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Showing posts with the label Naoki Nakamura

Olympic Year Track Season Kicks Off at Setagaya and Kanaguri

by Brett Larner
video by toyosina2008



Outdoor track season got moving early with two big meets on April 2nd. At the Setagaya Time Trials meet in Tokyo's Kinuta Park, 17-year-old Hyuga Endo (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) kicked hard over the last lap to outrun three members of 2016 Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University, all of whom ran PBs, and all other competition and go under 13:50 for 5000 m for the first time.  A day after the start of his senior year of high school Endo won the fastest 5000 m heat in 13:48.13, moving up from #9 to #7 on the all-time Japanese high school lists.  AGU's Kazuki Tamura and Yuki Nakamura took 2nd and 3rd in PBs of 13:50.43 and 13:52.29, with Hakone Sixth Stage winner Yuji Onoda joining them under 14 for the first time in 13:56.87.  One other high schooler, Ryunosuke Omori (Sano Nittai Prep H.S.) scored his first sub-14, running 13:54.25 for 5th just behind Kenyan Silas Kingori (Team SGH Group).  Kenyan Rosemary Monica Wanjiru (Team Starts) won…
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Ndirangu, Wanjiru Dominate Chiba International XC Meet

by Brett Larner

The first of Japan's two selection races for its World Cross-Country Championships team took place under beautiful sunny skies Feb. 10 in Chiba.  Former Sera H.S. standout Charles Ndirangu (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) had no trouble taking the senior men's 12 km, winning by a margin of nearly 30 seconds over newcomer Miliyon Zewdie (Ethiopia/ Team Yachiyo Kogyo).  Close behind, Keigo Yano and Takumi Honda of 2013 Hakone Ekiden champions Nittai University went 4-5 to take the top two Japanese positions and all but assure themselves places on the Worlds team.  Last weekend's Marugame International Half Marathon winner Collis Birmingham (Australia) was only 7th in 36:07.

High schooler Rosemary Wanjiru (Kenya/Aomori Yamada H.S.) won the senior women's 8 km with the largest margin of victory of the day, running 26:08 to beat pros Susan Wairimu (Kenya/Team Denso), Hanae Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) and Yukari Abe (Team Shimamura).  The top collegiate finisher was A…
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Fukuoka XC Results

2012 Fukuoka International Cross-Country Meet Results
Fukuoka, 2/25/12
click here for complete results

Senior Men's 10 km
1. Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.) - 30:27
2. Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 30:27
3. Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) - 30:32
4. Daichi Motomura (Tokai Univ.) - 30:40
5. Yuya Konishi (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 30:47
6. Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 30:50
7. Hiroyoshi Umegae (Team NTN) - 30:56
8. Shinobu Kubota (Komazawa Univ.) - 30:58
9. Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) - 31:00
10. Hideyuki Anzai (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 31:02

Note: The top three men, Osako, Sato and Murasawa, are all graduates of Nagano's Saku Chosei H.S., along with 9th-place finisher Ueno.  Saku Chosei is one of the only schools to incorporate XC training as a staple of its methodology.

Senior Women's 6 km
1. Hitomi Niiya (Sakura AC) - 20:18
2. Grace Kimanzi (Kenya/Team Starts) - 20:38
3. Megumi Kinukawa (Mizuno) - 20:49
4. Ayuko Suzuki (Nagoya Univ.) - 20:56
5. Sachi Tanaka (Sports Yamagata 2…
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Sera H.S. Kenyans Ndirangu, Wairimu Dominate Chiba Int'l XC Senior Races

by Brett Larner

Sera High School's Kenyans Charles Ndirangu and Susan Wairimu once again took the top positions, winning the senior men's 12 km and senior women's 8 km races at the 47th Chiba International Cross-Country Meet Feb. 12 in Chiba.  Ndirangu ran head-to-head against 2007 World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), accompanied partway by junior teammate John Gathaiya (Kenya/Sera H.S.).  After Gathaiya faded Ndirangu eventually opened a gap of ten seconds over Mathathi, winning in 34:59.  Gathaiya was nearly run down by 2011 World University Games 10000 m gold medalist and 1500 m national university champion Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.), who broke away from a chase pack of four including track runner Yuta Takahashi (Team S&B), 10000 m national champion Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) and Hakone Ekiden Seventh Stage record holder Yuta Shitara (Toyo Univ.) late in the race.  Gathaiya held on to 3rd in 35:38 with Osako …
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