Skip to main content

Hokuren Distance Challenge Kitami Meet - Results

by Brett Larner

The Olympic A-standard victory of Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) in the women`s 5000 m proved the standout result of the July 13 Hokuren Distance Challenge Kitami Meet. Akaba, who has already been named to the Beijing Olympic team in the women`s 10000 m, ran a sizeable PB of 15:06.07 to win the race and all but assure that she will double in Beijing.

Her potential teammate in the Olympic 5000 m, women`s national 1500 m record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki), won the Kitami 1500 m in 4:12.79, a time too slow to put her in a position for an Olympic double. Men`s national 1500 m record holder Fumikazu Kobayashi (Team NTN) likewise missed setting an Olympic-standard mark, winning the men`s 1500 m in 3:42.67. Barring a last-minute breakthrough, the male Kobayashi will likely be staying home in August.

Athens Olympics 10000 m team member Ryuji Ono (Team Asahi Kasei) won the men`s 3000 m in 7:54.25 in a tune-up for Wednesday`s Hokuren Distance Challenge Kushiro Meet 10000 m. Ono was 2nd in last month`s National Track and Field Championships 10000 m but was not selected for Beijing after just missing the Olympic A-standard for the third time this season. The Kushiro 10000 m will be the last chance for the 22 year-old to make the Beijing team.

Next to Akaba`s performance, the standout result of the Kitami Meet came in the men`s 5000 m. Winner Satoshi Irifune (Team Kanebo) was far from the Olympic A-standard with his 13:45.80 mark, followed by the recently-graduated Nittai University ace Satoru Kitamura (Team Nissin Shokuhin) in 13:49.49. The notable result came with the 13:50.14 mark set by 3rd-place finisher Yuki Yagi (Waseda Univ.). Yagi was the 2007 high school 5000 m national champion and came to Waseda this spring as part of the school`s aggressive recruitment of the top three graduating high school men. Yagi`s time in Kitami was a PB of more than 11 seconds, showing that he is on track to make a significant mark on the upcoming ekiden season. His fellow super-recruit, 2007 high school 5000 m national 3rd-place finisher Takuya Nakayama, did not fare as well, finishing 2nd-to-last in 14:31.99.

Top Finishers

Women`s 800 m
1. Yeon Jung Heo (Korea): 2:07.97
2. Akari Kishikawa (Team Noritz): 2:08.44
3. Miki Nishimura (Self-Defense Force Sports Academy): 2:09.61

Men`s 800 m
1. Takeshi Kuchino (Nittai Univ.): 1:48.36
2. Jae Hum Lee (Korea): 1:48.81
3. Sung Soo Park (Korea): 1:49.20

Women`s 1500 m
1. Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki): 4:12.79
2. Ann Karindi (Team Yutaka Giken): 4:14.49
3. Kazuka Wakatsuki (Team Toto): 4:18.54

Men`s 1500 m
1. Fumikazu Kobayashi (Team NTN): 3:42.67
2. Sang Min Shin (Korea): 3:45.12
3. Ippei Tamura (Ami AC): 3:47.15

Women`s 3000 m
1. Risa Kikuchi (Team Hitachi): 9:42.37 - PB
2. Rika Shintaku (Team Shimamura): 9:42.53 - PB
3. Ayumi Nakayama (Team Yamada Denki): 9:46.04

Men`s 3000 m
1. Ryuji Ono (Team Asahi Kasei): 7:54.25
2. Yasuhiro Tago (Team Chugoku Denryoku): 8:10.32
3. Osamu Ibata (Team Otsuka Seiyaku): 8:14.09

Women`s 5000 m A-group
1. Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren): 15:06.07 - PB
2. Obare Dorika (Team Hitachi): 15:26.08
3. Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz): 15:33.04

Women`s 5000 m B-group
1. Yuka Takashima (Team Denso): 16:04.76
2. Yuko Mizuguchi (Mie Univ.): 16:18.03
3. Shizuka Marumo (Team Denso): 16:19.94

Men`s 5000 m A-group
1. Satoshi Irifune (Team Kanebo): 13:45.80
2. Satoru Kitamura (Team Nissin Shokuhin): 13:49.49
3. Yuki Yagi (Waseda Univ.): 13:50.14 - PB

Men`s 5000 m B-group
1. Kazuki Koda (Team Shikoku Denryoku): 13:59.00
2. Tetsushi Abe (Team Toenec): 14:02.79
3. Takayuki Ota (Team Fujitsu): 14:03.82

Men`s 5000 m C-group
1. Woo Yeon Kim (Korea): 14:12.49
2. Hidehisa Kobayashi (Team YKK): 14:13.07
3. Tomohiro Minami (Team Aisan): 14:20.08

A complete list of results is available here.

(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr