Tanui, Nishihara Win National Corporate T&F Championships 10000 m

by Brett Larner

A busy long weekend of distance action kicked off Sept. 23 with the National Jitsugyodan Track & Field Championships 10000 m in Tokushima, Shikoku. Having run last month's World Championships 10000 m as a last-minute replacement, Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) had a narrow win in the men's race, 27:37.67 over runner-up Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) and 3rd-place John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota).

After a slow first km Tanui took the lead pack of seven Kenyans and four Japanese up to 2:46/km, where the race remained until final km. Hisanori Kitajima (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) could not keep up with the sub-28 pace, leaving former Komazawa University teammate Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) and Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei) as the only Japanese athletes in contention. Both lost touch after 6000 m, Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) following suit 2000 m later. In the last km Fukatsu, who broke 28 minute for the first time at last year's National Jitsugyodan meet, broke away from Ugachi and tried to run down Mwangi, just missing out on another sub-28 mark as he finished in 28:01.31. Ugachi faltered and was nearly overtaken by Kitajima, who pushed through the last 2000 m to finish just over a second behind Ugachi.

The women's 10000 m was more of a blowout as 2009 World University Games 10000 m gold medalist and 2010 National University 5000 m champion Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) led wire to wire to take the win in 32:17.59. Her only competition, Hitomi Nakamura (Team Panasonic), was six seconds back. Regrettably, Nishihara's great university-era rival Kazue Kojima (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) ran in the B-heat where she won in 32:34.45, a time that would have put her in 3rd in Nishihara's A-heat. It was a missed opportunity for fans to see the pair go head-to-head in Nishihara's first season as a pro.

2011 National Jitsugyodan Track & Field Championships 10000 m
Pocari Sweat Stadium, Tokushima, 9/23/11
click here for complete results

Men A-Heat
1. Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 27:37.67
2. Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) - 27:37.99
3. John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota) - 27:38.27
4. Josephat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) - 27:41.13
5. Gideon Ngatuny (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 27:46.04
6. Paul Kuira (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) - 27:46.71
7. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 27:57.16
8. Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:01.31
9. Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) - 28:07.41
10. Hisanori Kitajima (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 28:08.53

Women A-Heat
1. Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) - 32:17.59
2. Hitomi Nakamura (Team Panasonic) - 32:23.49
3. Ayumi Sakaida (Team Daihatsu) - 32:37.03
4. Seika Nishikawa (Team Sysmex) - 32:37.28
5. Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 32:38.59
6. Korei Omata (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:40.06
7. Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 32:50.67
8. Madoka Ogi (Team Juhachi Ginko) - 32:51.21
9. Chizuru Ideta (Team Daihatsu) - 32:52.95
10. Akane Wakita (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 32:55.06

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Goshima and Kasai Win 10000 m National Titles, Maeda Breaks U20 Asian Record

Rino Goshima and Jun Kasai stepped up with PBs to win the 2024 National Championships 10000 m titles Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium. In the women's race, Goshima, 4th in last December's 2023 National Championships 10000 m, went out front from the start with Kenyan teammate Judy Jepngetich pacing and 2023 3rd-placer Haruka Kokai in tow. Things were never on track to hit the 30:40.00 Paris Olympics standard, but except for a brief dip to 3:08 at 7000 m Goshima held steady at 3:05 to 3:06/km even as Kokai and Jepngetich fell off. With blood dripping from her left knee after getting spiked by Jepngetich, Goshima closed in 3:03 to take 5 seconds off her best from December's Nationals and win in 30:53.31, moving up to all-time Japanese #6. Jepngetich also PBd at 31:09.42 without counting in the standings, with Kokai 2nd in 31:10.53 and Kazuna Kanetomo 3rd in a PB 31:59.29. The runner-up last time, Yuka Takashima was last in 33:33.27. The men's race went out in a

Ichiyama 8th at Copenhagen Marathon

Currently the #10-ranked Japanese man in the marathon with the fastest-ever domestic time at the elite Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx) made his international debut at Sunday's Copenhagen Marathon , literally an international debut as it was his first time outside the country. Ichiyama hoped to be in contention to break the 2:08:23 CR and go for the win, and with cool and breezy conditions ran easy in the lead group through 30 km. But something ate away at almost everyone as time went by, several people in the lead men's and women's groups saying humidity, and past 30 km Ichiyama fell off. Falling as low as 9th, he rallied after 40 km to finish 8th in 2:13:07. "It was different than in Japanese races," he said. "I'm used to bigger packs and more even pacing, but this was a kind of racing I hadn't done before. There's a lot to think about. I didn't feel like I was sweating a lot, but I got really thirsty and started sk

Golden Games in Nobeoka Top Results

For everyone not running yesterday's 10000 m National Championships , where the Asahi Kasei corporate team dominated the men's race with four out of four men sub-28 including winner Jun Kasai , 27:17.46, the grand dame of Japan's long distance time trial circuit was happening on AK's home ground in Miyazaki at the Golden Games in Nobeoka . Not including kids' races, a total of 74 women and 227 men ran in 14 heats of 5000 m, with a packed-in crowd of fans lining the track beating on metal sponsor boards with batons. It's a pretty awesome meet, and memorable performances included: National champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. standout Caroline Kariba continued to kill it in the second month of her corporate league career, winning the 5000 m A-heat in 15:00.95 in a race where 3 out of the top 4 including her ran PBs. National champion Meijo University seemed flat at this point in the season, with none of its people under 16 minutes and star Nanase Tanimoto leading

japan running news

Search This Blog