Oda Memorial Meet Entry Lists

by Brett Larner

Entry lists are up for the 2011 Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet on Apr. 29 in Hiroshima, one of the big meets on the spring Japanese calendar. This year's meet features an extra round of distance events with separate 5000 m qualifier heats for the World University Games 5000 m teams alongside the regular open 5000 m heats.

The university men's 5000 m may be the most exciting race of the day, with 2011 Hakone Ekiden champion Waseda University fielding big guns Shota Hiraga, Suguru Osako, Yuki Yagi and Yo Yazawa and rival Meiji University its ace Tetsuya Yoroizaka along with star first-year recruits Yuki Arimura and Genki Yagisawa. #1-ranked first-year Kazuto Nishiike will be debuting for Hosei University, while 2010 Kanto Regional 5000 m champion Taku Fujimoto (Kokushikan Univ.) will tune up to defend his title at May's Kanto Regionals.

Like Waseda, Ritsumeikan University will be putting all its best people into the university women's 5000 m, including seniors Michi Numata, Risa Takenaka and Hanae Tanaka along with outstanding sophomore Akane Yabushita. 2010 national champion Bukkyo University has star Hikari Yoshimoto in the open women's 5000 m and will instead field senior Mai Ishibashi, junior Shiho Takechi and first-year Risa Shibuya.

The open men's 5000 m features a number of Japan-based Kenyan pros as well as high school sensation Charles Ndirangu (Sera H.S.). 2009 national 5000 m champion Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) leads the domestic men. The open women's 5000 m looks to be more competitive, with top Japan-based Africans Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko), Betelhem Moges (Team Denso) and Felista Wanjugu (Team Univ. Ent.) lining up against 10000 m junior national record holder Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno), 10000 m collegiate national record holder Hikari Yoshimoto (Bukkyo Univ.), road 10 km collegiate national record holder and 2010 university 5000 m national champion Kasumi Nishihara (Bukkyo Univ.), and 2011 World Championships marathon team member Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku).

2011 Oda Memorial Meet Entry List Highlights

Big Arch Stadium, Hiroshima, April 29, 2011

University Men's 5000 m

Yuki Arimura (Meiji Univ.)

Taku Fujimoto (Kokushikan Univ.)

Shota Hattori (Nittai Univ.)

Shota Hiraga (Waseda Univ.)

Kazuto Nishiike (Hosei Univ.)

Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.)

Wataru Ueno (Komazawa Univ.)

Yuki Yagi (Waseda Univ.)

Genki Yagisawa (Meiji Univ.)

Yo Yazawa (Waseda Univ.)

Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Meiji Univ.)

Ikuto Yufu (Komazawa Univ.)

University Women's 5000 m

Mai Ishibashi (Bukkyo Univ.)

Sayo Nomura (Meijo Univ.)

Michi Numata (Ritsumeikan Univ.)

Risa Shibuya (Bukkyo Univ.)

Ayuko Suzuki (Nagoya Univ.)

Shiho Takechi (Bukkyo Univ.)

Risa Takenaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.)

Toshika Tamura (Matsuyama Univ.)

Hanae Tanaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.)

Akane Yabushita (Ritsumeikan Univ.)

Open Women's 5000 m

Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko)

Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku)

Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno)

Kazue Kojima (Team Unv. Ent.)

Betelhem Moges (Ethiopia/Team Denso)

Shoko Mori (Team Otsuka Seiyaku)

Hitomi Niiya (Team Toyota Jidoshokki)

Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki)

Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Team Univ. Ent.)

Hikari Yoshimoto (Bukkyo Univ.)

Open Men's 5000 m

Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel)

Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko)

Soji Ikeda (Team NTT Nishi Nihon)

Peter Kariuki (Kenya/Team Mazda)

Nicholas Makau (Kenya/Team Yachiyo Kogyo)

Kota Murayama (Josai Univ.)

Charles Ndirangu (Kenya/Sera H.S.)

Tsuyoshi Ogata (Team Chugoku Denryoku)

Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku)

Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B)

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

93-Year-Old Masters Track and Field WR Holder Hiroo Tanaka: "Everyone has Unexplored Intrinsic Abilities"

In the midst of a lot of talk about how to keep the aging population young, there are people with long lives who are showing extraordinary physical abilities. One of them is Hiroo Tanaka , 93, a multiple world champion in masters track and field. Tanaka began running when he was 60, before which he'd never competed in his adult life. "He's so fast he's world-class." "His running form is so beautiful. It's like he's flying." Tanaka trains at an indoor track in Aomori five days a week. Asked about him, that's the kind of thing the people there say. Tanaka holds multiple masters track and field world records, where age is divided into five-year groups. Last year at the World Masters Track and Field Championships in Poland he set a new world record of 38.79 for 200 m in the M90 class (men's 90-94 age group). People around the world were amazed at the time, which was almost unbelievable for a 92-year-old. After retiring from his job as an el

japan running news

Search This Blog