Skip to main content

Niiya Hits World Champs 5000 m A-Standard, Watanabe Again With Japanese All-Time #2 1500 m at Hokuren Distance Challenge

by Brett Larner

The 2011 Hokuren Distance Challenge series wrapped up June 29 with its fourth and final event, the Shibetsu Meet. Despite warm and humid conditions, significant marks came in the women's 5000 m and men's 1500 m.

In the women's 5000 m, Kenyan Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko) marked her latest PB of the season, 15:10.53, to take the win. Just behind her, National Championships 5000 m runner-up Hitomi Niiya, sporting her new Team Universal Entertainment jersey for the first time after a few months as an independent following being fired from Team Toyota Jidoshokki, just cleared the World Championships A-standard with a new PB of 15:13.12. Niiya's mark all but assures she will join national champion Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno) in Daegu and secures her as the all-time Japanese #10 over 5000 m. Her former teammate, 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki), was a regrettable DNF after a long period lost to injury.

In the men's 1500 m, 5000 m national champion Kazuya Watanabe (Team Shikoku Denryoku) had a big run, exactly tying his PB of 3:38.11 to reconfirm his place as all-time Japanese #2 over 1500 m just four days after running a nearly 45-second 10000 m PB of 27:47.79. The 23-year-old Watanabe has had an incredible season, running a year-leading 5000 m PB of 13:23.15 on May 28 to become Japanese all-time #8, winning the 5000 m national title two weeks later, followed by his sub-28 10000 m less than two weeks later, and then today's 3:38.11 PB tie. Look for him in the 5000 m at the Daegu World Championships and beyond.

2011 Hokuren Distance Challenge Shibetsu Meet
Shibetsu, Hokkaido, 6/29/11
complete results coming shortly
Men's 10000 m
1. Michael Githinji (Kenya/Team Toho Refine) - 28:42.24
2. Keita Shitara (Toyo Univ.) - 28:46.80 - PB
3. Hirotaka Tamura (Nihon Univ.) - 29:01.51
4. Aritaka Kajiwara (Reitaku Univ.) - 29:33.05
5. Masanori Sakai (Team Kyudenko) - 29:37.41

Women's 5000 m A-Heat
1. Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 15:10.53 - PB
2. Hitomi Niiya (Team Univ. Ent.) - 15:13.12 - PB
3. Grace Kimanzi (Kenya/Team Starts) - 15:38.80 - PB
4. Seika Nishikawa (Team Sysmex) - 15:49.22
5. Eriko Kushima (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 15:57.13
DNF - Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshoki)

Men's 5000 m A-Heat
1. Micah Njeru (Kenya/Tea Toyota Boshoku) - 13:40.36
2. Daisuke Shimizu (Team Kanebo) - 13:43.51
3. Hiroyoshi Umegae (Team NTN) - 13:45.40
4. Kazuki Onishi (Team Kanebo) - 13:59.57
5. Tomoya Shirayanagi (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 13:59.83

(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