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Hokuren Distance Challenge Sapporo Meet - Results

by Brett Larner

The six-part Hokuren Distance Challenge series of summer meets got underway June 14 in Sapporo. Held in towns across Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, the Hokuren Distance Challenge has become an important part of the calendar for the hundreds of university and corporate runners who relocate to Hokkaido for summer base training to escape the heat. Top results of this year's Sapporo Meet are reproduced below.

2010 Hokuren Distance Challenge Sapporo Meet - Top Finishers
click here for complete results
Men's 5000 m A-Heat
1. Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) - 13:25.18
2. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 13:42.50
3. Akihiko Tsumurai (Team Mazda) - 13:44.43
4. Satoshi Irifune (Team Kanebo) - 13:45.66
5. Norio Kamijo (Team Aichi Steel) - 13:55.00

Women's 5000 m
1. Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Team Universal Ent.) - 15:15.27
2. Kazue Kojima (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) - 15:41.96
3. Risa Takenaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:42.96
4. Maiko Kushima (Niigata Albirex AC) - 16:07.61
5. Aki Odagiri (Meijo Univ.) - 16:08.16

Men's 5000 m B-Heat
1. Daisuke Shimizu (Team Kanebo) - 13:50.64
2. Sung Ho Paik (South Korea) - 13:54.76
3. Tomoya Shirayanagi (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 13:55.27

Men's 3000 m
1. Osamu Ibata (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 8:15.52
2. Atsushi Ikawa (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 8:21.58
3. Yuki Moriwaki (Team JFE Steel) - 8:24.44

Women's 3000 m
1. Sayaka Murakami (Sapporo Seishu H.S.) - 9:44.74
2. Kaori Ito (Meijo Univ.) - 9:45.18
3. Mika Nakagawa (Sapporo Seishu H.S.) - 9:46.10

Men's 3000 m SC
1. Nahom Mesfin (Ethiopia/Team Kanebo) - 8:18.84
2. Alemu Desta (Ethiopia/Team Yasukawa Denki) - 8:40.29
3. Tetsuya Sasaki (Team Chudenko) - 9:07.23

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
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