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

Osako Breaks Marathon NR for 3rd Time - Weekend Roundup

It looked like it was going to be a big weekend, and it delivered. For the 3rd time in his career Suguru Osako broke the men's marathon NR, running 1 second under the standing record to take 4th in the Valencia Marathon in 2:04:55. All the way to 40 km he was steady on 2:58/km, 2:05:10 pace, and like a surprising number of other people in both the men's and women's races, there was a massive jump over the last 2.195 km from his projected finish time to his actual one. His run put Osako back on top of the Japanese charts, put the average of Japan's 10 fastest marathon times of the year under 2:06 for the first time, and got him into the L.A. Olympics marathon trials. Valencia has been trying to get top-tier Japanese athletes to come for years, and now that they finally managed to do it it paid off in a big way. Expect more next year. Back home, former Takushoku University captain Derese Workneh won a 3-way race against Toyota teammates Kazuya Nishiyama and Bedan Ka...

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