Skip to main content

Kenyans Sweep National Corporate T&F Championships 1500 m and 5000 m

by Brett Larner

Along with the men's 10000 m on the first day of competition, Japan-resident Kenyans swept the men's and women's 5000 m and 1500 m at the 2011 National Jitsugyodan Track & Field Championships, Sept. 24-25 in Tokushima.  Daniel Gitau (Team Fujitsu), best known for his quadruple win in the 800 m, 1500 m, 5000 m and 10000 m at the 2009 Kanto Regional Track & Field Championships, doubled here with wins in the 1500 m and 5000 m, outkicking two-time world junior 3000 mSC champion Jonathan Ndiku (Team Hitachi Cable) in both races.  The top collegiate 10000 m runner of 2010, Yusuke Hasegawa (Team S&B) had the best run of his pro career as he finished 4th in the 5000 m in 13:34.70.  Along with Yuichiro Ueno and Kensuke Takezawa, S&B runners now hold three of the ten fastest 5000 m times of the year by Japanese men.

Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko), a teammate of men's 10000 m winner Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko), had a comfortable frontrunning win in the 5000 m in 15:23.09 ahead of a four-way battle which included 1500 m specialists Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) and Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki).  Yoshikawa emerged from the pack to take 2nd in 15:31.78, the 3rd-best time of the year by a Japanese woman.  With both Yoshikawa and Kobayashi having opted for the longer distance the field was open for Kobayashi's teammate Ann Karindi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) to take the 1500 m, winning in 4:13.03.  Grace Kimanzi (Team Starts) narrowly beat yet another Toyota Jidoshokki runner, Ayaka Mori, for 2nd in 4:20.04.

2011 National Jitsugyodan Track & Field Championships
Pocari Sweat Stadium, Tokushima, 9/24-25/11
click here for complete results

Men's 5000 m Final
1. Daniel Gitau (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) - 13:32.25
2. Jonathan Ndiku (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) - 13:34.06
3. Patrick Mwaka (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) - 13:34.28
4. Yusuke Hasegawa (Team S&B) - 13:34.70
5. Josephat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) - 13:37.14
6. Yuki Matsuoka (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 13:37.52
7. Samuel Ndungu (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 13:39.29
8. Gideon Ngatuny (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 13:41.21
9. Nicholas Makau (Kenya/Team Yachiyo Kogyo) - 13:41.33
10. Yuya Konishi (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 13:47.28

Women's 5000 m Final
1. Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 15:23.09
2. Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) - 15:31.78
3. Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:33.36
4. Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:33.89
5. Misaki Onishi (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:34.47
6. Chihiro Takato (Team Wacoal) - 15:40.72
7. Yoshie Kurisu (Team Tenmaya) - 15:41.01
8. Yurie Doi (Team Starts) - 15:41.38
9. Mariko Nakao (Team Shiseido) - 15:44.61
10. Risa Kikuchi (Team Hitachi) - 15:45.38

Men's 1500 m Final
1. Daniel Gitau (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) - 3:46.01
2. Jonathan Ndiku (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) - 3:47.24
3. Yasuhiro Tago (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 3:47.52
4. Fumikazu Kobayashi (Team NTN) - 3:48.90
5. Hikaru Miyazaki (SDF Academy) - 3:49.31

Women's 1500 m Final
1. Ann Karindi (Kenya/Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 4:13.03
2. Grace Kimanzi (Kenya/Team Starts) - 4:20.04
3. Ayaka Mori (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 4:20.99
4. Satomi Ueda (Team Toto) - 4:24.40
5. Sayuri Sendo (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 4:24.41

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Updates on Transfers

April 1 is the start of Japan's new academic and fiscal year, and there's always a wave of transfer announcements to go with it. Some notable ones yesterday: 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo skipped university to go straight to 2023 Queens Ekiden national champion Sekisui Kagaku after her graduation from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. Multiple NR holder Nozomi Tanaka rejoined the Toyota Jidoshokki women's team after having left it to pursue a solo pro career as a New Balance athlete. Already on the team for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games in the 10000 m, Ririka Hironaka announced a switch from her longtime home at Japan Post to the Uniqlo women's team. Collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda joined the 2026 national champion GMO corporate team after graduating from 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University last week. Hakone Ekdien First Stage CR holder Rui Aoki joins the Sumitomo Denko corporate team after running his final race for 2025 Izumo Ekiden w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chien Breaks TPE NR, Iwata Betters ID-Class WR - Weekend Track Roundup

The last weekend of the academic and fiscal year saw at least 5 meets with good results domestically and abroad. Kicking things off Friday was the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, where Tomohiro Shinno and Naoto Hasegawa took 1st and 3rd in the men's high jump, both of them only clearing 2.18 m along with 2nd-placer Roman Anastasios . 12 other Japanese athletes were in action on the second day of the meet on Saturday, where 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura ran 3:42.84 for 6th in the men's 1500 m. Nagiya Mori had a better one in the men's 3000 m with a 7:45.40 for 4th. Both Yota Mashiko and Rui Suzuki cleared 8:00 too, Mashiko's 7:53.84 the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese-born high schooler. Abigail Fuka Ido and Nagisa Takahashi both placed 3rd in their events, Ido going 23.85 (-0.9) in the women's 200 m and Takahashi clearing 1.82 m in the women's high jump. 8 Japanese men were at The TEN in California to run 10000 m. In the B-heat won by Edward Marks in ...
2 comments
Read more

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...
81 comments
Read more