Skip to main content

28:45 High Schoolers and More - Weekend Track Roundup

The IAAF has unilaterally declared track season over. But in Japan fall track is an integral part of ekiden season training, and it's not unusual to see many athletes drop their best 3000 m, 5000 m and 10000 m times of the year between October and December. Case in point, this weekend.

The biggest news came at Saturday's Nighter Time Trials in Nagasaki, where Keiho H.S. 11th-grader Hiroto Hayashida ran 28:45.75 for 6th in the 10000 m, all-time #8 among Japanese high school boys and #2 among 11th-graders. "Thank you to everyone who supported me!" Hayashida said on Twitter post-race. "I want to take this and apply to it ekiden season now." Geoffrey Gichia (Daiichi Kogyo Univ.) won in 28:36.36, with Jakarta Asian Games marathon gold medalist Hiroto Inoue (MHPS) 2nd in 28:37.27.


At Niigata's Autumn Time Trials a unique women's 5000 m delivered for the two women to finish it. 2018 World U20 3000 m gold medalist Nozomi Tanaka (ND28 AC) went head-to-head with Moscow World Championships 10000 m 5th placer Hitomi Niiya (Nike Tokyo TC), on the return at age 30 from a five-year retirement. With pacing from Niiya's teammate Ran Urabe the pair were together until the final lap, when Tanaka unleashed a 65-second final lap to win in a PB 15:15.80 that put her at all-time #2 on the junior list and #18 on the all-time Japanese list. Aiming for a time in 15:20 to 15:25 range as the next step in her comeback, Niiya was right on-target in 15:24.01.

Fast 10000 m times also came at the Chubu Corporate Autumn Track and Field Championships, where Rodgers Chumo Kemoi (Aisan Kogyo) ran a quality 27:32.65 to lead the top four under 28 minutes. Tatsuya Oike (Toyota Boshoku) took the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 28:24.25, with Shinobu Kubota (Toyota) and Masato Terauchi (AIchi Seiko) joining him under the 28:30 mark.

Less fast was the Saga Time Trials 10000 m, where multi-Olympic and World Championships medalist Paul Tanui (Kyudenko) lapped the entire field to take the top spot in 28:11.41. Duncan Kisaisa (Oita Tomei H.S.) won the 5000 m in 13:58.85, with 2:07 marathoner Masato Imai 2nd in 13:59.37. 2018 Boston Marathon 10th-placer Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead) doubled in the women's 3000 m and 5000 m, winning each in 9:31.63 and 16:13.26.

Elsewhere Sunday, at the Miyazaki Long Distance Time Trials two-time New Year Ekiden winner Asahi Kasei ran almost its entire team in the 10000 m ahead of next month's Kyushu Corporate Ekiden, the qualifier for the 2019 New Year Ekiden. Ten Asahi Kasei men went under 29 minutes led by Abraham Kapsis Kapyatich in 28:34.40. Takashi Ichida was almost even with Kapyatich, finishing as the top Japanese man in 28:34.47. Rio Olympics marathoner Satoru Sasaki, arguably Asahi Kasei's best shot at actually qualifying someone for the 2020 Olympic marathon trials, was 11th in 29:08.01.

© 2018 Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Andrew Armiger said…
Stellar result for Hiroto Hayashida! Were the Nighter Time Trials held at Transcosmos Stadium?
October 15, 2018 at 7:55 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .
77 comments
Read more

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 (...
2 comments
Read more

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...
82 comments
Read more