Skip to main content

Kanaguri Memorial Meet Results

by Brett Larner

The Japanese outdoor track season got started Saturday at Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet depite high winds and heavy rain from a passing storm that kept times from what was hoped.  Japan-based Africans won all the major races, with last year's winners Patrick Mutunga (Kenya/Team Toyota Boshoku) and Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) repeating in the men's and women's 5000 m A-heats in 13:26.48 and 15:42.81.  The Koichi Morishita-coached Yuya Konishi (Team Toyota Kyushu) clocked the fastest time of the day by a Japanese man, 13:39.46 for 2nd in the B-heat, while independent Yuka Ando (Tokinosumika T&F Assoc.) took 2nd behind Chepyego for the top Japanese time in 16:02.08.  The year's leading Japanese marathoner, Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko), started his buildup to August's World Championships, running a 14:07.46 shakeout in the men's 5000 m B-heat in his first race since running 2:08:00 at February's Tokyo Marathon.

In the men's 1500 m, last year's 10000 m national champion Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) took 3rd in 3:50.52 behind a strong solo 3:42.75 by Ethiopian Bikila Demma Daba (Team Kanebo).  61-minute half marathoner Yusuke Takabayashi (Team Toyota) was 5th in 3:51.98, while #1-ranked collegiate Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.) was only 10th in 3:56.09.  Beatrice Wainaina Murugi (Kenya/Team Toyota Jidoshokki) won the women's 1500 m in 4:27.88 over collegiate Minami Nakaarai (Osaka Gakuin Univ.), with 2013 World XC junior women's team member Yui Fukuda (Suma Gakuen H.S.) in 4:33.40.

22nd Kanaguri Memorial Meet
Kumamoto, 4/6/13
click here for complete results

Men's 5000 m Heat 5
1. Patrick Mutunga (Kenya/Team Toyota Boshoku) - 13:26.48
2. Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 13:28.67
3. Charles Ndirangu (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) - 13:32.76
4. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 13:47.22
5. Kazuharu Takai (Team Kyudenko) - 13:50.49
6. Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) - 13:50.67
7. Paul Kuira (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) - 13:51.50
8. Yuichiro Ueno (DeNA RC) - 13:54.49
9. Keita Shitara (Toyo Univ.) - 13:54.74
10. Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) - 14:00.04

Men's 5000 m Heat 4
1. Patrick Mwaka (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) - 13:37.68
2. Yuya Konishi (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 13:39.46
3. Enock Omwamba (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 13:41.80
4. Micah Njeru (Kenya/Team Toyota Boshoku) - 13:50.52
5. Jeremiah Karemi (Kenya/Team Toyota Kyushu) - 13:50.58
6. Shota Hattori (Nittai University) - 13:50.70
7. Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 13:52.77
8. Yuta Shitara (Toyo Univ.) - 13:55.58
9. Duncan Muthee (Kenya/Takushoku Univ.) - 13:59.71
10. Kazuma Kubota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 14:00.08
-----
12. Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko) - 14:07.46

Women's 5000 m Heat 2
1. Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 15:42.81
2. Yuka Ando (Tokinosumika T&F Assoc.) - 16:02.08
3. Risa Takenaka (Team Shiseido) - 16:03.94
4. Ayari Maeda (Bukkyo Univ.) - 16:06.20
5. Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 16:08.16
6. Michi Numata (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 16:09.24
7. Kotomi Takayama (Team Sysmex) - 16:13.75
8. Aya Nagata (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 16:14.13
9. Eri Makikawa (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 16:14.73
10. Megumi Amako (Canon AC Kyushu) - 16:19.73

H.S. Boys' 5000 m Heat 6
1. Ryoichi Yoshida (Omuta H.S.) - 14:44.65
2. Takumi Minaura (Toyokawa H.S.) - 14:49.71
3. Takaya Arake (Miyazaki Nittai Prep H.S.) - 14:54.89

H.S. Girls' 3000 m Heat 4
1. Kotona Ota (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 9:27.30
2. Chika Uemura (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 9:28.71
3. Kureha Seki (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 9:30.99

Men's 1500 m
1. Bikila Demma Daba (Ethiopia/Team Kanebo) - 3:42.75
2. Yuki Akimoto (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 3:50.30
3. Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 3:50.52
4. Yasunari Kusu (Team Komori Corp.) - 3:51.64
5. Yusuke Takabayashi (Team Toyota) - 3:51.98
-----
10. Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.) - 3:56.09

Women's 1500 m Heat 2
1. Beatrice Wainaina Murugi (Kenya/Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 4:27.88
2. Minami Nakaarai (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 4:28.66
3. Miyuki Mandai (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 4:31.45
4. Risa Yokoe (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 4:33.00
5. Yui Fukuda (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 4:33.40

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

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."...

CHN and JPN National Records Go Down - Weekend Track Update

There weren't any Japanese athletes in action at the Rabat Diamond League meet Sunday, but 2 lower-tier domestic meets produced new national records. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama, Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) led the top 5 in the men's 10000 m under 28 minutes in 27:39.97. In 3rd, China's Wenjie Wang took just over a second off his own NR from the same meet last year, setting a new record of 27:47.53. His teammate Haoran Tang was 6th in a 28:27.44 PB, with the top Japanese time in the race being a 28:33.39 for 8th from Jin Yuasa (Toyota). Amazingly, Wang and Tang were back the next day on day 2 of the Nittai meet, Wang running a PB of 13:35.58 for 4th in the A-heat and Tang winning the B-heat in a PB of 13:38.80. Isaac Ndiema took the A-heat in 13:26.49, with the fastest Japanese time going to Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) with a 13:35.94 for 5th behind Wang. Other Nittai highlights: Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) won a photo finish against Yua Nagamori ...

Batt-Doyle and Strintzos Break Records at Launceston Half

Australians Isobel Batt-Doyle and Haftu Strintzos turned in record-breaking performances to win the McGrath Launceston Running Festival Peppers Silo Half Marathon in Tasmania. Running with a private male pacer, NR holder Batt-Doyle dusted the field with the fastest half marathon ever by an Australian woman on Australian soil, a 1:08:46 CR that put her 2 and a half minutes ahead of runner-up Genevieve Gregson . Last year's runner-up Yumi Yoshikawa was almost a minute back from Gregson in 3rd in 1:12:03, but was almost run down by club runner Ayaka Shimoyamada . Starting slow in her international debut, Shimoyamada moved up from 7th over the 2nd half of the race to finish 4th in 1:12:06, kicking hard in the home straight to try to catch Yoshikawa and momentarily blacking out after finishing. Kaho Onishi was 7th in 1:12:45 in her own international debut. The men's half had pacing set at 2:53/km to try to deliver the first-ever sub-61 half marathon on Australian soil. CR holde...