Weekend Track Roundup - Miyawaki Becomes Tenth Japanese Man to Clear 10000 m Olympic Standard

by Brett Larner

Another weekend, another round of massive track time trials. The Shizuoka Long-Distance Time Trials meet, always the site of the fastest 10000 m of the fall season, had a tight race up front as Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) outkicked John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota) for the win, 27:23.82 to 27:24.41. Patrick Muwaka (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) also cleared the 27:45 Olympic A-standard, 3rd in 27:33.14.

A large selection of top young Japanese talent ran the same heat to shoot for the A-standard, but the only new athlete to achieve an Olympic mark was 20-year-old Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) who ran a PB of 28:01.00, the tenth Japanese man this year to clear the London A- or B-standard. Only five days after a disastrous university debut at the Izumo Ekiden where he was 13th on his stage, 18-year old Komazawa University first-year Kenta Murayama was the second Japanese finisher, outkicking pro Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei) and Tokai University ace Akinobu Murasawa and running a PB of 28:17.57. Kenyan Jeremiah Karemi (Toyokawa H.S.) won the men's 5000 m A-heat in 13:55.86, 14 seconds over Saku Chosei H.S. ace Shun Morozumi. Karemi's time beat that of rival Titus Waroru (Kenya/Chinzai H.S.), who ran 14:02.12 for the win at the Kumamoto Prefecture Long Distance Time Trials Meet the same day.

The women's talent in Shizuoka was split between 3000 m and 5000 m. Karemi's teammate Beatrice Wainaina Mururgi (Toyokawa H.S.) soloed a 9:02.35 win in the 3000 m A-heat, with 2nd-place pro Riko Matsuzaki (Team Sekisui Kagaku) over 8 seconds behind. Matsuzaki's teammates Yuko Shimizu and Misaki Onishi (Team Sekisui Kagaku) had the fastest runs in the 5000 m, 15:46.05 and 15:46.22. Daegu World Championships marathoner Mai Ito was the only other woman to break 16, 3rd in 15:56.14. Across the country two other women also broke 16. Kenyan ace Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko) ran a solid 15:28.83 to win the Nagasaki Nighter Time Trials meet, while Ayuko Suzuki (Nagoya Univ.) set a meet record 15:50.74 at the Tokai Region Fall University Championships meet.

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that Sis

Saturday at Kanaguri and Nittai

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet , Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back from a DNF at last month's The TEN to take the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 13:24.57. The B-heat was also decently quick, Shadrack Rono (Subaru) winning in 13:21.55 and Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) running a 10-second PB to get under 13:30 for the first time in 13:29.29 for 6th. Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was 9th in 13:30.62. South Sudan's Abraham Guem (Ami AC) also set a meet record in the men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:38.94. 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura made his debut with the Subaru corporate team, running 3:39.78 for 2n

93-Year-Old Masters Track and Field WR Holder Hiroo Tanaka: "Everyone has Unexplored Intrinsic Abilities"

In the midst of a lot of talk about how to keep the aging population young, there are people with long lives who are showing extraordinary physical abilities. One of them is Hiroo Tanaka , 93, a multiple world champion in masters track and field. Tanaka began running when he was 60, before which he'd never competed in his adult life. "He's so fast he's world-class." "His running form is so beautiful. It's like he's flying." Tanaka trains at an indoor track in Aomori five days a week. Asked about him, that's the kind of thing the people there say. Tanaka holds multiple masters track and field world records, where age is divided into five-year groups. Last year at the World Masters Track and Field Championships in Poland he set a new world record of 38.79 for 200 m in the M90 class (men's 90-94 age group). People around the world were amazed at the time, which was almost unbelievable for a 92-year-old. After retiring from his job as an el

japan running news

Search This Blog