Skip to main content

Keitany Breaks Golden Games in Nobeoka 5000 m Meet Record, Kimura Under 15:20 and Shitara Sub-28



One of Japan's main spring meets, the Golden Games in Nobeoka saw some strong performances in its 30th edition. Evans Keitany (Toyota Boshoku) ran the performance of the day, breaking the 5000 m meet record with a 13:12.65 to win the almost all-African D-Heat. 2019 national cross-country champion Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) came in at all-time Japanese #24 in the same heat with a 13:26.70 for 12th, the first runner to crack the Japanese top 25 in four years. By comparison, all-time #2 Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) won the 5000 m A-heat in 13:36.77.

Half marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda) continued his forward momentum this season after a long slump following his 2:06:11 at last year's Tokyo Marathon, winning the 10000 m in 27:53.67 to become the first Japanese man under 28 this year. Shitara surprised everyone by announcing post-race that he plans to run July's Gold Coast Marathon before doing the Sept. 15 MGC Race Olympic marathon trials. His fellow trials qualifiers Daiji Kawai (Toenec) and Shohei Otsuka (Kyudenko) were both under 28:30 at 4th and 5th in the 10000 m, with one more qualifier, Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu), 9th in the 5000 m A-heat in 13:47.51,

2019 Hakone Ekiden champion Tokai University showed off one of its star first-year recruits in the men's 1500 m. First-year Kazuto Iizawa ran 3:42.07 to beat team captain and former indoor mile national record holder Ryoji Tatezawa by almost 2 seconds. South Korean Jung Kook Lee was 3rd in 3:44.63.

The women's 5000 m A-heat saw a seething battle over the last few laps that ended with all-time Japanese #11 Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido) on top in 15:19.99, her first time under 15:20 in two years. A three-way sprint finish for 2nd saw Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera), Martha Mokaya (Canon AC Kyushu) and Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) go 2-3-4 all within 0.97 seconds of each other. Rookie Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) and national corporate half marathon champion Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) both continued a good season, going under 15:30 for 5th and 6th.

Fresh from just missing out on a medal at the Asian Athletics Championships in Doha, Ran Urabe (Nike Tokyo TC) won the women's 1500 m in a PB of 4:15.59. Yume Goto (Toyota Jidoshokki TC) and Kaede Hagitani (Edion) also cleared 4:20 for 2nd and 3rd.

Golden Games in Nobeoka Highlights

Nobeoka, Miyazaki, 5/4/19
complete results

 Men's 10000 m
1. Yuta Shitara (Honda) - 27:53.67
2. Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 28:18.15
3. Abraham Kipyatich (Asahi Kasei) - 28:18.17
4. Daiji Kawai (Toenec) - 28:26.60
5. Shohei Otsuka (Kyudenko) - 28:28.14
6. Hiroshi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 28:33.48
7. Wataru Tochigi (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 28:34.13
8. Akira Aizawa (Toyo Univ.) - 28:35.90
9. Takumi Komatsu (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 28:45.41
10. Yuhi Nakaya (Waseda Univ.) - 28:50.77

Women's 5000 m A-Heat
1. Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido) - 15:19.99
2. Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) - 15:23.01
3. Martha Mokaya (Canon AC Kyushu) - 15:23.15
4. Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki TC) - 15:23.98
5. Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 15:26.82
6. Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:27.47
7. Helen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:28.57
8. Keiko Nogami (Juhachi Ginko) - 15:28.82
9. Joan Kipkemoi (Kyudenko) - 15:34.75
10. Melissa Duncan (Shiseido) - 15:35.22

Men's 5000 m D-Heat
1. Evans Keitany (Toyota Boshoku) - 13:12.65 - MR
2. Bernard Koech (Kyudenko) - 13:13.48
3. Stanley Waithaka (Yakult) - 13:15.38
4. Dominic Langat (Konica Minolta) - 13:20.25
5. Peter Langat (SGH Group) - 13:21.90
6. Rodgers Kwemoi (Aisan Kogyo) - 13:22.52
7. David Ngure (DeNA) - 13:24.51
8. Ledama Kisaisa (Obirin Univ.) - 13:24.99
9. Daniel Kipkemoi (Nishitetsu) - 13:25.68
10. Joel Mwaura (Kurosaki Harima) - 13:26.01
-----
12. Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) - 13:26.70
18. Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) - 13:30.94

Men's 5000 m A-Heat
1. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) - 13:36.77
2. Kazuma Taira (Kanebo) - 13:41.54
3. Masaki Toda (Sunbelx) - 13:41.62
4. Muiru Muthoni (Soka Univ.) - 13:42.01
5. Shota Onizuka (Tokai Univ.) - 13:42.94
-----
9. Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) - 13:47.51

Women's 1500 m
1. Ran Urabe (Nike Tokyo TC) - 4:15.59 - PB
2. Yume Goto (Toyota Jidoshokki TC) - 4:19.66
3. Kaede Hagitani (Edion) - 4:19.73
4. Seo Woo Choe (South Korea) - 4:21.83
5. Eisha Ishikawa (Matsuyama Univ.) - 4:21.84

Men's 1500 m
1. Kazuto Iizawa (Tokai Univ.) - 3:42.07
2. Ryoji Tatezawa (Tokai Univ.) - 3:43.96
3. Jung Kook Lee (South Korea) - 3:44.63
4. Renya Maeda (Kanebo) - 3:46.58
5. Chiharu Nakagawa (Toenec) - 3:46.83

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
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

Chesang Wins Osaka Women's Marathon in 2:19:31, Yada Drops 2:19:57 Debut NR

This year's Osaka International Women's Marathon was a race run with a high level of methodicalness, starting slower than the planned 3:19/km but ramping up until the lead pack was skimming around the 2:20:15-30 projected finish level. After hitting halfway in 1:10:13 with a group of 6, by 25 km only 4 were left up front, sub-2:19 runners Workenesh Edesa , Stella Chesang and Bedatu Hirpa , and the debuting Mikuni Yada , and when the last 2 pacers stepped off at 30 km it was Yada who went to the front. Despite never have raced longer than the 10.6 km Third Stage at November's Queens Ekiden where she had helped the Edion team score its first-ever national title, Yada was very, very impressive, fearlessly surging from 12 km and never letting up, even laughing and smiling to fans along the course. When she started sustaining a pace around 3:15/km the projected finish dropped under 2:20 and all the way down to 2:19:28 by 35 km, and even when all 3 of the more experienced ru...
2 comments
Read more

Hirayama Breaks Osaka Half CR, Martinez Set Puerto Rican NR

The Osaka Half Marathon took another big step up the domestic half marathon rankings from a mass-participation race run alongside the Osaka International Women's Marathon to one of the country's top-tier races. In the women's race, the debuting Jecinta Nyokabi (Denso) went out fast, only to be run down by veteran Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon AC) by 10 km. Nyokabi faded to 6th in 1:10:41, but Yoshikawa pushed on to a PB 1:09:14 for the win. Rina Shimizu (Noritz), Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) and Makoto Tsuchiya (Ritsumeikan Univ.) all broke 70 minutes, Tsuchiya taking the Kansai Region collegiate title in 1:09:32 for 4th overall. Everyone in the top 10 who wasn't debuting ran a PB, a mark of how fast the day was even with cold and windy conditions. The men's race went out on sub-61 pace courtesy of Yudai Shimazu (GMO), then got a big injection of speed when Kyuma Yokota (Toyota Kyushu) took off close to 60-flat pace. Yokota opened a 10-second lead by 15 km, but over ...
Post a Comment
Read more