Skip to main content

High Schooler Mashiko 13:34.84 - Weekend Track Roundup


The National Sports Festival was the main thing happening this weekend, but with ekiden season just kicking off there were track time trial meets everywhere as teams shift focus from summer mileage to sharpening speed. Haruki Niizuma (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) made news with a 13:35.33 win in the junior men's 5000 m Friday at the National Sports Festival, but at Sunday's Nittai University Time Trials meet, held at Keio University this time because of construction work at Nittai, Yota Mashiko (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) beat Niizuma's time with a 13:34.84 PB.

Mashiko ran in an all-Kenyan lead group and was right there with Victor Kipkirui (Chudenko) and Stephen Muthini (Soka Univ.) til the end, Kipkirui kicking away in the last 100 m to win in 13:33.46 and Muthini next in 13:34.47. Mashiko's time was the best this year by a Japanese-born high schooler, and with Niizuma and Sei Yoshida (Tokai Sapporo H.S.), 13:35.14 in July, right there it looks like it's going to be a great high school boys' ekiden season.

Spanning Saturday and Sunday, the Chubu Corporate Track and Field Championships' biggest race was the men's 10000 m, where Kelvin Kiplagat (Aisan Kogyo) ran 27:46.68 to lead Simon Muthio Saidimu (Chuo Hatsujo) and James Muoki (Sekino Kosan) under 28 minutes. Komazawa University grad Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) had the fastest Japanese time of the weekend at 28:16.47 for 6th.


The Setagaya Time Trials held in parallel with Chugoku in Tokyo Saturday saw Brian Kiptoo (Reitaku Univ.) take the 10000 m fast heat in 28:01.74, another former Komazawa member Chikara Yamano (Kraftia) running 28:18.70 for 3rd. Running his first race since his breakthrough 6th-place finish at the Sydney Marathon on Aug. 31, Masato Arao (ND Software) was 5th in the B-heat in 28:51.33, just over a second off his PB with his teammate Koichi Shoji winning in 28:47.24. Komazawa's Shintaro Kudo won the 5000 m A-heat in 13:42.22.

Things were pretty low-key in Hiroshima at Saturday's Chugoku Corporate Time Trials meet. The most notable result was a 28:33.55 win in the 10000 m fast heat by Shunya Kikuchi (Chugoku Denryoku), following up his 2:06:06 marathon PB in Osaka in February and 13:25.97 best for 5000 m in June. Even lower-key was Sunday's Kansai Distance Challenge in Nara, where the top performance was probably Hiroki Yamanaka's 13:55.01 win in the 5000 m A-heat. Yamanashi and his Osaka Gas teammates Kento Nishi and Masahiro Mekata took the top 3 spots and were separated by less than a second.

© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

National University Championships Day 1 Highlights

There weren't any new meet records on the opening day of this year's National University Track and Field Championships in Yokohama, but some of the favorites still turned in good performances. Ranked #1 in the women's 1500 m, Airi Tajima (Juntendo Univ.) outran #3-ranked teammate Miori Kida for the win 4:14.81 to 4:17.57, with #4-ranked Mana Aiba (Daito Bunka Univ.) 3rd in 4:18.08 Juntendo took the top 2 spots in the men's 1500 m too, with #3-ranked Shuntaro Kawaguchi bettering #1-ranked teammate Takumi Nakagawa for the title 3:45.15 to 3:45.86. #5-ranked Soya Mizuno (Ritsumeikan Univ.) got past #2-ranked Koki Terada (Chuo Univ.) for 3rd in 3:46.00. The race walks saw upset wins. Ibuki Hori (Kansai Univ.) beat #2-ranked Toko Nakajima (Waseda Univ.) by 0.47 for the women's title in 21:44.38. After opening a lead late in the race Yushi Nakajima (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) got passed by Riku Kaneko (Kokushikan Univ.) in the last 200 m and finished 2nd in the ...
1 comment
Read more

National University Championships Day 2 Highlights

Heavy rain through a lot of the day made for tough conditions for the 2nd day of the 95th National University Track and Field Championships in Yokohama, with more forecast for the final day on Monday. In a lot of the sprint and field events that held back the quality of the performances, but even so in 2 events athletes turned in meet record-breaking runs. In the men's 400 m, #3-ranked Kira Hirakawa (Toyo Univ.) and collegiate record holder Shinya Hayashi (Tsukuba Univ.) pushed each other the entire way, Hirakawa dipping for the win in 45.37 and Hayashi 2nd in 45.41. Both were way under the meet record of 45.75 set by Yuki Yamaguchi back in 2004 and tied by Julian Walsh in 2018. The other meet record came in the women's 4x100 m relay final, where MR holders Fukuoka University ran an almost identical lineup to the one that set the collegiate record of 43.91 and the MR of 44.31 last year. Rin Shibato , Mayuko Maeda and Aiha Yamagata returned from that team on the first 2 ...
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