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

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more

Restaurant Owner Selected as Olympic Torchbearer Dies in Fire After Becoming Despondent Over Impact of Coronavirus Crisis (updated)

On the evening of Apr. 30, the 54-year-old male owner of a restaurant in Tokyo's Nerima ward specializing in tonkatsu deep fried pork cutlets died from full-body burns in a fire at the restaurant. The man had been one of the people chosen as a torchbearer for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics torch relay. With the coronavirus crisis causing both the postponement of the Olympics and a loss of business at the restaurant, the man had recently started talking pessimistically about the future to those around him. With evidence of the man's body having been doused in tonkatsu cooking oil, metropolitan police from the Hikarigaoka Police Station are carefully examining the cause of the fire. At around 10:00 p.m. on the 30th, the fire broke out in the tonkatsu restaurant on the first floor of a three-story building. A neighborhood resident who noticed smoke called the fire department. Firefighters found the floor and part of a wall burning, with the man lying on the floor in the customer seat...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kawauchi Wins Inaugural Kawauchi Half Marathon

http://www.minyu-net.com/sports/running/FM20160501-070419.php translated by Brett Larner 川内優輝ロード pic.twitter.com/rEJk7CQPFV — みとっぽ (黒) (@mitoppo_tmyk) April 30, 2016 Yuki Kawauchi Road in Kawauchi, Fukushima Held to inspire former residents to return to the area after the nearby TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident five years ago, the village of Kawauchi held the first " Kawauchi no Sato Kaeru Half Marathon - From Reconstruction to Creation " on April 30.  The course started and finished at the village heliport.  1188 runners from across the country gathered to celebrate the village's revival as they ran through its springtime streets. The event's organizing committee was made up of local government and board of education members with support from the Fukushima Minyu Newspaper and other sponsors.  The race's purpose was to transmit the vitality and charm of the reconstructing Kawauchi village to the rest of the nation in hopes of helpin...
Post a Comment
Read more