Hokuren Distance Challenge Abashiri Meet and Overseas Results

Conditions were too hot at this season's last Hokuren Distance Challenge meet Saturday in Abashiri for many really good performances, but there were a few, mostly by Japan-based Kenyans. In the men's 10000 m A-heat collegiate record holder Richard Etir (Tokyo Kokusai Univ,) soloed a 27:37.85 for the win by almost 23 seconds, the only man to get under 28 minutes. Caroline Kariba (Japan Post) did the same in the women's 10000 m with a 31:02.70 PB for the win. Dolphine Omare (Uniqlo) and Rika Kaseda (Daihatsu) both made it under 32, Omare running 31:29.35 and Kaseda 31:42.92.

2025 national 5000 m champion Ryuto Igawa (Asahi Kasei) had what was probably the best Japanese performance of the meet, running a PB 13:23.13 for the win over Antipas Kibet (Komori Corp.). Fresh off a 3:36.58 PB at the HDC Kitami meet on Wednesday, Nanami Arai (Honda) was 3rd with another PB in 13:28.42. Top-tier Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) was one of the day's many DNFs. Stephen Muthini (Soka Univ.) beat 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) for the win in the B-heat 13:26.70 to 13:28.28.

Yvonne Chepkoskei (Higo Ginko) won the women's 5000 m A-heat in 15:09.06 by 20 seconds over Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post), with Mirriam Cherop (Shin Nihon Jusetsu Group) another DNF. Margaret Ekalale (Toyota Jidoshokki) won the women's 3000 m in 8:54.48, Nanaka Izawa (Starts) getting under 9 minutes for the first time in 8:56.33 and Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) 3rd in 8:58.40.

Overseas, NR holder Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) was 7th in the London Diamond League women's 5000 m with a 14:34.10 season best. A corporate league quartet at the Night of Athletics meet in Belgium was dismal, first-year pro Taishi Ito (NTT Nishi Nihon) having the best performance of the four with a 13:40.89 for 10th in the men's 5000 m B-heat. Naoki Ota (Yakult), younger brother of 5 km and half marathon NR holder Tomoki Ota, was last in the B-heat in 13:59.51. 10000 m NR holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) was 2nd-to-last in the A-heat in 13:47.09, with half marathon collegiate record holder Kotaro Shinohara (Fujitsu) last in 13:55.90. Canadian Kieran Lumb won the B-heat in 13:12.54, with import local Isaac Kimeli taking the A-heat in 13:01.39.

'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 .

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...

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 ...

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