Skip to main content

Charles Ndirangu 13:15.44 National High School Record at Oita Challenge 5000 m

by Brett Larner

Sera High School’s scouts are on top of their game.First Sera’s Bitan Karoki (Team S&B) came a hairsbreadth from cracking Samuel Wanjiru's legendary National High School Ekiden stage record his senior year before going on to impress this year at the Cardinal Invitational, Kenyan Championships and the Africa Games. Then as a junior last year current Sera senior Charles Ndirangu likewise missed Wanjiru’s record by the slimmest of margins. Now Ndirangu has come through.

Seemingly unaware of the international declaration of the end of track season last month, Ndirangu rocketed a 13:15.44 at the Oct. 22 Oita Prefecture Challenge Games track meet to break the Japanese national high school 5000 m record. Officially called a new Japanese high school international student record, Ndirangu’s time is a full 16 seconds better than the best ever run by a Japanese high school student.  In comparison, past Kenyan national XC champion Gideon Ngatuny (Team Nissin Shokuhin) ran 13:32.25 to win the Tokai Univ. Time Trials 5000 m A-heat the same day. Another solid shot at Wanjiru’s stage record at December’s Nationals looks to be in the cards for Ndirangu.

Sera first-year John Gasaya was also under the 14 minute mark in Oita, taking 2nd in 13:56.34. The top Japanese finisher, Kaoru Hirosue, was 3rd in 14:16.25, narrowly escaping being lapped. Sera senior Susan Wylim likewise dominated the women’s 3000 m, winning by 25 seconds in 8:59.07 over Nihon Bunri Prep first-year Madoka Uesugi who was 2nd in 9:24.63.

2011 Oita Prefecture Challenge Games
Oita Bank Dome, Oita, 10/22/11
click here for complete results

Men’s 5000 m Heat 13
1. Charles Ndirangu (Kenya/Sera H.S.) – 13:15.44
2. John Gasaya (Kenya/Sera H.S.) – 13:56.34
3. Kaoru Hirosue (Kobayashi H.S.) – 14:16.25
4. Yusuke Egashira (Shiroishi H.S.) - 14:17.74
5. Shuhei Kondo (Oita Tomei H.S.) - 14:18.42

Women's 3000 m Heat 5
1. Susan Wylim (Kenya/Sera H.S.) - 8:59.07
2. Madoka Uesugi (Nihon Bunri Prep. H.S.) - 9:24.63
3. Mikako Kodama Kodama (Oita Nishi H.S.) - 9:29.44
4. Karen Yakushi (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 9:30.02
5. Fumika Shinohana (Sera H.S.) - 9:31.42

Women's 5000 m Heat 1
1. Ayano Kubo (Kobayashi H.S.) - 16:07.17
2. Mai Nakamura (Oita Nishi H.S.) - 16:07.70
3. Misuzu Nakahara (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 16:12.41
4. Nozomi Nishiyama (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 16:13.10
5. Miki Yasutomi (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 16:23.51

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

TokyoRacer said…
13:15! That's amazing....
October 23, 2011 at 7:09 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

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

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

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