Fukushi 31:57 Course Record at Tamana 10 km

by Brett Larner

Fresh back from New Zealand where she was spotted at Rikuren's marathon training camp by JRN reader Jason Lawrence, 3000 m, 5000 m and half marathon national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) ran a solo 31:57 10 km course record at the 61st Kanaguri Hai Tamana Road Race in Kumamoto on Mar. 7 to become the first woman to break 32 minutes in the 25 years that the women's 10 km has been part of the event. Running alone and unpressured with her nearest competition nearly a minute behind, Fukushi's time would have put her 4th in last week's much-heralded World's Best 10 km in San Juan, Puerto Rico and is the latest sign that she is back to her best. Last year's winner Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) finished 2nd in 32:43, while Mika Okunaga (Team Kyudenko) was 3rd in 33:29 in a tuneup for next week's Nagoya International Women's Marathon.

The course record also fell in the high school boys' 10 km, where Kenyan students took the top five spots. 8 days after winning the junior race at the Fukuoka International Cross Country Meet, Steven Njeri (Fukuoka Daiichi H.S.) took the 10 km win in a new record time of 28:51 while last year's winner Titus Kihara Kifuru (Chinzei H.S.) was 3rd in 29:23. The top Japanese finisher, Kazuma Kubota (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) was 6th in 30:05.

In the men's half marathon, Team Asahi Kasei runners took two of the top three spots, with winner Keita Tsuchihashi holding off Teruo Taneno (Team Yasukawa Denki) by one second to finish in 1:04:08. Last year's high school 10 km runner-up Fumihiro Maruyama (Team Asahi Kasei) was 3rd in 1:04:14. Tsuchihashi and Maruyama are teammates of today's Biwako Mainichi Marathon runner-up Tomoyuki Sato.

2010 Tamana Road Race - Top Finishers
click division header for complete results
Women's 10 km
1. Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) - 31:57 - CR
2. Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 32:43
3. Mika Okunaga (Team Kyudenko) - 33:29

High School Boys' 10 km
1. Steven Njeri (Kenya/Fukuoka Daiichi H.S.) - 28:51 - CR
2. Titus Waruru (Kenya/Chinzei H.S.) - 29:18
3. Titus Kihara Kifuru (Kenya/Chinzei H.S.) - 29:23

Men's Half Marathon
1. Keita Tsuchihashi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 1:04:08
2. Teruo Taneno (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 1:04:09
3. Fumihiro Maruyama (Team Asahi Kasei) - 1:04:14

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

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

Saturday at Kanaguri and Nittai

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet , Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back from a DNF at last month's The TEN to take the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 13:24.57. The B-heat was also decently quick, Shadrack Rono (Subaru) winning in 13:21.55 and Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) running a 10-second PB to get under 13:30 for the first time in 13:29.29 for 6th. Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was 9th in 13:30.62. South Sudan's Abraham Guem (Ami AC) also set a meet record in the men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:38.94. 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura made his debut with the Subaru corporate team, running 3:39.78 for 2n

Three Japanese Men Running 128th Boston Marathon

Back in Japan's golden years Boston was a big draw for its top talent in the marathon, but for a long time it was off the list of first-choice marathons as the preoccupation shifted to times. That started changing again in 2017 when 5000 m NR holder Suguru Osako made his debut there with a 2:10:28 for 3rd, following in the footsteps of other Waseda University alum who ran well in Boston including two-time winner Toshihiko Seko and the late Tomoyuki Taniguchi . Osako was 3rd at October's Paris Olympic marathon trials, putting him in position to be on the Paris team unless someone runs 2:05:50 or better at February's Osaka Marathon or March's Tokyo Marathon. Having run 2:06:13 in Tokyo last year but beaten by two Japanese men who both went under 2:06, there wasn't really any upside to Osako doing Tokyo this time. Osaka seemed like the logical choice, but like he has for most of his life Osako is following his own motivations and opting to return to the 128th Boston

japan running news

Search This Blog