Skip to main content

Jeilan 27:09.02 at Hokuren Distance Challenge Kitami Meet

by Brett Larner

The first meet of the 2011 Hokuren Distance Challenge series took place June 19 in Kitami, Hokkaido. With cooler than usual temperatures 2006 world 10000 m junior champion and 2008 world junior XC champion Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) delivered the biggest result of the evening, a solo 27:09.02 nearly a minute ahead of runner-up Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK). Jeilan's time was the third-fastest of the year by an Ethiopian, putting him into consideration for the Ethiopian team for August's Daegu World Championships. In 5th, third-year Yuki Maeda (Waseda Univ.), whose excellent run on the first day of this year's Hakone Ekiden was instrumental in keeping Waseda in contention for the win, became the latest Waseda runner to break 29 minutes as he clocked a PB of 28:54.34. Ten men on the roster of Waseda's 2010-2011 squad held PBs under 29 minutes.

In the women's 5000 m, 2011 East Japan Corporate T&F 10000 m champion Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) ran a strong 15:32.13, the third-best so far this year by a Japanese woman. The meet's other most notable result came in the men's 1500 m A-heat, where Kenyan Edward Waweru (Team NTN) ran a PB of 3:38.90, the fastest time of the year so far on Japanese soil.

The Hokuren Distance Challenge continues June 22 in Abashiri, Hokkaido.

2011 Hokuren Distance Challenge Kitami Meet
Kitami, Hokkaido, 6/19/11
Men's 10000 m
1. Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) - 27:09.02
2. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 28:01.50
3. Assefa Fekele (Ethiopia/Team Kanebo) - 28:32.86
4. Takehiro Arakawa (Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:52.60
5. Yuki Maeda (Waseda Univ.) - 28:54.34
6. Kazuki Onishi (Team Kanebo) - 28:55.90
7. Ryotaro Nitta (Team Konica Minolta) - 28:58.31
8. Naoto Yoneda (Team Konica Minolta) - 29:07.93
9. Fumihiro Maruyama (Team Asahi Kasei) - 29:09.11
10. Shota Hiraga (Waseda Univ.) - 29:09.75

Women's 5000 m
1. Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 15:32.13
2. Misako Onishi (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:46.64
3. Risa Kikuchi (Team Hitachi) - 15:48.61
4. Chieko Kido (Canon AC Kyushu) - 15:58.42
5. Korei Omata (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 16:03.06
6. Eri Watanabe (Team Panasonic) - 16:06.54
7. Haruka Igarashi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 16:08.62
8. Miku Yamamoto (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 16:09.31
9. Risa Nakamura (Team Hitachi) - 16:09.61
10. Yuri Umemura (Team Panasonic) - 16:10.29

Men's 3000 m
1. Kosuke Murasashi (Team YKK) - 8:13.89
2. Wataru Yamaguchi (Team Hitachi Cable) - 8:16.24
3. Makoto Hasegawa (Team Hitachi Cable) - 8:17.51

Women's 3000 m
1. Rose Maranga (Kenya/Team Toto) - 9:14.17
2. Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) - 9:16.42
3. Kazumi Hashimoto (Team Hokuren) - 9:27.42

Men's 1500 m A-Heat
1. Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) - 3:38.90
2. Sang-Min Sin (Korea) - 3:42.38
3. Kazunari Murakami (Team Fujitsu) - 3:43.70

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Ninja Runner Yuka Ando Leads Japanese Women's Marathon Team in London: "I Want to Go For It"

Her form has been dubbed "ninja running." Both arms held straight down with almost no movement. That idiosyncratic style carried Yuka Ando , 23, to the fastest-ever marathon debut by a Japanese woman, 2:21:36, at March's Nagoya Women's Marathon to land at #4 on the all-time Japanese lists. All at once Ando found herself catapulted to the top level of women's marathoning, a candidate for Japan's next great marathoner. When she was younger Ando ran moving her arms like other runners, but she had a bad habit of moving robotically, her upper body and lower body not working in sync. The turning point came in 2014 when she joined Suzuki Hamamatsu AC . Working there with coach Masayuki Satouchi to eliminate the faults in her form, the pair arrived at the ninja running style that let her run relaxed. "Other people keep asking me, "Isn't it hard to run like that?" but for me it's comfortable," she said. The efficient form helped her mai

Yamaguchi 10th at United Airlines NYC Half - Weekend Overseas Results

2024 national cross-country champion Tomonori Yamaguchi was the top Japanese finisher in the men's race at the United Airlines NYC Half , taking 10th in 1:04:36. A 2nd-year at Waseda University , Yamaguchi was one of three collegiate runners running New York in the 11th year of JRN's development program collaboration between the Ageo City Half Marathon and the New York Road Runners, a program that has seen people like future half marathon and marathon NR breaker Yuta Shitara and Paris Olympic team member Akira Akasaki make their international debuts. Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito started fast, going with the leaders through 5 km in 14:29 before losing touch. Hosei University senior Rei Matsunaga went through in 14:42 in his last race before joining the JR Higashi Nihon corporate team in April. Yamaguchi, who caught COVID after winning last month's National Cross-Country Championships, started more conservatively with a 15:11 first 5km. But where both Ito

Rui Aoki Wins National University Men's Half Marathon - Weekend Results

Yuka Ando 's win at the Nagoya Women's Marathon was the big news of the weekend, but there were other high-level races happening, even in Nagoya. Held in parallel with the marathon, the Nagoya City Half Marathon saw Australians Natalie Rule and Ed Goddard take easy wins by about 2.5 minutes each, Rule in 1:13:57 and Goddard in 1:04:01. The new Biwako Marathon also had a non-Japanese winner, China's Yousheng Guan scoring 1st in 2:14:58 with Japan's Hirohito Sugai next in 2:16:40. Mikiko Ota won the women's race in 2:50:44. The Shizuoka Marathon returned for its first running in five years, with club runner Shumpei Oda leading the top 7 men under 2:20 in 2:15:36. Women's winner Remi Tanaka ran 2:41:23, beating runner-up Ayumi Sano by exactly 7 minutes. And in Tokyo, Rui Aoki continued what has been a great season so far for Koku Gakuin University with a win at the National University Men's Half Marathon . Aoki and Hiro Konda of Chuo Gakuin Unive