Skip to main content

Ishida Breaks Own 5000 m High School National Record - Weekend Track Review

This was probably the busiest track weekend of the year so far, with almost too much action across the country to keep track of. The biggest news came last, with 5000 m high school national record holder Kosuke Ishida (Tokyo Nogyo Daini H.S.) going step for step with national record holder Suguru Osako (Nike) and all-time #2 Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) in the final race of the day at Sunday's Tokai University Time Trials. Yoroizaka got the win in 13:33.53 with Osako next in 13:33.83. Ishida was right there behind them in 13:34.74 for 3rd, taking 2 seconds off the record set this past summer, and doing it in legal shoes. With the Japanese academic year running April through March Ishida still has other chances to take the record even further.

Ishida wasn't the only high schooler under 14 minutes. In the heat before him, Haruta Koshi (Saku Chosei H.S.) won in a PB 13:53.77. Up north at the Ichinoseki Time Trials, Sendai Ikuei H.S. teammates Boniface Mutechi and Yusuke Shirai went 1-2 in 13:55.41 and 13:58.00. At the Kyoto Time Trials Hiroki Wakabayashi (Rakunan H.S.) ran 13:58.77. And there were probably others. If there's any silver lining to several of the big fall ekidens having been canceled it's that these guys and many others seem to be putting it all into the track.

Tokai's 10000 m had at least one other result that should be on the international radar. After a solid 3000 mSC / 5000 m double at last weekend's National Corporate Championships, Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) soloed a 27:07.29 PB for the win in a big way, beating runner-up Ryota Natori (Tokai Univ.) by over a minute. Not that Natori's time was weak. At 28:10.51 it was a PB by over 75-seconds and put him at school all-time #3 for the defending National University Ekiden champions Tokai.

The Chukyo University Saturday Time Trials meet had some unexpectedly good 5000 m times. Alex Cherono (Toyota) got the win in 13:25.28, he and Bedan Karoki (Toyota) pulling 2019 Fukuoka International Marathon winner and teammate Taku Fujimoto along to a 13:27.34 PB. Hot off a great run in the 3000 m SC at the National Corporate Championships last weekend, Kosei Yamaguchi (Aisan Kogyo) outkicked Karoki for 4th in a PB of 13:35.65 a step behind 3rd-placer Charles Karanja (NTN). 40-year-old former national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Aichi Seiko) managed to sneak under 14 minutes again, running 13:58.61 for 7th in the B-heat.

The Chugoku Corporate Time Trials meet in Hiroshima produced a stack of decent winning times. Agnes Mwikali (Kurashiki H.S.) turned in a meet record 15:15.14 for the win in the women's 5000 m, with Rebecca Njeri Mwangi (Daiso), sub-15 for the win at the National Corporate Championships last weekend, getting the 3000 m meet record in 8:57.12. Misaki Kato (Kyudneko) had her best run in a long time with a 32:13.23 win to put herself into December's National Championships. Simon Kariuki (Togami Denki) took the men's 5000 m in 13:39.36, with the ageless Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku) running his best 10000 m since 2012 with a 28:18.71 for the win in the men's 10000 m.

What else? On the men's side, the Kansai Region Corporate Championships were nothing particularly special. On the women's side, Wacoal trio Mao Ichiyama, Yuka Ando and Kayoko Fukushi went 1-2-3 in both the 10000 m and 5000 m, finishing in that order in the 10 and Ando-Fukushi-Ichiyama in the 5. In both cases Fukushi got the entry standard for December's National Championships, opening the door for her to take another stab at making her fifth-straight Olympic team after missing out in the marathon.

The most entertaining race of the week was the final event at Kansai,. Just 10 minutes after the end of the women's 5000 m, both Wacoal and the Iwatani Sangyo teams put four of their 5000 m runners into the 4x400 m, including marathoners Ichiyama (2:20:29), Ando (2:21:36) and Madoka Nakano ('19 Doha World championships). They pretty much ran like marathoners tired from having just raced 5000 m, but the entertainment factor was high, and a brilliant anchor leg from 5000 m winner Ando gave Wacoal the win in 4:21.02 to Iwatani's 4:21.70. Just about everyone on both teams was laughing and smiling during the race, a nice change to the vibe of the times to see people just having fun doing what they do. Here's to more of that.

© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
That final event brought a big smile to my face. That's what it is all about. Having fun doing what you love doing. Great stuff.
September 28, 2020 at 5:14 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...
1 comment
Read more

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...
1 comment
Read more

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