Skip to main content

Kobayashi Breaks Collegiate Women's 10000 m Record - Hokuren Distance Challenge Abashiri Highlights


Meet 3 of 5 in this year's Hokuren Distance Challenge series happened Saturday in Abashiri, Hokkaido. The biggest news came in the women's 10000 m, where 2021 National University Half Marathon champion Narumi Kobayashi (Meijo Univ.) broke the 11-year-old collegiate women's national record and cleared the qualifying time for next year's World Championships. Running with excellent pacing by Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels), Kobayashi split 15:44 at 5000 m before picking it up in the second half to win in 31:22.34. Ai Hosoda (Edion) hung with Kobayashi as long as she could but ended up 2nd in 31:39.32, with amateur club runner Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) taking 15 seconds off her two month-old PB for 3rd in 32:09.44.

James Muoki (Konica Minolta) won the men's 10000 m A-heat in 27:35.59. Muiru Muthoni (JR Higashi Nihon) was the only other man under 28 minutes at 27:52.93, Kazuya Nishiyama (Toyota) fading to 28:08.36 after Yuki Sato (SGH Group) abruptly dropped out at 8000 m, leaving Nishiyama on his own at the toughest point in the race. Ken Tansho (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) won the B-heat in 28:19.17. Haruki Mori (Hokkaido Sakae H.S.) was 8th in the B-heat in 28:44.97, the fastest-ever by a Hokkaido high schooler.

Like the men's 10000 m, Kenyans went 1-2 in the women's 5000 m A-heat, Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) winning in 15:16.09 and Dolphine Nyaboka Omare (U.S.E. RC) 2nd in 15:21.07. Naruha Sato (Shiseido) took the top Japanese spot at 3rd in 15:41.28.  Visually-impaired marathon world record holder Misato Michishita (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) had a solid tuneup for the Tokyo Paralympics, winning the T11-13 women's 5000 m in 18:54.09.

Muoki's teammate Dominic Langat (Konica Minolta) won the men's 5000 m A-heat in 13:27.10, just outlasting 2021 Hakone Ekiden winner Komazawa Universtiy 2nd-year Mebuki Suzuki, who dropped a 13:27.83 for 2nd, making him all-time #8 on the Japanese collegiate charts. Emmanuel Kipchirchir (Kurashiki H.S.) was 3rd in 13:28.11, with Kenyans also the next two places. Olympic 10000 m team members Katsuhiko Ito  (Honda) was 14th in 13:42.50, proclaiming it on-target post-race and saying his goal in the Olympic 10000 m is to make top 8.

The T11-13 men's 5000 m was also a good preview of where Japan's Paralympians are at, with Shinya Wada (Nagase Sangyo) taking the top spot in 15:28.32 over Tadashi Horikoshi (NTT Nishi Nihon), 2nd in 15:32.66, and Kenya Karasawa (GSWC), 3rd, in 15:34.92.

Taisei Ogino (Asahi Kasei) took the top spot in the men's 3000 mSC in 8:43.95, Yuzu Nishide (Kansai Gaikokugo Univ.) winning the women's 3000 m SC in 10:26.97.  Tuning up for a planned 1500 m and 5000 m double in Tokyo, Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) shaved a little off her record with a win in 8:40.84 in the women's 3000 m. The top 6 al broke nine minutes, making it an usually fast race by Japanese standards.

Hidenori Sakuma (Meiji Univ.) turned in the fastest time in the two men's 15000 m heats, winning the A-heat in 3:41.62. Mizuki Michishita (Rikkyo Univ.) won the women's 800 m in 2:06.63. 

The Hokuren Distance Challenge series continues Wednesday in Kitami.

© 2021 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
In the womens 3000m, Sayaka Sato smashed her PB which was previously 9:05.75 set in July 2020 and set a time around 8:52.43 which is incredible. Given that she ran the Nagoya marathon last year in a time of 2:23:27 and 2:24:32 this year (in the revised looped course), my hopes are raised very high. If she should be able to translate this short distance speed into her marathon efforts a marathon PB beckons large... perhaps a time of 2:20:00 or thereabouts! From the marathoners, only Mao Ichiyama has this type of short distance speed in recent times and we know what she is capable of in terms of marathon times.
July 11, 2021 at 4:02 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...
1 comment
Read more

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...
1 comment
Read more

Tokyo Marathon Top Japanese Man Tsubasa Ichiyama Works 4 Days a Week, Walked On in College

38,000 people ran the 2025 Tokyo Marathon . Every runner had their own story, but one of the most special was Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx). Despite being on almost nobody's radar, he outran some of the best in the country to finish as the top Japanese man. Ichiyama ran most of the race in the 3rd pace group, going through halfway in 1:02:44 and 30 km in 1:29:13. When the pacers stopped, he showed what he could really do. "I'm not good at downhills, so in the first part it was hard to run smoothly," he said at the post-race press conference. "But after the downhill part ended I got into my rhythm, and I think that helped me over the 2nd half." After dropping Asian Games gold medalist Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) and others, he quickly bore down on the Japanese athletes who had gone out faster in the 2nd pace group. Overtaking Paris Olympics 6th placer Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu), at 39.8 km he caught all-time Japanese #2 man Yohei I...
Post a Comment
Read more