Morita Goes Sub-32 in 10000 m Debut

Running her track 10000 m debut of a 32:27 road 10 km in the spring, Kaori Morita (Panasonic) closed hard off a slow opening pace to win the National Corporate Federation Women's Long Distance Time Trials 10000 m Friday afternoon in Yamaguchi.

A new filler meet to take up space on the calendar following the National Corporate Women's Ekiden's move to November, the Corporate Time Trials meet featured one heat of 3000 m and three 5000 m heats before its main focus, the 10000 m. After a 3:19 first 1000 m Morita's teammate Yuka Hori, winner of the 10.9 km Third Stage at Nationals, took over, leading the field at 3:12 to 3:14 / km pace through 7000 m. Morita, who won the 7.0 km First Stage, went to the front at that point with a 3:14 to 8000 m before taking off.

Clocking her fastest split up to that point with a 3:07 between 8 and 9000 m, Morita closed impressively with a 3:01 final km to dip under 32 minutes as she won in 31:59.94. Steepler Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) was 2nd in 32:05.99, a PB by almost a minute and a half, with Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) 3rd in 32:06.14 after winning the 5000 m B-heat in 15:56.57 less than an hour earlier. Morita's twin sister Shiori was a DNS.

National Corporate Federation Women's Long Distance Time Trials
Ishin Hyakunen Kinen Park Field, Yamaguchi, 12/9/17
click here for complete results

Women's 10000 m
1. Kaori Morita (Panasonic) - 31:59.94
2. Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:05.99
3. Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) - 32:06.14
4. Anna Matsuda (Kyocera) - 32:07.11
5. Riko Matsuzaki (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:08.46
6. Harumi Okamoto (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 32:17.29
7. Rie Fujita (Kyocera) - 32:21.79
8. Yuka Hori (Panasonic) - 32:21.92
9. Yuri Nozoe (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 32:26.93
10. Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) - 32:27.58

Women's 5000 m Heat 3
1. Mai Nishiwaki (Tenmaya) - 15:38.82
2. Kasumi Nishihara (Yamada Denki) - 15:39.43
3. Fumika Sasaki (Daiichi Seimei) - 15:40.69
4. Kanami Sagayama (Daiichi Seimei) - 15:41.34
5. Miyuki Uehara (Daiichi Seimei) - 15:41.51
6. Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:44.39
7. Hisami Ishii (Yamada Denki) - 15:45.32
8. Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada Denki) - 15:46.89
9. Nanako Kanno (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:47.24
10. Azuki Horiguchi (Kyocera) - 15:50.71

Women's 5000 m Heat 2
1. Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) - 15:56.57
2. Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) - 15:56.68
3. Mayuka Toda (Kyocera) - 15:57.51
4. Kanako Takemoto (Daihatsu) - 15:58.71
5. Ayari Harada (Daiichi Seimei) - 15:59.23

Women's 5000 m Heat 1
1. Misaki Minami (Wacoal) - 16:14.48
2. Aika Nakashima (Kyocera) - 16:14.59
3. Nazuna Yamasaki (Juhachi Ginko) - 16:15.43

Women's 3000 m
1. Ayaka Nakagawa (Sekisui Kagaku) - 9:27.51
2. Momoka Kawaguchi (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 9:34.10
3. Nagisa Shimotabira (Daihatsu) - 9:36.22

photo © 2017 M. Kawaguchi, all rights reserved
text © 2017 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

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