Ndirangu and Wainaina Win Japanese National High School Championships

by Brett Larner

The 2011 National High School Track and Field Championships took place this weekend in Iwate prefecture, an area hard-hit by March's earthquake and tsunami. Kenyan student at Japanese high schools swept the distance events, taking the top three spots in the boys' 5000 m and the top two in the girls' 3000 m. Following the trail set by the talented Bitan Karoki (Kenya/Sera H.S.), Charles Ndirangu (Kenya/Sera H.S.) proved once again that Sera has top-notch scouts as he ignored the heat to win the 5000 m final in 13:40.99 by a margin of more than 15 seconds over Titus Waroru (Kenya/Chinzai H.S.). Murgi Wainaina (Kenya/Toyokawa H.S.) had a narrower win over Ndirangu's teammate Susan Wylim (Kenya/Sera H.S.) in the girls' 3000 m final, winning by less than four seconds in 9:04.55. Tomoka Kimura (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) went for the 1500 m - 5000 m double after finishing 3rd in the 3000 m, but was outleaned in the 1500 m by first-year Yui Fukuda (Suma Gakuen H.S.), a teammate of 2011 national 1500 m champion Mika Kobayashi (Suma Gakuen H.S.). Fukuda took the win in 4:17.15 with Kimura straight behind in 9:17.22.

2011 National High School T&F Championships
Iwate, Aug. 4-7, 2011
click here for complete results
Boys' 5000 m Final
1. Charles Ndirangu (Kenya/Sera H.S.) - 13:40.99
2. Titus Waroru (Kenya/Chinzai H.S.) - 13:56.64
3. Jeremiah Karemi (Kenya/Toyokawa H.S.) - 14:05.45
4. Ken Yokote (Sakushin Gakuin H.S.) - 14:06.02
5. Yuma Hattori (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 14:06.42
6. Kazuma Kubota (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 14:12.82
7. Yuta Oyama (Toyokawa Kogyo H.S.) - 14:18.15
8. Yuta Katsumata (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 14:18.91
9. Kenya Sonota (Aomori Yamada H.S.) - 14:20.86
10. Tadashi Isshiki (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 14:22.21

Girls' 3000 m Final
1. Murgi Wainaina (Kenya/Toyokawa H.S.) - 9:04.55
2. Susan Wylim (Kenya/Sera H.S.) - 9:08.14
3. Tomoka Kimura (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 9:10.19
4. Miyuki Oka (Kojokan H.S.) - 9:10.62
5. Yuriko Kosaki (Narita H.S.) - 9:15.52
6. Miki Sakakibara (Hamakita Nishi H.S.) - 9:15.80
7. Eri Makikawa (Seiryo H.S.) - 9:16.64
8. Katsuki Suga (Kojokan H.S.) - 9:18.08
9. Miyuki Uehara (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) - 9:23.58
10. Ayano Ikeuchi (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 9:24.58

Boys' 1500 m Final
1. Masaki Toda (Tokyo Nogyo Prep H.S. #2) - 3:47.36
2. Yusuke Uchikoshi (Kugayama H.S.) - 3:47.48
3. Yudai Yamamoto (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 3:48.41

Girls' 1500 m Final
1. Yui Fukuda (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 4:17.15
2. Tomoka Kimura (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 4:17.22
3. Shiho Takeda (Tokiwa H.S.) - 4:17.86

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

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

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

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

japan running news

Search This Blog