Watanabe Just Misses 10000 m A-Standard, Sophomore Yufu 28:02.46 to Lead Five Komazawa Univ. Men Under 29 in Fukagawa

by Brett Larner

With unseasonably cool temperatures ahead of an approaching typhoon the Hokuren Distance Challenge Fukagawa Meet on June 25 saw a raft of significant PB performances. Gideon Ngatuny (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) led three Japan-resident Kenyans to the top of the men's 10000 m A-heat with a win in 27:43.82, but the trio had company from 5000 m national champion Kazuya Watanabe (Team Shikoku Denryoku) who was shooting for the Daegu World Championships A-standard of sub-27:40 but came up just short in a large PB of 27:47.79 In so doing Watanabe, the all-time #2 Japanese man over 1500 m best-known for blacking out meters before the finish while leading the 2008 National Championships 1500 m, became the first Japanese man to break both 3:40 and 28:00. Missing the A-standard means that Watanabe will run only the 5000 m in Daegu.

More of a shock than Watanabe were the next two runners after him, Komazawa University sophomore Ikuto Yufu and junior Hiromitsu Kakuage, who ran PBs of 28:02.46 and 28:03.27 to beat Kenyans Benjamin Gandu (Nihon Univ.) and Micah Njeru (Team Toyota Boshoku). It's rare to see collegiate times this fast, particularly two teammated doing it in one race, and what's more three other Komazawa runners set new PBs under 29 minutes. 2011 Hakone Ekiden top two Waseda University and Toyo University are hovering aroung ten sub-29 minute men apiece, but with Komazawa up to six men that level now including star first-year Kenta Murayama, Yufu and Kakuage could lead Komazawa in a legitimate shot at challenging Waseda and Toyo for dominance in the upcoming ekiden season.

The women's 10000 m was also fast, with nine of the top ten recording new PBs led by Kenyan Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko) going under the World Championships A-standard with a 31:27.98. Seika Nishikawa (Team Sysmex), a teammate of marathon national record holder Mizuki Noguchi, was 2nd in a quick 32:12.64.

The final meet in this year's Hokuren Distance Challenge series takes place this Wednesday in Shibetsu and will focus on the 5000 m with Hitomi Niiya (Chiba Pref.) and Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) among others going for World Championships A-standard marks.

2011 Hokuren Distance Challenge Fukagawa Meet

Fukagawa, Hokkaido, 6/25/11

click here for complete results

Men's 10000 m A-Heat

1. Gideon Ngatuny (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 27:43.82

2. James Rungar (Kenya/Team Toyota) - 27:44.86 - PB

3. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 27:47.51

4. Kazuya Watanabe (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 27:47.79 - PB

5. Ikuto Yufu (Komazawa Univ.) - 28:02.46 - PB

6. Hiromitsu Kakuage (Komazawa Univ.) - 28:03.27 - PB

7. Benjamin Gandu (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) - 28:03.43 - PB

8. Micah Njeru (Kenya/Team Toyota Boshoku) - 28:03.48

9. Hiroyuki Ono (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 28:06.35 - PB

10. Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) - 28:12.02 - PB

-----

15. Shinobu Kubota (Komazawa Univ.) - 28:23.61 - PB

Women's 10000 m

1. Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 31:27.98 - PB

2. Seika Nishikawa (Team Sysmex) - 32:12.64 - PB

3. Eriko Kushima (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 32:16.84 - PB

4. Miho Ihara (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 32:18.00 - PB

5. Yuko Watanabe (Team Edion) - 32:27.89 - PB

6. Korei Omata (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:37.89 - PB

7. Misato Horie (Team Noritz) - 32:44.00 - PB

8. Yoshiko Fujinaga (Team Shiseido) - 32:44.60

9. Kumi Ogura (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 32:50.36 - PB

10. Akane Sekino (Team Hokuren) - 32:53.44 - PB

Men's 10000 m B-Heat

1. Kazuhiro Kuga (Komazawa Univ.) - 28:32.32 - PB

2. Minato Oishi (Team Toyota) - 28:42.29

3. Wataru Ueno (Komazawa Univ.) - 28:42.89 - PB

4. Kohei Matsumura (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 28:44.18

5. Shunsuke Nomura (Team Osaka Gas) - 28:47.04

Men's 5000 m A-Heat

1. Joseph Onsarigo (Kenya/Sozo Gakuen Univ.) - 13:46.85

2. Tomoya Shirayanagi (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 13:49.67

3. Yasuhiro Tago (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 13:51.98

4. Masato Kikuchi (Meiji Univ.) - 13:54.16

5. Yuki Arimura (Meiji Univ.) - 13:55.01

Women's 3000 m A-Heat

1. Ayaka Mori (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 9:17.68

2. Riko Matsuzaki (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 9:18.82

3. Natsuki Morita (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 9:19.32

4. Arina Urakawa (Meijo Univ.) - 9:20.15

5. Sayuri Sendo (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 9:20.42

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...

On the Loss of the ARRS Database

At some point in the last few months I discovered that both versions of the ARRS database, the static one and the searchable version , are gone. Last week David Monti posted a link to the ARRS history of an event he covered in Race Results Weekly, I guess copying and pasting a link from last year without looking at it, and that reminded me to write something about the loss of the database. The Association of Road Racing Statisticians was basically a one-man show operated from the remote Northern California shores by Ken Young . When the site existed its intro read: The Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyses and publishes results and statistics regarding elite distance running at distances 3000m and longer...The data of ARRS is stored in the ARRS database, which has more than 1.3 million performances from more than 240,000 races by more than 95,000 elite and sub-elite distance runners worldwide...This website ...

Keita Satoh Running New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile

1500 m U20 NR holder Keita Satoh (Nike Swoosh TC) is running this weekend's New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile , the first time that a Japanese man has been invited in the race's 45-year history. In university Sato had to change focus away from middle distance to the half marathon-scale lengths of the Hakone Ekiden stages, but since graduating in March and relocating to Flagstaff he has refocused on the 1500 m, going from 3:43.19 in April in his first 1500 m in almost 4 years to 3:38.30 over the course of 5 races. Fifth Avenue will be his last race before heading back to Japan for one more track 1500 m and some down time. Men's entries with best 1500 m times in last 3 years: Stefan Nillessen (NED) - 3:29.23 (2025) Flavien Szot (FRA) - 3:30.74 (2025) Oliver Hoare (AUS) - 3:31.07 (2024) Jake Heyward (GBR) - 3:31.18 (2026) Titouan Le Grix (FRA) - 3:31.46 (2026) Romain Mornet (FRA) - 3:31.62 (2025) Adam Spencer (AUS) - 3:31.83 (2026) Pieter Sisk (BEL) - 3:31.85 (2025) Gary Martin (...

japan running news

Search This Blog