Long Weekend Track Roundup - Olympic B-Standards Abound

by Brett Larner

Fall track season continued over the National Sports Day long weekend with three large meets. The National Sports Festival in Yamaguchi produced a women's 5000 m Olympic B-standard PB from this year's national corporate 10000 m champion Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki), who ran 15:23.80 to win by six seconds. The junior women's 3000 m saw the top four high schoolers break 9:10, with Tomoka Kimura (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) winning in 9:05.81 over rival Miki Sakakibara (Hamakita Nishi H.S.) after losing to Sakakibara in the heats.

The Niigata Time Trials meet also produced two Olympic B-standard performances. 2010 national 5000 m champion Yuki Matsuoka (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) ran a PB 28:03.46 to win the 10000 m and clear the London B-standard. Five-time national 1500 m champion Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) continued her successful transition to longer distances this year by breaking 32 in a virtually solo 10000 m, qualifying for the Olympics with a time of 31:55.06. The men's and women's 5000 m were literally solo runs, with 2009 double 1500 m and 5000 m champion Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) running 14:05.07 alone in the men's 5000 m and 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) a DNF with no other athletes in the race.

The Chubu Jitsugyodan Fall T&F Championships did not produce any Olympic-qualifying runs from Japanese athletes, but Kenyan Edward Waweru (Team NTN) just cleared the men's 5000 m B-standard with a 13:24.99 meet record. John Thuo (Team Toyota) likewise set a meet record in the men's 3000 m, running 7:46.01.

National Sports Festival
Yamaguchi, 10/7-11/11
click here for complete results

Junior Women's 3000 m
1. Tomoka Kimura (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 9:05.81
2. Miki Sakakibara (Hamakita Nishi H.S.) - 9:07.31
3. Miyuki Gokan (Tokiwa H.S.) - 9:08.46
4. Fuyuki Kimura (Yamagata Johoku H.S.) - 9:09.18
5. Eri Makikawa (Seiryo H.S.) - 9:11.30

Women's 5000 m
1. Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) - 15:23.80 - PB
2. Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 15:29.69 - PB
3. Hikari Yoshimoto (Bukkyo Univ.) - 15:30.94
4. Hitomi Niiya (Sakura AC) - 15:32.92
5. Risa Takenaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:33.54

Junior Men's 5000 m
1. Ken Yokote (Sakushin Gakuin H.S.) - 14:04.49
2. Kazuma Kubota (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 14:05.56
3. Yuta Katsumata (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 14:06.43
4. Shun Morozumi (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 14:07.62
5. Kaoru Hirosue (Kobayashi H.S.) - 14:17.13

Niigata Time Trials
Niigata, 10/10/11
click here for complete results

Men's 10000 m
1. Yuki Matsuoka (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 28:03.46 - PB
2. Yusuke Hasegawa (Team S&B) - 28:21.86
3. Shota Yamaguchi (Team Fujitsu) - 28:54.97
4. Kazuharu Takai (Team Kyudenko) - 29:02.59
5. Tomoyuki Morita (Team Kanebo) - 29:04.32

Women's 10000 m
1. Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) - 31:55.06
2. Yoshie Kurisu (Team Tenmaya) - 33:05.43
DNF - Kazue Kojima (Team Toyota Jidoshokki)

Chubu Jitsugyodan Fall Track & Field Championships
Gifu, 10/10/11
click here for complete results

Men's 5000 m Heat 4
1. Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) - 13:24.99 - CR
2. Samuel Ngungu (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 13:38.14
3. Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 13:44.23
4. James Mwangi (Kenya/Team NTN) - 13:45.05
5. Hiroyoshi Umegae (Team NTN) - 13:49.73

Men's 3000 m Heat 2
1. John Thuo (Team Toyota) - 7:46.01 - CR
2. Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) - 8:15.10
3. Kensuke Takahashi (Team Toyota) - 8:16.96

Women's 3000 m Heat 2
1. Mao Kuroda (Team Yutaka Giken) - 9:32.51
2. Anri Shibahara (Team Yutaka Giken) - 9:38.38
3. Akiko Matsunaga (Team Yutaka Giken) - 9:39.98

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that Sis

The Ivy League at the Izumo Ekiden in Review

Last week I was contacted by Will Geiken , who I'd met years ago when he was a part of the Ivy League Select Team at the Izumo Ekiden . He was looking for historical results from Izumo and lists of past team members, and I was able to put together a pretty much complete history, only missing the alternates from 1998 to 2010 and a little shaky on the reverse transliterations of some of the names from katakana back into the Western alphabet for the same years. Feel free to send corrections or additions to alternate lists. It's interesting to go back and see some names that went on to be familiar, to see the people who made an impact like Princeton's Paul Morrison , Cornell's Max King , Stanford's Brendan Gregg in one of the years the team opened up beyond the Ivy League, Cornell's Ben de Haan , Princeton's Matt McDonald , and Harvard's Hugo Milner last year, and some of the people who struggled with the format. 1998 Team: 15th of 21 overall, 2:14:10 (43

Hirabayashi Runs PB at Shanghai Half, WR Holder Nakata Dominates Fuji Five Lakes - Weekend Road Roundup

Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57. Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon , with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half

japan running news

Search This Blog