Skip to main content

Mathathi 10000 m World Leader, Murasawa 28:00.78 at 2011 Hyogo Relay Carnival (updated with video)

by Brett Larner

Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) takes the men's Grand Prix 10000 m in a world-leading 27:23.85. Click event headers in results below for complete video of other events.

In the wake of a spate of road race cancellations following last month's disasters, the 10000 m was the focus of this year's Hyogo Relay Carnival, Apr. 23-24 at Kobe's Universiade Memorial Stadium. In addition to the regularly-programmed men's and women's Grand Prix 10000 m and the men's Asics Challenge 10000 m, effectively the meet's B-heat, this year's race featured an additional 10000 m for university men looking to qualify for the 10000 m at this summer's World University Games and a separate men's and women's 10000 m qualifier for the World University Games half marathon.

With a shortage of quality 10000 m races worldwide the focus in the Grand Prix and Asics Challenge 10000 m events for both Japanese runners and Japan-resident Africans was on hitting the tougher new World Championships qualifying standards, 27:40 and 28:00 for men, 31:45 and 32:00 for women. On the men's side, Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) set a world-leading PB of 27:48.74 to win Saturday's Asics Challenge 10000 m, only to see his mark fall a day later as 2007 World Championships bronze medalist Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) took the Grand Prix event in a new world leader of 27:23.85. The top four men in the Grand Prix 10000 m, all Kenyan, cleared the 27:40.00 A-standard. Just past his 20th birthday, top-ranked university man Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) ran an evenly-paced 44-second PB in the Grand Prix 10000 m but came up agonizingly short of the 28:00.00 B-standard as he clocked a new best of 28:00.78, the fastest so far this year by a Japanese man. Both Mathathi and Murasawa's leading marks are likely to fall May 1 at the Cardinal Invitational in Stanford, California thanks to the presence of sub-27 man Chris Solinsky (U.S.A.) and at least a half-dozen Japanese men with recent times under the 28 minute mark.

Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) paced collegiate national record holder Hikari Yoshimoto (Bukkyo Univ.) to aim for the 31:45.00 A-standard in the Grand Prix women's 10000 m, pulling away on the last lap to win in a PB of 31:38.70. Yoshimoto, struggling over the last two kilometers, just missed the mark as she finished in 31:45.82. She was the only Japanese woman in the field to break the 32:00.00 B-standard. Despite missing the A-standard, Yoshimoto holds a valid A-standard qualifying time from 2010 and stands in good stead to be picked for the World Championships team. Junior national record holder Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno), staging the latest comeback from three years of setbacks, dropped out after 6000 m. Kenyan Ann Karindi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) also had a good day in the women's 1500 m, breaking the meet record held by her teammate Yuriko Kobayashi to win in 4:12.60.

In the World University Games 10000 m qualifier, Meiji University ace Tetsuya Yoroizaka just outlasted Asian half marathon junior area record holder Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.) for the win in 28:42.72 to Osako's 28:43.07. Both are likely to be named to the team on the strength of their performances. In the half marathon-qualifying 10000 m, Takashimadaira 20 km course record holder Takehiro Deki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) ran a 12-second PB in a slow, tactical race to take down Waseda star Yo Yazawa for the win in 29:04.16, opening 5 seconds on Yazawa over the last lap. Pre-race favorite Shota Hiraga (Waseda Univ.) was tripped from behind partway through the race and fell hard enough to knock him out of contention. Like Deki against Yazawa, Machiko Iwakawa (Ritsumeikan Univ.) took down the better-credentialed Aki Odagiri (Meijo Univ.) to take the top spot in the women's half marathon qualifier, running 33:32.89.

2011 Hyogo Relay Carnival
April 23-24, Universiade Memorial Stadium, Kobe
click section headers for complete video

1. Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 27:23.85
2. John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota) - 27:23.99
3. Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 27:32.71
4. Josephat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) - 27:39.81
5. Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) - 27:41.67
6. Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) - 27:43.06
7. Daniel Gitau (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) - 27:57.63
8. Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) - 28:00.78 - PB
9. Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 28:05.84 - PB
10. Takuya Ishikawa (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 28:14.44 - PB

1. Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 31:38.70 - PB
2. Hikari Yoshimoto (Bukkyo Univ.) - 31:45.82
3. Kaoru Nagao (Team Univ. Ent.) - 32:10.46 - PB
4. Tomoka Inadomi (Team Wacoal) - 32:26.46 - PB
5. Hanae Tanaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 32:27.56 - PB
6. Mai Ishibashi (Bukkyo Univ.) - 32:37.25 - PB
7. Chinami Mori (Bukkyo Univ.) - 32:40.39 - PB
8. Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 32:54.15
9. Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 32:56.36
10. Sayo Nomura (Meijo Univ.) - 32:57.69
DNF - Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno)

1. Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 27:48.74 - PB
2. Gideon Ngatuny (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 27:49.26
3. Patrick Mwaka (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) - 27:49.93 - PB
4. Paul Kuira (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) - 27:50.26 - PB
5. Samuel Ndungu (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 28:22.55

1. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Meiji Univ.) - 28:42.72
2. Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.) - 28:43.07
3. Hiromitsu Kakuage (Komazawa Univ.) - 28:43.28 - PB
4. Tsubasa Hayakawa (Tokai Univ.) - 28:44.34 - PB
5. Takumi Honda (Nittai Univ.) - 28:56.93 - PB

1. Takehiro Deki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 29:04.16 - PB
2. Yo Yazawa (Waseda Univ.) - 29:09.06
3. Masato Kikuchi (Meiji Univ.) - 29:19.69

1. Machiko Iwakawa (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 33:32.89
2. Aki Odagiri (Meijo Univ.) - 33:41.92
3. Namiko Yamamoto (Team Daihatsu) - 33:46.59 - PB

1. Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 16:01.81
2. Tomomi Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 16:03.00
3. Misaki Onishi (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 16:03.17

1. Aoi Matsumoto (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 8:40.08
2. Masatoshi Kikuchi (Team Fujitsu) - 8:45.49
3. Tsuyoshi Takeda (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 8:47.59

1. Yasuhiro Tago (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 3:43.05
2. Hiroshi Ino (Team Fujitsu) - 3:43.39
3. Tatsuro Okazaki (Waseda Univ.) - 3:43.56

1. Ann Karindi (Kenya/Team Toyota Jidoshoki) - 4:12.60 - MR
2. Yukari Soh (Team Asahi Kasei) - 4:22.62
3. Shiho Takeda (Tokiwa H.S.) - 4:22.68 - PB

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Brett Larner said…
Murasawa's time was the 6th-fastest ever by a Japanese 20 year-old. Only two Americans that age, Galen Rupp and Craig Virgin, have ever run faster.

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