Skip to main content

Fujimoto Comes From Nowhere to Win Kanto Regionals 5000 m - 26 Under 14 Min.

by Brett Larner

Men's 5000 m A-Heat


Steadily worsening rain and winds on the last day of the 2010 Kanto Regional University T&F Championships didn't slow things down as the men's 5000 m A-heat saw one of the best overall university men's 5000 m in Japanese history. Hakone Ekiden star Ryuji Kashiwabara (Toyo Univ.) and the relentlessly improving Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Meiji Univ.) took the pack of 29 through 1 km in 2:39, almost dead-on Japanese national record pace. Surprisingly, everyone went with them and few fell apart. Kashiwabara, Yoroizaka and 10000 m A-heat winner Benjamin Gando (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) took turns leading as the fastest man in the field, 19 year-old Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) patiently worked his way forward. When Murasawa finally made his move, his surprise company came from Taku Fujimoto (Kokushikan Univ.), a runner with a PB of only 13:57.57. A bigger surprise came when Fujimoto blasted away over the last lap to knock nearly 20 seconds off his PB with a 13:38.68 win. Yoroizaka and Murasawa also broke 13:40, and altogether 17 men out of the 29 starters broke 14 minutes, 12 of them in PBs and none of the remaining 5 more than 3 seconds off his PB. Yoroizaka deserves extra praise, running PBs to finish 2nd in both the 5000 m and 10000 m and in each race outkicking the fastest man in the field.

Men's 5000 m B-Heat


The 5000 m B-heat, more akin to NCAA Div. II than to a JV race, was also quick. 10000 m B-heat winner Duncan Mozay (Kenya/Takushoku Univ.) did it again, just clipped teammate John Maina (Kenya/Takushoku Univ.) for the win in 13:41.08. The top 4 finishers, the two Kenyans plus Kazuya Deguchi (Nittai Univ.) and Hiromitsu Kakuage (Komazawa Univ.) broke the former Kanto Regionals B-heat record, and 9 men broke 14 minutes with 5 of these clocking PBs. Between the two heats 26 men broke 14 minutes, significantly more than in past years and a result which suggests Kanto's coaches are giving more attention to the speed component of their students' training, the missing ingredient in modern Japanese distance training.

The men's half marathon was nevertheless strong. Cosmas Ondiba (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) repeated his win from last year with teammate Muryo Takase (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) a second behind. Although Ondiba ran only 1:03:30 on the difficult 10-loop course, for the first time 5 men went under 64 minutes including 2009 Ageo City Half Marathon winner Shota Hiraga (Waseda Univ.). Kenta Chiba (Komazawa Univ.) won the B-heat in 1:04:42.

Women's 5000 m


Held on Saturday afternoon, the women's 5000 m suffered from the hottest temperatures so far this year ahead of the rain that cooled Sunday's events. It also suffered from a shortage of competition following the graduation last month of many of the Kanto region's best women. After a leisurely first 2 km, frosh Nanaka Izawa (Juntendo Univ.) grew impatient and abruptly dropped the rest of the field, streaking away to run the rest of the race unchallenged for the win in a moderate 16:26.36 which did not give proper credit to the quality of her running due to the slow opening section. Runner-up Yurie Doi (Tokyo Gakugei Daigaku) was over 5 seconds behind.

2010 Kanto Regional University T&F Championships - Top Results
click here or on event headers for complete results

Men's 5000 m A-Heat
1. Taku Fujimoto (3rd yr., Kokushikan Univ.) - 13:38.68 - PB
2. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (3rd yr., Meiji Univ.) - 13:39.31 - PB
3. Akinobu Murasawa (2nd yr., Tokai Univ.) - 13:39.65
4. Yusuke Hasegawa (4th yr., Jobu Univ.) - 13:43.31
5. Yo Yazawa (3rd yr., Waseda Univ.) - 13:44.10
6. Ryohei Kawakami (3rd yr., Toyo Univ.) - 13:46.55 - PB
7. Hideyuki Tanaka (2nd yr., Juntendo Univ.) - 13:47.12 - PB
8. Dai Nakahara (2nd yr., Josai Univ.) - 13:47.89 - PB
9. Tsubasa Hayakawa (2nd yr., Tokai Univ.) - 13:48.87 - PB
10. Keisuke Tanaka (4th yr., Josai Univ.) - 13:50.15 - PB
11. Benjamin Gando (2nd yr., Nihon Univ.) - 13:51.19 - PB
12. Ryuji Kashiwabara (3rd yr., Toyo Univ.) - 13:51.21
13. Masaki Ito (3rd yr., Kokushikan Univ.) - 13:51.30 - PB
14. Yusuke Sato (2nd yr., Nihon Univ.) - 13:57.01 - PB
15. Kentaro Tone (3rd yr., Tokai Univ.) - 13:58.63
16. Naohiro Domoto (3rd yr., Nihon Univ.) - 13:58.71 - PB
17. Keita Shitara (1st yr., Toyo Univ.) - 13:59.09 - PB

Men's 5000 m B-Heat
1. Duncan Mozay (Kenya/1st yr., Takushoku Univ.) - 13:41.08 - PB, MR
2. John Maina (Kenya/ 1st yr., Takushoku Univ.) - 13:41.17 - PB, (MR)
3. Kazuya Deguchi (4th yr., Nittai Univ.) - 13:49.84 (MR)
4. Hiromitsu Kakuage (2nd yr., Komazawa Univ.) - 13:52.57 (MR)
5. Ikki Takeuchi (1st yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 13:53.39 - PB
6. Kenta Matsubara (3rd yr., Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 13:53.41 - PB
7. Shinji Ando (4th yr., Teikkyo Univ.) - 13:55.47 - PB
8. Ikuto Yufu (1st yr., Komazawa Univ.) - 13:56.17
9. Takumi Honda (1st yr., Nittai Univ.) - 13:56.70
10. Takuya Noguchi (4th yr., Nittai Univ.) - 14:04.12

Women's 5000 m
1. Nanaka Izawa (1st yr., Juntendo Univ.) - 16:26.36
2. Yurie Doi (4th yr., Tokyo Gakugei Daigaku) - 16:31.81
3. Natsumi Suguro (4th yr., Nittai Univ.) - 16:32.13

Men's Half Marathon A-Heat
1. Cosmas Ondiba (Kenya/3rd yr., Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:30
2. Muryo Takase (4th yr., Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:31
3. Shogo Otsu (4th yr., Toyo Univ.) - 1:03:32 - PB
4. Shota Hiraga (2nd yr., Waseda Univ.) - 1:03:40 - PB
5. Junichi Shioya (2nd yr., Chuo Univ.) - 1:03:52 - PB

Men's Half Marathon B-Heat
1. Kenta Chiba (2nd yr., Komazawa Univ.) - 1:04:42 - debut
2. Junya Kinoshita (3rd yr., Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 1:04:51 - PB
3. Koji Kobayashi (4th yr., Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:05:10

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...
2 comments
Read more

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...
1 comment
Read more

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...
8 comments
Read more