.70

2. Soichiro Ichikawa (Waseda Univ.) - 29:46.74

3. Ryuichi Kagawa (Teikyo Univ.) - 29:52.45

Women's 5000 m - Heat 17

1. Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 16:06.39

2. Ikuyo Yamashita (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 16:11.06

3. Rina Yonetsu (Meijo Univ.) - 16:12.46

4. Misato Horie (Team Noritz) - 16:12.99

5. Nami Kakitsu (Team Edion) - 16:14.36

Men's 5000 m - Heat 20

1. Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 13:38.84

2. Paul Kuira (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) - 13:38.90

3. John Maina (Kenya/Takushoku Univ.) - 13:43.62

4. Atsushi Yamazaki (Team Subaru) - 14:01.33

5. Asefa Fekele (Ethiopia/Team Kanebo) - 14:03.04

Women's 3000 m - Heat 3

1. Wainaina Murgi (Kenya/Toyokawa H.S.) - 9:18.64

2. Rose Maranga (Kenya/Team Toto) - 9:31.32

3. Rui Aoyama (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 9:34.47

Men's 1500 m - Heat 11

1. Taku Fujimoto (Kokushikan Univ.) - 3:47.21

2. Shunta Kubo (Team Fujitsu) - 3:49.38

3. Keisuke Tanaka (Team Fujitsu) - 3:50.60

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

Shiojiri, Kasai and Tazawa Scratch from Hachioji Long Distance, 5000 m Dropped from Program (updated)

On Nov. 15 the East Japan Corporate Federation announced that 10000 m national champion and Paris Olympian Jun Kasai (Asahi Kasei) and Budapest World Championships team member Ren Tazawa (Toyota) have both withdrawn from the 10000 m at the Nov. 23 Hachioji Long Distance meet. This year's Hachioji Long Distance features a special heat set up to target the 27:00.00 qualifying standard for next year's Tokyo World Championships. Along with Kasai and Tazawa, national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) and other top-level Japanese talent are scheduled to compete. After last January's New Year Ekiden , Tazawa sustained an injury that forced him to miss May's National Championships 10000 m and other races including the Paris Olympics. At the end of September he ran 13:36.99 for 5th at the Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup meet, but, he said, "My balance felt off and the back of my left knee hurt." In Kasai's case, after winning the national title in M

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