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Weekend Track Roundup

by Brett Larner

In addition to the big Golden Games in Nobeoka and the Kanto and Kansai Regional University Track & Field Championships, several regional corporate championship meets also saw noteworthy results over the weekend.

At the Chugoku Jitsugyodan Championships in Hiroshima, former Sera H.S. ace Charles Ndirangu (Team JFE Steel) continued his unbeaten streak in his second pro race, scoring his tenth-straight win by winning the 5000 m in 13:42.00 by a margin of over 18 seconds.  Team Tenmaya runners made up the majority of the field in the women's 5000 m, with young Akari Ota winning in 16:05.99.  Tenmaya's former great Yurika Nakamura continued her apparent downward spiral, 15th in 17:47.93.

Almost on a par with Ndirangu's performance was that of year-leading half-marathoner Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota), who beat a pack of Kenyans including 2011 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Samuel Ndungu (Team Aichi Seiko) to set a meet record 13:43.97 in the men's 5000 m.  1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) was solid in the women's 5000 m, running 15:39.62 for the win over a field including 10000 m national champion Kayo Sugihara (Team Denso) who was 4th in 16:21.38.  Kenyan John Thuo (Team Toyota) added to the weekend's sub-28 haul with a 27:59.50 win in the men's 10000 m.

Kenyan Alex Mwangi (Team YKK) fell short of a sub-28 clocking at the Hokuriku Corporate Championships but still took his second-straight 10000 m title with a 28:20.50.

The regional corporate championships continue this coming weekend with meets in Kanto, Kansai, Kyushu and the second half of the Chugoku meet.

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

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dadsweb said…
Hi Brett,

Really enjoying your race coverage. Keep up the great work.

13:43.97 for a 10000 seems a little bit too quick!

Cheers,
Brendan
May 17, 2012 at 3:14 AM
Brett Larner said…
Thanks. And whoops, thanks for catching that typo.
May 17, 2012 at 2:41 PM
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