Skip to main content

Morita Goes Sub-32 in 10000 m Debut

Running her track 10000 m debut of a 32:27 road 10 km in the spring, Kaori Morita (Panasonic) closed hard off a slow opening pace to win the National Corporate Federation Women's Long Distance Time Trials 10000 m Friday afternoon in Yamaguchi.

A new filler meet to take up space on the calendar following the National Corporate Women's Ekiden's move to November, the Corporate Time Trials meet featured one heat of 3000 m and three 5000 m heats before its main focus, the 10000 m. After a 3:19 first 1000 m Morita's teammate Yuka Hori, winner of the 10.9 km Third Stage at Nationals, took over, leading the field at 3:12 to 3:14 / km pace through 7000 m. Morita, who won the 7.0 km First Stage, went to the front at that point with a 3:14 to 8000 m before taking off.

Clocking her fastest split up to that point with a 3:07 between 8 and 9000 m, Morita closed impressively with a 3:01 final km to dip under 32 minutes as she won in 31:59.94. Steepler Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) was 2nd in 32:05.99, a PB by almost a minute and a half, with Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) 3rd in 32:06.14 after winning the 5000 m B-heat in 15:56.57 less than an hour earlier. Morita's twin sister Shiori was a DNS.

National Corporate Federation Women's Long Distance Time Trials
Ishin Hyakunen Kinen Park Field, Yamaguchi, 12/9/17
click here for complete results

Women's 10000 m
1. Kaori Morita (Panasonic) - 31:59.94
2. Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:05.99
3. Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) - 32:06.14
4. Anna Matsuda (Kyocera) - 32:07.11
5. Riko Matsuzaki (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:08.46
6. Harumi Okamoto (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 32:17.29
7. Rie Fujita (Kyocera) - 32:21.79
8. Yuka Hori (Panasonic) - 32:21.92
9. Yuri Nozoe (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 32:26.93
10. Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) - 32:27.58

Women's 5000 m Heat 3
1. Mai Nishiwaki (Tenmaya) - 15:38.82
2. Kasumi Nishihara (Yamada Denki) - 15:39.43
3. Fumika Sasaki (Daiichi Seimei) - 15:40.69
4. Kanami Sagayama (Daiichi Seimei) - 15:41.34
5. Miyuki Uehara (Daiichi Seimei) - 15:41.51
6. Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:44.39
7. Hisami Ishii (Yamada Denki) - 15:45.32
8. Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada Denki) - 15:46.89
9. Nanako Kanno (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:47.24
10. Azuki Horiguchi (Kyocera) - 15:50.71

Women's 5000 m Heat 2
1. Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) - 15:56.57
2. Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) - 15:56.68
3. Mayuka Toda (Kyocera) - 15:57.51
4. Kanako Takemoto (Daihatsu) - 15:58.71
5. Ayari Harada (Daiichi Seimei) - 15:59.23

Women's 5000 m Heat 1
1. Misaki Minami (Wacoal) - 16:14.48
2. Aika Nakashima (Kyocera) - 16:14.59
3. Nazuna Yamasaki (Juhachi Ginko) - 16:15.43

Women's 3000 m
1. Ayaka Nakagawa (Sekisui Kagaku) - 9:27.51
2. Momoka Kawaguchi (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 9:34.10
3. Nagisa Shimotabira (Daihatsu) - 9:36.22

photo © 2017 M. Kawaguchi, all rights reserved
text © 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Goshima and Kasai Win 10000 m National Titles, Maeda Breaks U20 Asian Record

Rino Goshima and Jun Kasai stepped up with PBs to win the 2024 National Championships 10000 m titles Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium. In the women's race, Goshima, 4th in last December's 2023 National Championships 10000 m, went out front from the start with Kenyan teammate Judy Jepngetich pacing and 2023 3rd-placer Haruka Kokai in tow. Things were never on track to hit the 30:40.00 Paris Olympics standard, but except for a brief dip to 3:08 at 7000 m Goshima held steady at 3:05 to 3:06/km even as Kokai and Jepngetich fell off. With blood dripping from her left knee after getting spiked by Jepngetich, Goshima closed in 3:03 to take 5 seconds off her best from December's Nationals and win in 30:53.31, moving up to all-time Japanese #6. Jepngetich also PBd at 31:09.42 without counting in the standings, with Kokai 2nd in 31:10.53 and Kazuna Kanetomo 3rd in a PB 31:59.29. The runner-up last time, Yuka Takashima was last in 33:33.27. The men's race went out in a

Ichiyama 8th at Copenhagen Marathon

Currently the #10-ranked Japanese man in the marathon with the fastest-ever domestic time at the elite Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx) made his international debut at Sunday's Copenhagen Marathon , literally an international debut as it was his first time outside the country. Ichiyama hoped to be in contention to break the 2:08:23 CR and go for the win, and with cool and breezy conditions ran easy in the lead group through 30 km. But something ate away at almost everyone as time went by, several people in the lead men's and women's groups saying humidity, and past 30 km Ichiyama fell off. Falling as low as 9th, he rallied after 40 km to finish 8th in 2:13:07. "It was different than in Japanese races," he said. "I'm used to bigger packs and more even pacing, but this was a kind of racing I hadn't done before. There's a lot to think about. I didn't feel like I was sweating a lot, but I got really thirsty and started sk

Golden Games in Nobeoka Top Results

  For everyone not running yesterday's 10000 m National Championships , where the Asahi Kasei corporate team dominated the men's race with four out of four men sub-28 including winner Jun Kasai , 27:17.46, the grand dame of Japan's long distance time trial circuit was happening on AK's home ground in Miyazaki at the Golden Games in Nobeoka . Not including kids' races, a total of 74 women and 227 men ran in 14 heats of 5000 m, with a packed-in crowd of fans lining the track beating on metal sponsor boards with batons. It's a pretty awesome meet, and memorable performances included: National champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. standout Caroline Kariba continued to kill it in the second month of her corporate league career, winning the 5000 m A-heat in 15:00.95 in a race where 3 out of the top 4 including her ran PBs. National champion Meijo University seemed flat at this point in the season, with none of its people under 16 minutes and star Nanase Tanimoto leading