#1 among them was the debut of Australian Melissa Duncan in the Shiseido team's pink uniform. Duncan had no trouble putting away the field of Japanese and Kenyan corporate leaguers, soloing a 15:20.88 to win the women's 5000 m A-heat by over 20 seconds.
2018 National Sports Festival women's 1500 m champion Ran Urabe (Nike Tokyo TC) had a much narrower margin of victory in the 1500 m A-heat but still pulled out a win over 2018 World U20 Championships 3000 m gold medalist Nozomi Tanaka 4:21.96 to 4:22.25, Tanaka debuting in the new Toyota Jidoshokki TC uniform after moving to that club sponsor at the start of the month alongside training partner Yume Goto.
The men's 1500 m was relatively conservative, with Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) taking the win in 3:44.46. His new teammate Yuta Bando, the 2018 National XC Champion, had a breakthrough in the men's 5000 m, beating Kenyans Peter Langat (SGH Group) and Joel Mwaura (Kurosaki Harima) to win the A-heat in 13:32.59. 2019 National University Half Marathon champion Akira Aizawa (Toyo Univ.) was 4th in a school record PB of 13:34.94. Toyo grad and half marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda) was just over a second over his PB in 5th in 13:35.70, his best race since his 2:06:11 at last year's Tokyo Marathon.
B-heat winner Bernard Koech (Kyudenko) was slightly faster than Bando at 13:31.69, but the fastest 5000 m of the meet came in the C-heat via another newcomer, Vncent Yegon Kibet (Tokyo Kokusai University) with a 13:30.51 to beat a solid field of Japan-based Kenyans.
Kanaguri Memorial Meet Highlights
Kumamoto, 4/14/19complete results
Women's 1500 m A-Heat
1. Ran Urabe (Nike Tokyo TC) - 4:21.96
2. Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki TC) - 4:22.25
3. Ayako Jinnouchi (Kyudenko) - 4:22.82
4. Maya Iino (Saitama Iryo Univ. Group) - 4:23.22
5. Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 4:23.58
Men's 1500 m A-Heat
1. Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) - 3:44.46
2. Shohei Shimizu (ND Software) - 3:45.53
3. Yasunari Kusu (Ami AC) - 3:45.95
4. Masaki Toda (Sunbelx) - 3:46.30
5. Kohei Otake (Hiroshima Keizai Univ.) - 3:46.72
Women's 5000 m A-Heat
1. Melissa Duncan (Shiseido) - 15:20.88
2. Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) - 15:42.34
3. Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido) - 15:48.27
4. Shiori Yano (Canon AC Kyushu) - 15:52.90
5. Fusan Zeytuna (Denso) - 15:57.23
6. Mai Shinozuka (Univ. Ent.) - 15:59.41
7. Mai Shoji (Denso) - 16:00.23
8. Akane Yabushita (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 16:02.17
9. Miku Daido (Iwatani Sangyo) - 16:03.63
10. Martha Mokaya (Canon AC Kyushu) - 16:09.79
Men's 5000 m A-Heat
1. Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) - 13:32.59
2. Peter Langat (SGH Group) - 13:33.13
3. Joel Mwaura (Kurosaki Harima) - 13:34.70
4. Akira Aizawa (Toyo Univ.) - 13:34.94
5. Yuta Shitara (Honda) - 13:35.70
6. Mitsunori Asaoka (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 13:40.62
7. Taisei Hashizume (SGH Group)
8. Hiroki Abe (Meiji Univ.) - 13:52.36
9. Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 13:52.50
10. Takanori Ichikawa (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 13:53.15
Men's 5000 m B-Heat
1. Bernard Koech (Kyudenko) - 13:31.69
2. Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) - 13:34.63
3. David Ngure (DeNA) - 13:38.08
4. Evans Yego (Sunbelx) - 13:39.40
5. Ledama Kisaisa (Obirin Univ.) - 13:39.97
6. Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota) - 13:40.94
Men's 5000 m C-Heat
1. Vincent Yegon (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 13:30.51
2. Andrew Lorot (Subaru) - 13:32.21
3. Daniel Kipkemoi (Nishitetsu) - 13:38.82
4. Patrick Mathenge Wambui (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 13:40.95
5. James Bunuka (Surugadai Univ.) - 13:42.80
© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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