Skip to main content

Kamulu Runs 10000 m World Lead, Ahn Breaks Korean National Record, Tamura Clears 28 Minutes, Niiya Back on Track in Fukagawa


National records fell for the third meet in a row in the four-part Hokuren Distance Challenge series Wednesday in Fukagawa, Hokkaido. Longtime Japan resident Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) had a shockingly good run in the women's 10000 m A-heat, following up her 1:06:56 bronze medal run at the Valencia World Half Marathon Championships by lopping over a minute off her 10000 m best and 9 seconds off the Japanese all-comers record with a 2018 world-leading time of 30:41.85.

Kamulu lapped the entire field, her nearest competitor Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) returning from a 2:23:46 marathon PB in Osaka in January to take 30 seconds off her own best in 32:13.87. Further back, Seul Ki Ahn broke the South Korean national record set 13 years ago in Fukagawa with a new mark of 32:33.61. Ahn's NR followed the 2:25:41 NR set by Do Yeon Kim at the Seoul International Marathon in March, a miniature renaissance in South Korea women's distance running.

The men's 10000 m A-heat was also decently fast, Andrew Lorot (Subaru) leading four men under 28 minutes with a 27:52.39 for the win. The fourth of them, Aoyama Gakuin University grad Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko), was the first Japanese man to clear 28 minutes in what has been something of a dry year for the distance to date, running a PB of 27:58.35. Popular former Komazawa University captain Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Konica Minolta) had his best result after years of injury setbacks, taking 6th in 28:17.63 as the next Japanese man behind Tamura.

Japan-based Kenyan Grace Kimanzi (Starts) easily won the women's 5000 m A-heat in 15:20.95, but the bigger story in that race was 2nd-placer Hitomi Niiya (Nike Tokyo TC). After memorably heartbreaking races on the track at the London Olympics and Moscow World Championships Niiya abruptly retired. This spring she quietly made a comeback after almost 5 years with a low-key track time trial to get a qualifying mark for Hokuren. At Fukagawa, just her second race since 2013, she ran 15:35.19, a long way from her best but what has to be a big confidence booster as she tries to suss out how realistic a comeback would be by 2020.

Dominic Langat (Konica Minolta) won a relatively uneventful men's 5000 A-heat in 13:29.53 by 0.19 over Kiprono Sitonik (Kenya). The more interesting race was the men's 3000 m, a tuneup for fast times in the 5000 m Saturday at the series' final meet. Bernard Koech (Kyudenko) won the 3000 m in 7:54.39, with Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota) leading four Japanese men under 8 minutes in 7:55.45.

Hokuren Distance Challenge Fukagawa Meet

Fukagawa, Hokkaido, 7/11/18
complete results

Men's 10000 m A-Heat
1. Andrew Lorot (Subaru) - 27:52.39
2. Ledama Kisaisa (Obirin Univ.) - 27:52.74
3. Nicholas Kosimbei (Toyota) - 27:56.81
4. Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) - 27:58.35
5. Simon Kariuki (Nihon Yakka Univ.) - 28:08.01
6. Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Konica Minolta) - 28:17.63
7. Charles Ndungu (Komori Corp.) - 28:18.22
8. Hiroyuki Yamamoto (Konica Minolta) - 28:18.39
9. Takumi Komatsu (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 28:24.39
10. Shuhei Yamamoto (Toyota) - 28:27.10

Women's 10000 m A-Heat
1. Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) - 30:41.85 - WL
2. Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) - 32:13.87
3. Ayumi Hagiwara (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 32:17.54
4. Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) - 32:24.27
5. Misaki Hayashida (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 32:29.11
6. Seul Ki Ahn (South Korea) - 32:33.61 - NR
7. Mizuki Tanimoto (Tenmaya) - 32:33.76
8. Yuki Munehisa (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 32:34.37
9. Ayano Ikemitsu (Kagoshima Ginko) - 32:51.09
10. Hiroko Miyauchi (Hokuren) - 32:51.71

Men's 5000 m A-Heat
1. Dominic Langat (Konica Minolta) - 13:29.53
2. Kiprono Sitonik (Kenya) - 13:29.72
3. Wesley Ledama (Subaru) - 13:34.64
4. Daiji Kawai (Toenec) - 13:45.91
5. Kota Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 13:50.92
6. Makoto Mitsunobu (Kyudenko) - 13:52.62
7. Masaki Toda (Nissin) - 13:53.31
8. Junnosuke Matsuo (Tokai Univ.) - 13:54.65
9. Noritoshi Hara (Honda) - 13:57.79
10. Yudai Okamoto (JFE Steel) - 13:59.54

Women's 5000 m A-Heat
1. Grace Kimanzi (Starts) - 15:20.95
2. Hitomi Niiya (Nike Tokyo TC) - 15:35.19
3. Akane Yabushita (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:58.10
4. Tomoka Kimura (Universal Entertainment) - 15:59.44
5. Eri Utsunomiya (Japan Post) - 16:00.70

Men's 3000 m A-Heat
1. Bernard Koech (Kyudenko) - 7:54.39
2. Robert Kipchirchir Mwei (Asahi Kasei) - 7:55.40
3. Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota) - 7:55.45
4. Nanami Arai (Honda) - 7:56.35
5. Daichi Takeuchi (Toenec) - 7:57.42
6. Taku Fujimoto (Toyota) - 7:59.30

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Andrew Armiger said…
Promising performances, go Niiya!
July 12, 2018 at 10:14 PM
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

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

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...
1 comment
Read more