Skip to main content

Fukushi Gets 5000 m Olympic A, Osako Sub-28 at Golden Games in Nobeoka

by Brett Larner

After failing to qualify for the London Olympics in the marathon, 5000 m national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) successfully regrouped at the May 12 Golden Games in Nobeoka meet, clearing the Olympic A-standard as she narrowly finished 2nd behind Kenyan Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko) 15:18.01 to 15:18.46.  No other women were even close to the lead pair, with Ai Igarashi (Team Sysmex) 3rd in 15:33.80.

The bid for Olympic A qualifying times in the men's 10000 m was less successful.  Waseda University 3rd-year Suguru Osako, the Asian half-marathon junior record holder, 2011 World University Games 10000 m gold medalist and 1500 m national university 1500 m champion, emerged from a small pack chasing the time behind pacer and Osaka WC bronze medalist Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) to give it a good shot but faded over the last 2000 m.  He nevertheless succeeded in breaking 28 for the first time, 2nd in a photo-finish with Mathathi in 27:56.94 to become the second Japanese collegiate sub-28 this season.  Komazawa University junior Shinobu Kubota was 3rd in a PB of 28:07.01 as the pros in the field all faltered.

Paced by World XC silver medalist Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko), the men's 5000 m was far from hitting even the B-standard but very entertaining.  Former 1500 m and 5000 m national champion Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) ran a wild and erratic race, going out on national record pace far ahead of Tanui, fading far back into the pack, and then surging at the end to retake 2nd  in a season-best 13:38.21.  10000 m year-leader Daisuke Shimizu (Team Kanebo) took the win in a PB of 13:36.69, promising in post-race interviews to hit an Olympic-standard time at next month's National Championships.

2012 Golden Games in Nobeoka
Nobeoka, Miyazaki, 5/12/12
click here for complete results

Men's 10000 m
1. Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 27:56.87
2. Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.) - 27:56.94 - PB
3. Shinobu Kubota (Komazawa Univ.) - 28:07.01 - PB
4. Takuya Ishikawa (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 28:09.49
5. Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 28:11.22
6. Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:18.24
7. Ryuji Kashiwabara (Team Fujitsu) - 28:25.37
8. Sota Hoshi (Team Fujitsu) - 28:25.85
9. Shota Yamaguchi (Team Fujitsu) - 28:36.91
10. Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) - 28:40.43

Women's 5000 m A-Heat
1. Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 15:18.01
2. Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) - 15:18.46
3. Ai Igarashi (Team Sysmex) - 15:33.80
4. Tomoka Inadomi (Team Wacoal) - 15:35.46
5. Toshika Tamura (Matsuyama Univ.) - 15:39.84
6. Miyuki Uehara (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) - 15:47.88 - PB
7. Risa Takenaka (Team Shiseido) - 15:51.32
8. Kotomi Takayama (Team Sysmex) - 15:55.61
9. Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 15:56.94
10. Yuki Mitsunobu (Team Kyocera) - 16:02.00

Men's 5000 m A-Heat
1. Daisuke Shimizu (Team Kanebo) - 13:36.69 - PB
2. Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) - 13:38.21
3. Kazuharu Takai (Team Kyudenko) - 13:39.76
4. Yasunori Murakami (Team Fujitsu) - 13:44.30
5. Keita Baba (Team Honda) - 13:44.44
6. Ryotaro Nitta (Team Konica Minolta) - 13:44.86
7. Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 13:45.45
8. Ryo Kiname (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 13:45.75
9. Ryo Matsumoto (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 13:45.96
10. Daisuke Matsufuji (Team Kanebo) - 13:46.14

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Australian Male Arrested on Drug Smuggling Charges After Entering Japan for Osaka Marathon

On Apr. 9 the Kinki Region Bureau of Health, Labor and Welfare's Drug Control Division arrested Matthew Inglis Fox , 38, an Australian business owner of no known fixed address, on charges of violating the importation regulations of the Narcotics Control Act by smuggling tablets containing marijuana elements from the United States. The suspect had entered Japan in February to run in the Osaka Marathon . The suspect was arrested on suspicion of smuggling approximately 12 pills containing marijuana by sending them from a U.S. airport to Osaka's Kansai Airport using an international courier service on Feb. 19. The Osaka branch of the Customs Service discovered the tablets in arriving cargo and suspected them to be narcotics. Customs contacted the Narcotics Control Division, which then began its investigation of the case. According to the Narcotics Control Division, the suspect denies the charges.  Translator's note: Fox, who received a lifetime ban from the Ageo City Half Mara...
41 comments
Read more

Long Time Coming - Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera's Road to the 2022 United Airlines NYC Half

Back in pre-pandemic days Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera  were still in college, Akasaki at Takushoku University and Onodera at Teikyo University . At the 2019 Ageo City Half Marathon they frontran most of the race together, dead set on finishing in the top two Japanese collegiate spots to win invitations to the 2020 United Airlines NYC Half. For Akasaki it had already been a year and a half wait. Inspired by Kenta Murayama 's 1:00:57 5th place in finish in New York in 2017 and Kei Katanishi 's 7th-place in 2018, Akasaki went for it his junior year in his debut at the 2018 Ageo Half . "Coming up to 10 km I was in the lead pack and feeling good, so I knew I had a shot at going to New York and got pretty excited," he said. But right after the 10 km turnaround point he tripped and fell, and by the time he was back up the lead group was out of range. He finished 20th in 1:03:07, over a minute and a half behind top Japanese university man Ken Nakayama . "I was f...
1 comment
Read more

My Training for 1:00:44

Hi, I'm Ayumu Kobayashi . Today I'm going to write about this year's National Corporate Half Marathon and the training I did for it. I hope other runners will find it even a little bit helpful. At the Corporate Half on Feb. 13 I was 10th in 1:00:44. My goal had been to run 61 minutes, so I hit that target. My Training Menu In January I ran a total of 681 km. Key workouts: Jan. 11: 1000 m x 5 at 2:50/km Jan. 12: 22.5 km Jan. 15: 9 km variable pace Jan. 17: 25 km Jan. 24: 1000 m x 8 at 2:52/km Jan. 27: 1 km + 4 km + 2 km Jan. 30: 16 km at 3:18/km avg. In January I was tired from the New Year Ekiden and had some knee pain after it, so I just jogged for 10 days until I started doing workouts again on the 11th. That's why I only ran 681 km for the month. But even on the jog days I was aware that I had the Corporate Half coming up, so I was doing around 30 km. It's pretty meat and potatoes, but I think it was really important. February (training for the 10 days before...
2 comments
Read more