Skip to main content

Nittai University Time Trials - Top Results

by Brett Larner

The 2013 Nittai University Time Trials series, Japan's premier long-distance track series and a factory for mass-producing precision-made track results with Saturdays dedicated to distances from 800 to 10000 m and Sundays focused exclusively on 5000 m, kicked off this weekend.  Although far from the highest-quality performance of the weekend, the 16:00.54 win by 10000 m national record holder Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) in the women's 5000 m A-heat was the most noteworthy, coming just a week before her planned shot at the Moscow World Championships marathon team at next weekend's London Marathon.  A solo run with a margin of over 20 seconds over 2nd place, her run spoke well of her fitness despite the unimpressive time.

Japan-based Africans won the other three major races of the weekend, with high schooler Rosemary Wanjiru (Kenya/Aomori Yamada H.S.) taking the women's 3000 m A-heat in a quality 9:01.36, Ethiopian pros Bikila Demma Daba (Team Kanebo) and Asmerow Mengistu (Team Honda) going 1-2 in 13:27.14 and 13:31.81 in the men's 5000 m A-heat, and Duncan Muthee (Kenya/Takushoku Univ.) winning the all-collegiate men's 10000 m A-heat in 28:43.42.  Daito Bunka University ace Takashi Ichida came close to breaking up the African domination, a stride behind Muthee in 28:43.93, while Hosei University and Kanagawa University showed continued improvement from last year's solid season, two runners from each school going sub-29.  Recent Komazawa University and Meiji University grads Hiromitsu Kakuage and Masato Kikuchi got off to a good start at 2013 New Year Ekiden champion Team Konica Minolta, both breaking 13:50 to take the top two Japanese positions in the men's 5000 m A-heat.

229th Nittai University Time Trials
Yokohama, 4/13-14/13
click here for complete results

Men's 10000 m Heat 4
1. Duncan Muthee (Kenya/Takushoku Univ.) - 28:43.42
2. Takashi Ichida (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 28:43.93
3. Hiroto Inoue (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 28:45.11
4. Shogo Sekiguchi (Hosei Univ.) - 28:49.23
5. Kazuma Ganaha (Kanagawa Univ.) - 28:51.47
6. Masaya Kakihara (Kanagawa Univ.) - 28:54.28
7. Shinichiro Tai (Hosei Univ.) - 28:55.77
8. Ikki Takeuchi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 28:59.82
9. Daichi Kamino (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 29:01.18
10. Masato Endo (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 29:02.17

Men's 5000 m Heat 27
1. Bikila Demma Daba (Ethiopia/Team Kanebo) - 13:27.14
2. Asmerow Mengistu (Ethiopia/Team Honda) - 13:31.81
3. Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 13:34.95
4. Hiromitsu Kakuage (Team Konica Minolta) - 13:48.20
5. Masato Kikuchi (Team Konica Minolta) - 13:48.54
6. Johnson Kiumbani (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) - 13:53.73
7. Yuta Takahashi (DeNA RC) - 13:54.58
8. Hiroyuki Ono (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 13:55.05
9. Ryotaro Nitta (Team Konica Minolta) - 13:57.41
10. Tomoya Shirayanagi (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 13:58.15

Women's 5000 m Heat 2
1. Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 16:00.54
2. Reia Iwade (Team Noritz) - 16:23.52
3. Ai Inoue (Team Noritz) - 16:26.66
4. Yuki Hidaka (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 16:29.67
5. Yuka Yamazaki (Team Kojima Press) - 16:31.90

Women's 3000 m Heat 6
1. Rosemary Wanjiru (Kenya/Aomori Yamada H.S.) - 9:01.36
2. Mai Shoji (Chuo Univ.) - 9:11.15
3. Doricah Obare (Kenya/Team Hitachi) - 9:13.60
4. Kaho Nishizawa (Aomori Yamada H.S.) - 9:22.26
5. Nanako Kajiya (Toyokawa H.S.) - 9:23.08

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...
3 comments
Read more

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .
Post a Comment
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...
Post a Comment
Read more