Ndambiri 5000 m World Leader at Shizuoka International Meet

by Brett Larner

Alongside sprinter Chisato Fukushima's new women's 200 m national record at the May 3 Shizuoka International Track and Field Meet, Josephat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) was in a familiar position in the men's 5000 m, one step ahead of countryman Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) with a meet record and world-leading 13:09.19 win. Mathathi, just six days from his half-marathon debut at Sunday's Sendai International Half Marathon, was also under the old meet record as he finished 2nd in 13:10.94. 3rd placer Jonathan Ndiku (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) set the 3rd-fastest time so far this year, 13:19.84, while 4th place John Thuo set a slim PB of 13:21.02. 5000 m Japanese national champion Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) had a surprise win over Saku Chosei high school teammate Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) with the fastest time this year by a Japanese man, 13:24.75. The next five Japanese after Sato all set PBs, among them Tokai University ace Akinobu Murasawa who took 10 seconds off his best with a 13:38.68 which cleared the mark set by Jobu University's Yusuke Hasegawa two days ago at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational.

The women's 3000 m was relatively mild by comparison, as Tomoka Inadomi (Team Wacoal) took an easy victory over teammate Yuko Hakoyama in 9:09.55, a PB by 8 seconds.

2010 Shizuoka International Track and Field Meet - Top Finishers
click here for complete results
Men's 5000 m
1. Josephat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) - 13:09.19 - MR
2. Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 13:10.94 - (MR)
3. Jonathan Ndiku (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) - 13:19.84
4. John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota) - 13:21.02 - PB
5. Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) - 13:24.75
6. Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 13:35.09
7. Yuki Matsuoka (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 13:35.37 - PB
8. Yuki Iwai (Team Asahi Kasei) - 13:35.67 - PB
9. Micah Njeru (Kenya/Team Toyota Boshoku) - 13:37.61
10. Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) - 13:38.68 - PB
11. Tomoya Onishi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 13:43.06 - PB
12. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Meiji Univ.) - 13:46.53 - PB
13. Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 13:52.36
14. Takuya Ishikawa (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 13:57.05

Women's 3000 m
1. Tomoka Inadomi (Team Wacoal) - 9:09.55 - PB
2. Yuka Hakoyama (Team Wacoal) - 9:20.58
3. Nami Tani (Team Universal Entertainment) - 9:21.64
4. Kozue Matsumoto (Team Wacoal) - 9:26.74
5. Saki Watanabe (Team Wacoal) - 9:29.54

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Hassan Runs NR/CR for Osaka Win, Dibaba Hits Women's CR, Yoshida and Shuley Earn Legends

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M.I.A.

Sorry to have been silent for a while. JRN associate editor Mika Tokairin was in Taiwan for Ironman Penghu, where she won her age group to qualify for Kona for the first time. Right after that we moved for the first time in 14 years, and immediately after that I headed to the U.S. to help Keita Sato get settled in his new training base in Flagstaff. We'll be resuming normal operations shortly with a big roundup of results over the last 2 weeks. Brett Larner

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