Skip to main content

16-Year-Old Hyuga Endo Runs 13:58.93 Tenth-Grade Record at Nittai Time Trials (updated)



by Brett Larner
photo by Kazuyuki Sugimatsu 
video by kozai1802

It was an amazing weekend of racing that saw world records fall at the Kumamoto Kosa 10-miler, Patrick Makau return and Japan get its 9th and 10th sub-2:10 men of the year in Fukuoka and Yuki Kawauchi take almost ten minutes off the Naha Marathon course record, but it didn't stop there.

In the 41st and final 5000 m heat of the day well after dark at the last full Nittai University Time Trials meet of 2014, 16-year-old Hyuga Endo (Gakko Hojin Ishikawa H.S.) took 36 seconds off his PB to finish 5th in 13:58.93, the first Japanese 10th grader to ever break 14 minutes.  Post-race he tweeted:
The Nittai University Time Trials were today!  My time was 13:58!  I'm really happy to have run the #1 time ever by a 10th grader.  Thanks to everyone who cheered for me I kept my pace all the way to the end without slowing down!  Thank you all very, very much for cheering!
And he wasn't alone.  12th grader Ryuya Kajitani (Hakuo Prep Ashikaga H.S.) was 3rd in 13:57.81 and 11th grader Rei Hasegawa (Toyokawa H.S.) 6th in 13:59.03, a solid showing in the buildup to the National High School Ekiden Championships in two weeks.  With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, when Endo will be a senior in university, on their horizons, Japan's young distance runners keep raising the bar for each other.

Nittai University Time Trials Men's 5000 m Heat 41
Yokohama, Kanagawa, 12/7/14
click here for complete results

1. Tatsuro Okazaki (Team Osaka Gas) - 13:53.88
2. Samuel Mwangi (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) - 13:55.64
3. Ryuya Kajitani (Hakuo Prep Ashikaga H.S.) - 13:57.81
4. Ataru Otani (Nanyo City Hall) - 13:58.21
5. Hyuga Endo (Gakko Hojin Ishikawa H.S.) - 13:58.93
6. Rei Hasegawa (Toyokawa H.S.) - 13:59.03
7. Yuki Iwasaki (Team Sekino Reform) - 13:59.05
8. Shun Suzuki (Nanyo City Hall) - 13:59.65
9. Yasunari Kusu (Team Komori Corp.) - 14:00.60
10. Yoshihiro Wakamatsu (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 14:01.03

text (c) 2014 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
finish photo (c) 2014 Kazuyuki Sugimatsu, all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .
Post a Comment
Read more

Japan's First Goldless Day - Asian Athletics Championships Day Four Highlights

Day 4 of the Bangkok Asian Athletics Championships was the first without a single gold medal going to Japan, but there were still enough silvers and bronzes to go around. Robyn Lauren Brown of the Philippines outclassed the rest of the women's 400 mH final field, taking gold in 57.50. Eri Utsunomiya and Ami Yamamoto made it a Japanese 2-3, Utsunomiya running 57.73 for silver and Yamamoto 57.80 for bronze. Yusaku Kodama also scored silver in the men's 400 mH, running 48.96 behind Qatari winner Bassem Hemeida 's 48.64. Yuki Yamasaki won bronze in the heptathlon with 5696 points, Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Voronina taking gold in 6098 and Swapna Barman silver in 5840. Teammate Karin Odama was 4th in 5487. Another bronze came in the mixed 4x400 m relay, with Japan running 3:15.71 behind India's 3:14.70 and Sri Lanka's 3:15.41. Naoto Hasegawa and Ryoichi Akamatsu both cleared 2.23 m in the men's high jump, Hasegawa finishing 4th overall and Akamatsu 5th. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

'Kobe 2024: Monday Sees Shocking Wins on the Track and the Field'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-monday-sees-shocking-wins-track-and-field Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships  are here .
Post a Comment
Read more