by Brett Larner
The first meet of the 2011 Hokuren Distance Challenge series took place June 19 in Kitami, Hokkaido. With cooler than usual temperatures 2006 world 10000 m junior champion and 2008 world junior XC champion Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) delivered the biggest result of the evening, a solo 27:09.02 nearly a minute ahead of runner-up Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK). Jeilan's time was the third-fastest of the year by an Ethiopian, putting him into consideration for the Ethiopian team for August's Daegu World Championships. In 5th, third-year Yuki Maeda (Waseda Univ.), whose excellent run on the first day of this year's Hakone Ekiden was instrumental in keeping Waseda in contention for the win, became the latest Waseda runner to break 29 minutes as he clocked a PB of 28:54.34. Ten men on the roster of Waseda's 2010-2011 squad held PBs under 29 minutes.
In the women's 5000 m, 2011 East Japan Corporate T&F 10000 m champion Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) ran a strong 15:32.13, the third-best so far this year by a Japanese woman. The meet's other most notable result came in the men's 1500 m A-heat, where Kenyan Edward Waweru (Team NTN) ran a PB of 3:38.90, the fastest time of the year so far on Japanese soil.
The Hokuren Distance Challenge continues June 22 in Abashiri, Hokkaido.
2011 Hokuren Distance Challenge Kitami Meet
Kitami, Hokkaido, 6/19/11
Men's 10000 m
1. Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) - 27:09.02
2. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 28:01.50
3. Assefa Fekele (Ethiopia/Team Kanebo) - 28:32.86
4. Takehiro Arakawa (Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:52.60
5. Yuki Maeda (Waseda Univ.) - 28:54.34
6. Kazuki Onishi (Team Kanebo) - 28:55.90
7. Ryotaro Nitta (Team Konica Minolta) - 28:58.31
8. Naoto Yoneda (Team Konica Minolta) - 29:07.93
9. Fumihiro Maruyama (Team Asahi Kasei) - 29:09.11
10. Shota Hiraga (Waseda Univ.) - 29:09.75
Women's 5000 m
1. Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 15:32.13
2. Misako Onishi (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:46.64
3. Risa Kikuchi (Team Hitachi) - 15:48.61
4. Chieko Kido (Canon AC Kyushu) - 15:58.42
5. Korei Omata (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 16:03.06
6. Eri Watanabe (Team Panasonic) - 16:06.54
7. Haruka Igarashi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 16:08.62
8. Miku Yamamoto (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 16:09.31
9. Risa Nakamura (Team Hitachi) - 16:09.61
10. Yuri Umemura (Team Panasonic) - 16:10.29
Men's 3000 m
1. Kosuke Murasashi (Team YKK) - 8:13.89
2. Wataru Yamaguchi (Team Hitachi Cable) - 8:16.24
3. Makoto Hasegawa (Team Hitachi Cable) - 8:17.51
Women's 3000 m
1. Rose Maranga (Kenya/Team Toto) - 9:14.17
2. Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) - 9:16.42
3. Kazumi Hashimoto (Team Hokuren) - 9:27.42
Men's 1500 m A-Heat
1. Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) - 3:38.90
2. Sang-Min Sin (Korea) - 3:42.38
3. Kazunari Murakami (Team Fujitsu) - 3:43.70
(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Comments