Skip to main content

Ndirangu Wins Hiroshima Cross-Country Meet

by Brett Larner

Despite weeks of heavy rains that brought fatal landslides across the Hiroshima region, the 2014 Hiroshima Cross-Country Meet went ahead as planned under relatively good conditions.  Charles Ndirangu (Team JFE Steel), a graduate of the local Sera H.S. ekiden program that previously produced the likes of sub-27 man Bedan Karoki (DeNA RC) and 2012 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Joseph Gitau (Team JFE Steel), had an easy time adding a win to his resume, finishing more than 30 seconds up on the rest of the men's 8 km field in 24:24.  Little-known Shogo Kanezane (Team Chugoku Denryoku) outran the rest of the Japanese field for 2nd, at 24:55 the only Japanese man to go under 25 minutes. His teammate Kaido Kita filled out the podium in 25:01.  The top man from the third corporate team at the meet, Chudenko's Naoya Hashimoto, was 6th in 25:16 in the midst of the chase pack's blanket finish.

2014 Hiroshima XC Meet Men's 8 km
Hiroshima, 8/23/14
click here for detailed results

1. Charles Ndirangu (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) - 24:24
2. Shogo Kanezane (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 24:55
3. Kaido Kita (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 25:01
4. Satoshi Kubooka (Team JFE Steel) - 25:09
5. Kota Otani (Team JFE Steel) - 25:15
6. Naoya Hashimoto (Team Chudenko) - 25:16
7. Ryota Nakamura (Team Chudenko) - 25:17
8. Hiroki Tanaka (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 25:19

(c) 2014 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Keita Satoh Running New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile

1500 m U20 NR holder Keita Satoh (Nike Swoosh TC) is running this weekend's New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile , the first time that a Japanese man has been invited in the race's 45-year history. In university Sato had to change focus away from middle distance to the half marathon-scale lengths of the Hakone Ekiden stages, but since graduating in March and relocating to Flagstaff he has refocused on the 1500 m, going from 3:43.19 in April in his first 1500 m in almost 4 years to 3:38.30 over the course of 5 races. Fifth Avenue will be his last race before heading back to Japan for one more track 1500 m and some down time. Men's entries with best 1500 m times in last 3 years: Stefan Nillessen (NED) - 3:29.23 (2025) Flavien Szot (FRA) - 3:30.74 (2025) Oliver Hoare (AUS) - 3:31.07 (2024) Jake Heyward (GBR) - 3:31.18 (2026) Titouan Le Grix (FRA) - 3:31.46 (2026) Romain Mornet (FRA) - 3:31.62 (2025) Adam Spencer (AUS) - 3:31.83 (2026) Pieter Sisk (BEL) - 3:31.85 (2025) Gary Martin (...
2 comments
Read more

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...
Post a Comment
Read more