Skip to main content

Ishihara Breaks Into 3000 m All-Time Top Three - Weekend Track Highlights


With the Japanese academic and fiscal year ending Wednesday, this year saw one last blowout with decently competitive track time trial meets across the country.

At the Asahi Kasei corporate team's home track in Nobeoka, 2016 Rio Olympics steepler Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) led five men under the 28:16.00 B-standard for May's 10000 m National Championships, winning in 28:09.10. Olympic marathon team alternate Shohei Otsuka (Kyudenko) had a bad day of it, off the back in the first lap and finishing last in 29:55.91. Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei) led start to finish in the slower heat to win in 28:48.58.

In suburban Tokyo, National University Ekiden and Hakone Ekiden champ Komazawa University dominated the fast races at the Setagaya Time Trials meet. Komazawa's Takumi Karasawa won the 5000 m A-heat in 13:40.90, with teammate Mebuki Suzuki bouncing back from qualifying for the World University Games half marathon two weeks ago to win the 3000 m A-heat in 8:01.83.

One of the stars of this year's Hakone Ekiden, Tokai University first-year Shotaro Ishihara was even faster than Suzuki, running 7:58.26 to win Tokai's home ground time trials meet 3000 m A-heat and landing at all-time #3 on the Japanese U20 lists. The top 11 were all under 8:10, an exceptionally good race by Japanese standards. Johnson Mogeni (Yugakkan H.S.) won the 5000 m A-heat in 13:40.27. Club runner Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Kanto) outran corporate leaguers from the Daiichi Seimei and Panasonic teams to win the women's 3000 m A-heat in a PB of 9:22.76. 

At the Heisei Kokusai University Time Trials meet, Judy Kipngetich (Masuda Higashi H.S.) ran 8:59.53 to win the women's 3000 m A-heat by over 25 seconds. Seia Hotta (Chiharadai H.S.) won the men's 5000 m A-heat in 14:05.57.

Usually the biggest of the time trial meets, this time the Nittai University Time Trials was relatively low-key, with Yuya Ueda (Hiramatsu Byoin) turning in just about the only noteworthy run as he won the 5000 m fast heat in 13:56.89.

© 2021 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...
3 comments
Read more

Mashiko Breaks U20 5000 m NR - Weekend Track Roundup

Saturday's Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto was the weekend's main event in Japanese track, but there were good results at the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama too. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) led the men's 5000 m A-heat at Kanakuri in 13:14.06, with Tomonori Yamaguchi (SGH) clocking the fastest Japanese time in 13:16.38 in his first race as a corporate leaguer. Waseda University duo Rui Suzuki and Yota Mashiko went 6-7 in 13:20.64 and 13:22.87, the 18-year-old Mashiko shaving 0.04 off the U20 NR. In 8th, Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) ran a PB of 13:23.92. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) continued to struggle after a weak indoor season, finishing 18th of 20 finishers in 13:45.10. 19-year-old Festus Kimorwo (Kurosaki Harima) was under 13:20 in the B-heat too, winning in a 13:19.59 PB. 2 more collegiate men broke 13:30, Daichi Fujita (Chuo Univ.) 8th in 13:28.93 and Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) 9th in 13:29.09. The top 6 in the men's 800 m A-hea...
Post a Comment
Read more