japan running news

Stanford, CA, U.S.A., 5/4/14
click here for complete results

Men's 10000 m Section 1
1. Juan Luis Barrios (Mexico) - 27:34.40
2. Cam Levins (Canada) - 27:36.00
3. Bashir Abdi (Belgium) - 27:36.40
4. Daniel Meucci (Italy) - 27:36.53
5. Shadrack Kipchirchir (Kenya/Oklahome State Univ.) - 27:36.79
-----
8. Yuki Sato (Japan/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 27:46.69
12. Zewdie Miliyon (Kenya/Team Yachiyo Kogyo) - 28:04.64
13. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Japan/Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:05.67

Women's 10000 m
1. Sally Kipyego (Kenya) - 30:42.26
2. Molly Huddle (U.S.A.) - 30:47.59
3. Betsy Saina (Kenya) - 30:57.30
4. Jordan Hassay (U.S.A.) - 31:39.67
5. Julia Bleasdale (GBR) - 31:42.02
-----
7. Doricah Obare (Kenya/Team Hitachi) - 31:45.24
9. Kasumi Nishihara (Japan/Team Yamada Denki) - 32:09.84
10. Kotomi Takayama (Japan/Team Sysmex) - 32:15.20
11. Miho Ihara (Japan/Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:15.42
21. Mao Kuroda (Japan/Team Wacoal) - 32:41.92
30. Misaki Kato (Japan/Team Kyudenko) - 33:01.30
34. Shiho Takechi…

Stanford University, California, 4/29/12
click here for complete results

Men's 10000 m Kim McDonald
1. Cam Levins (Southern Utah) - 27:27.96
2. Sam Chelanga (OTC) - 27:29.82
3. Chris Derrick (Stanford) - 27:31.38
-----
10. Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) - 27:50.59
13. Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Konica Minolta) - 27:52.79
16. Yuki Sato (Nissin Shokuhin) - 27:57.07
24. Kensuke Takezawa (S&B) - 28:15.79
28. Yuki Matsuoka (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 28:55.90
29. Yusuke Takabayashi (Toyota) - 29:12.69
30. Ikuto Yufu (Komazawa Univ.) - 29:21.29
31. Tomoyuki Morita (Kanebo) - 29:25.55

Men's 10000 m Heat 2
1. Josphat Boit (Mammoth TC) - 28:11.75
2. Liam Adams (Unatt.) - 28:11.76
3. James Strang (Unatt.) - 28:12.03
-----
31. Atsushi Ikawa (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 29:05.32

Women's 5000 m Heat 1
1. Sally Kipyego (OTC) - 14:43.11
2. Julia Lucas (OTC) - 15:08.52
3. Julie Culley (Asics) - 15:13.87
-----
12. Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) - 15:33.11
17. Risa Takenaka (Shiseido) - 15:44.94

Women's 5000 m Heat 2
1. Me…

by Brett Larner
Always a big meet on the Japanese calendar, Stanford University's May 1 Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational produced some exceptional performances. For Bitan Karoki (Team S&B), on the entry lists as 'Bedan' but listed as 'Bitan' on his IAAF profile and elsewhere, it was an international coming-out party as he became the third Japan-based Kenyan in nine days to set a world leader in men's 10000 m, 1st in a 10-second PB of 27:13.67 after dropping the rest of the field with comedic ease. The leading Japanese men's and women's half-marathoners of the year, Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) and Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal), each set the year-leading Japanese time for 10000 m, Ugachi with a 20-second PB of 27:41.97 just 2 seconds off a World Championships A-standard time and 6 seconds off the national record despite tripping and nearly falling late in the race, and Fukushi 3rd in 30:54.29 in her best time since 2002 and first time un…

by Brett Larner
Stanford University's Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational has a long history of being an important spring meet on the Japanese track calendar, the site of multiple national records including both the current men's and women's 10000 m records. This year's meet features a large contingent of Japanese athletes, particularly in the men's 10000 m where virtually all of the current top men will be shooting for World Championships and Olympic qualifying times. Below is a quick preview to the Japanese athletes in each event. The meet will be webcast live by Flotrack beginning at 10:45 a.m. Japan time on May 2. Click here for more info on the meet and webcast.
Men's 3000 mSC - Section 1#13 - Aoi Matsumoto (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - PB: 8:30.49 (2010) #21 - Hiroyoshi Umegae (Team NTN) - PB: 8:34.96 (2010)
With the departure of national record holder Yoshitaka Iwamizu (Team Fujitsu) from the steeple for longer events, Matsumoto and Umegae are the top two men …

by Brett Larner

Always a staple on the Japanese spring track calendar, this year's Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational saw several strong performances from Japanese men.



With early pacing by former Nihon University ace Simon Ndirangu (Kenya), the historic men's Kim McDonald 10000 m saw the first-ever sub-27 minute clocking by a white runner. American Chris Solinsky (Nike) unexpectedly beat star Galen Rupp (Nike) to set a new American national record of 26:59.60. Unknown Daniel Salel (Kenya) finished runner-up in a sizzling 27:07.85 PB and 3rd place finisher Samuel Chelanga (Kenya/Liberty Univ.) set a new American university record of 27:08.39. Rupp was 4th overall but also broke the former national record, while 5th place finisher Simon Bairu (Canada/Nike) set a new Canadian national record of 27:23.63. The top eight men all clocked PBs, leaving 9th place finisher Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) to be the top-placing man not to run a PB. As expected in his first 10000 m since th…

by Brett Larner

The Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at California's Stanford University has always been a big meet for top Japanese runners. It was the site of both the current men's and women's national records, and although in the last two years Japan's focus has shifted more to Berkeley's Brutus Hamilton Invitational a solid group of athletes will again line up at this year's Cardinal Invitational on May 1.

Leading the way is #1-ranked Japanese man Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B). He's the one who ran 13:19.00 and 27:45.59 as a 20 year old. Injured for a year after that, he spent most of last year working his way back up and hopes to knock down both his 5000 m and 10000 m PBs this season. A 13:33.61 opener at the Kanaguri Memorial Meet two weeks ago was promising, but at last week's Brutus Hamilton Invitational 5000 m Takezawa ran only 13:47.30. That's exactly the pace he would need to run to have a shot at Toshinari Takaoka's national reco…

by Brett Larner

Click here for video of the 2009 Hakone Ekiden Qualifier.

Japan's Monday morning network news talk programs devoted lengthy segments to discussing the outstanding results from Saturday's university men's Hakone Ekiden Qualifier 20 km road race, which featured the 9th through 55th-ranked schools in the Kanto region. At the same time, American fan websites were buzzing with discussion of the results of Saturday's big university pre-National cross-country meets. How did the results compare between the top schools and runners in the two countries?

The first table below shows the top ten men, times and paces in the two 8 km NCAA Pre-National XC races, the 10 km Chile Pepper Invitational XC race, and the 20 km Kanto Regional Hakone Ekiden Qualifying Road Race. Click for full-sized version.


While the races in the U.S.A. were cross-country and thus suffered a disadvantage in terms of pace relative to a road race, the distance in the Hakone Qualifier was twice to 2.…

by Brett Larner

Stanford University's Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational holds a special place in the Japanese record books, being the meet where both the current men's and women's 10000 m national records were set. Last year 5000 m national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) fell just short of breaking the 10000 m national record, with Satoshi Irifune (Team Kanebo) a short distance back, likewise clearing the 28-minute mark. This year Irifune was slated to run again, but the outbreak of the swine flu pandemic caused Team Kanebo management to pull him at the last minute. The decision left seven mostly young, lesser-known Japanese runners to compete in three events.



Hiroyoshi Umegae (Team NTN) was first up in the men's 3000 m SC. Running a stable pace in the middle of the pack Umegae appeared to be on course for a slim PB and even looked to be advancing in the final km, but he faded over the final lap and lost seven places to come home in 14th in 8:42…

The 2009 Stanford University Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational will be webcast live on Flotrack. Assuming that no more withdraw out of swine flu hysteria, the following races will feature Japanese distance runners. Italicized races do not include any Japanese athletes but are likely to be interesting. All times are Japan time on Sunday, May 3. Click here for a complete timetable.

Women's 3000 m SC Section 1: 10:38 a.m.
Men's 3000 m SC Section 1: 11:02 a.m. - Hiroyoshi Umegae
Women's 5000 m Section 1: 12:34 p.m.
Men's 5000 m Section 1: 12:52 p.m. - Suehiro Ishikawa and Yuichiro Ueno
Women's 10000 m Section 1: 1:08 p.m.
Men's 10000 m Section 1: 1:45 p.m. - Tomoaki Bungo, Seigo Ikegami, Yuki Iwai and Yoshinori Oda

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/p-sp-tp0-20090501-489245.html

translated by Brett Larner

On Apr. 30 Team Kanebo announced that Berlin World Championships men's marathon team member Satoshi Irifune has withdrawn from a planned appearance in the men's 10000 m at the May 2 Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational track and field meet in Stanford, CA. Team Kanebo head coach Kunimitsu Ito said that the company's management had informed him on Apr. 28 of its decision to pull its athletes from the meet out of concerns about the outbreak of swine influenza.

Translator's note: The article does not mention Irifune's teammate Daisuke Matsufuji, but it is to be assumed that he has also been pulled from the Cardinal Invitational.

by Brett Larner

I missed this result at the time. Thanks to Jason Lawrence for pointing it out.

Former Chuo University Hakone Ekiden star Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) continued his comeback from serious illness throughout 2008, beginning his spring track season at the Stanford University Invitational in California on Mar. 27. Ueno was 3rd in the men's 5000 m A-heat, clocking 13:39.42. His time was far off his PB of 13:21.49 from 2007 but represented a step forward in his recovery as he works toward June's National Track and Field Championships and August's World Championships in Berlin. Complete Stanford results are available here.

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

by Brett Larner
photos by Randy Miyazaki - used with permission

Takayuki Matsumiya and Satoshi Irifune at Stanford

5000 m national record and 30 km world record holder Takayuki Matsumiya of Team Konica-Minolta ran a sensational 9-second PB to finish 4th in the men`s Kim McDonald memorial 10000 m at the 2008 Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational track meet at Stanford University. Running comfortably back in the pack for the first third of the race, Matsumiya soon moved up to join the leaders and held his position in the top 5 until the final km. With two laps to go he made a move to catch breakaway leader Craig Mottram of Australia, passing the other members of the lead pack to move into second place. Just after taking the second spot, Matsumiya abruptly tightened and slowed, missing his chance to break Toshinari Takaoka`s 27:35.09 Japanese national record, set at the Cardinal Invitational in 2001. Matsumiya nevertheless held on for 4th in 27:41.75, a 9-second PB and well under the Olympic …

by Brett Larner

5000 m national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica-Minolta), women`s 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi, university star Yuki Sato (Tokai University) and Sato`s former teammate Hideaki Date, making his professional debut with Team Chugoku Denryoku, are scheduled to headline the Japanese contingent at the May 4 Cardinal Invitational at Stanford University. Stanford has historically been an important meet for Japanese runners, with marks including Toshinari Takaoka`s 10000 m national record set at the meet.

Japanese entrants by event:

Men`s 800 - Heat 3
Taiki Tsutsumi (Team Acom), PB: 1:49.22

Men`s 1500 - Heat 2
Yasuhiro Tago (Team Chugoku Denryoku), PB: 3:40.36

Men`s 10000 - Heat 1
Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica-Minolta), PB: 27:50.20
Yuki Sato (Tokai University), PB: 27:51.65
Satoshi Irifune (Team Kanebo), PB: 27:53.92
Yuki Nakamura (Team Kanebo), PB: 28:12.37
Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku), PB: 28:15.52
Suehiro Ishikawa (Team Honda), PB: 28:18.30
Hide…