Skip to main content

Weekend Track Roundup

by Brett Larner

Following up last week's Cork City Sports meet in Ireland that saw a sizeable group of mostly collegiate Japanese women in the 3000 m, Japanese men got started on their annual European track junket at meets in the Netherlands and Belgium.  2014 Waseda University graduate Suguru Osako (Team Nissin Shokuhin) was due to run the two mile at the Diamond League Glasgow meet, but with the cancellation of that distance he instead headed to the Netherlands' Runnersworld Track Meeting, where he ran 8:02.11 for 2nd in the 3000 m as a tuneup for next weekend's KBC Nacht meet in Belgium, where he and rival Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) will run 5000 m.

Also tuning up for the KBC Nacht was a large group of young corporate league runners and 2014 Asian Games track team member Kota Murayama (Josai Univ.) in the 1500 m at Belgium's Guldensporenmeeting.  Led by former Japanese university 10000 m record holder Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei), 2nd overall in 3:42.21, altogether six Japanese men broke 3:44, all in PBs, adding up to one of the best Japanese 1500 m races in recent memory.  The Japanese man with the fastest PB heading into the race, Ikuto Yufu (Team Fujitsu), made a good progress on his return from the injury that has bothered him since January's Hakone Ekiden, running 3:46.34 for 9th just ahead of on-the-men American star Chris Solinsky.  Women's two-time 1500 m national champion Ayako Jinnouchi (Team Kyudenko) was 9th in the women's 1500 m in 4:15.19, well off her best.

Back home in Japan, Yoroizaka's younger former teammates at Meiji University did well in their annual dual against Hosei University, sweeping the top four spots in the 1500 m.  Senior Kei Fumimoto won in a meet record and PB 3:47.01 well ahead of junior Shin Kimura, who likewise set a PB of 3:49.00.

63rd Cork City Sports
Cork, Ireland, 7/8/14
click here for complete results

Women's 3000 m
1. Marielle Hall (U.S.A.) - 8:54.48
2. Melissa Duncan (Australia) - 8:58.14
3. Fionnuala Britton (Ireland) - 9:01.01
4. Lauren Penney (U.S.A.) - 9:01.33
5. Helen Clitheroe (England) - 9:03.95
6. Yuika Mori (Team Yamada Denki) - 9:05.57
7. Maria McCambridge (Ireland) - 9:05.66
8. Natsuki Omori (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 9:09.54
9. Dominika Nowakowska (Poland) - 9:10.79
10. Sara Treacy (Ireland) - 9:12.35
-----
13. Mai Shoji (Chukyo Univ.) - 9:18.96
16. Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 9:24.55
17. Shiho Takechi (Team Yamada Denki) - 9:34.45
18. Mai Tsuda (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 9:41.26

Runnersworld Track Meeting
Utrecht, Netherlands, 7/11/14
click here for complete results

Men's 3000 m
1. Jesper van der Wielen (Netherlands) - 7:58.56
2. Suguru Osako (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 8:02.11
3. Mohamed Ali Mohamed (Netherlands) - 8:19.85
4. Jorit van Malsen (Netherlands) - 8:34.17
5. Wouter Dilling (Netherlands) - 8:43.69

17th Guldensporenmeeting
Kortrijk, Belgium, 7/12/14
click here for complete results

Men's 1500 m Heat 1
1. Mark Nouws (Netherlands) -3:42.01
2. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei) - 3:42.21
3. Kazuya Deguchi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 3:42.98
4. Daiki Hirose (Team Osaka Gas) - 3:43.23
5. Masato Kikuchi (Team Konica Minolta) - 3:43.52
6. Roy Van Eekelen (Netherlands) - 3:43.69
7. Kota Murayama (Josai Univ.) - 3:43.85
8. Hans Kristian Floystad (Norway) - 3:44.54
9. Ikuto Yufu (Team Fujitsu) - 3:46.34
10. Chris Solinsky (U.S.A.) - 3:46.55
-----
12. Ryo Kiname (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 3:47.33
13. Hideyuki Tanaka (Team Toyota) - 3:47.84
16. Aritaka Kajiwara (Team Press Kogyo) - 3:49.00
17. Yuta Shitara (Team Honda) - 3:49.28
19. Keita Shitara (Team Konica Minolta) - 3:54.69

Men's 1500 m Heat 2
1. Carsten Schlangen (Germany) - 3:38.85
2. Joe Stilin (U.S.A.) - 3:39.47
3. Conselius Kipruto (Kenya) - 3:40.07
4. Andy Bayer (U.S.A.) - 3:40.10
5. Peter Callahan (U.S.A.) - 340.58
-----
12. Toshihiro Kenmotsu (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 3:43.23

Women's 1500 m
1. Gabe Grunewald (U.S.A.) - 4:07.70
2. Kokebe Tesfaye (Ethiopia) - 4:08.61
3. Basu Sado (Ethiopia) - 4:08.85
4. Kim Conley (U.S.A.) - 4:09.48
5. Katie Wright (New Zealand) - 4:13.47
-----
9. Ayako Jinnouchi (Team Kyudenko) - 4:15.19

64th Meiji University - Hosei University Dual Meet
Tokyo, 7/13/14
complete results coming shortly

Men's 1500 m
1. Kei Fumimoto (Meiji Univ.) - 3:47.01 - MR
2. Shin Kimura (Meiji Univ.) - 3:49.00
3. Kentaro Egashira (Meiji Univ.) - 3:52.73
4. Takumi Hosaka (Meiji Univ.) - 3:52.95

(c) 2014 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

World Championships Medalist Racewalking Coach Mizuho Sakai Recognized With Highest Coaching Honor

The 2023 Mizuno Sports Mentor Awards recognizing excellence in coaching were held Apr. 23 in Tokyo. Toyo University assistant coach and race walking coach Mizuho Sakai was given a gold award, the program's highest honor, and expressed her thanks and joy in a speech at the award ceremony. The coach of 2023 Budapest World Championships men's 35 km race walk bronze medalist Masatora Kawano , Sakai said, "This is an incredible honor and I'm truly grateful. As a child I wanted to be in the sporting world and I've spent my life in that world. My end goal was always to play a supporting role for other athletes, so I'm honored to be recognized in this way." Sakai's husband Toshiyuki Sakai , head coach of Toyo's three-time Hakone Ekiden champion team, attended the awards gala with her and was also introduced to the audience. After bowing he took a seat in front of her and watched with warmth as she received recognition for her outstanding work. The Mizun

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

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