Skip to main content

Chepyego and Karoki Win National Corporate 5000 m

by Brett Larner

After winning the 2012 National Corporate Track and Field Championships 10000 m Friday night and her 5000 m heat Saturday, Kenyan Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko) returned to Fukuoka's Hakatanomori Field Saturday evening to score her third win in 24 hours, just outrunning Misaki Onishi (Team Sekisui Kagaku) and the three others in the tightly-packed lead group to win the 5000 m final in 15:32.37.  In addition to the triple win it was Chepyego's second-straight national corporate 5000 m title.  Although Onishi was unable to match Chepyego's closing speed in the home straight she had the satisfaction of doing what Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) was unable to do in the men's 10000 m, clipping 0.01 seconds off her best to record a new PB of 15:32.88.  Hanae Tanaka of 2011 National Corporate Women's Ekiden champion Team Daiichi Seimei held off Kenyans Grace Kimanzi (Team Starts) and Doricah Obare (Team Hitachi) for 3rd in 15:34.79.

Kenyan Beatrice Wainaina Murugi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) likewise finished on top in the junior women's 3000 m, running 9:05.56 for the win over Susan Wairimu (Kenya/Team Denso) and Riko Matsuzaki (Team Sekisui Kagaku), one of the year's fastest Japanese women over 5000 m.

The men's 5000 m delivered the hoped-for battle between Sera High School graduated Bitan Karoki (Team S&B), the top Kenyan in the London Olympics 10000 m, and first-year pro Charles Ndirangu (Team JFE Steel), rarely defeated in competition in Japan.  With Karoki favoring mid-race surges and Ndirangu more apt to a fast start it was an exciting matchup, and the pair went head-to-head in front of the rest of the field.  After a drawn-out battle Karoki's experience and closing speed got the better of the younger Ndirangu, Karoki running 13:21.02 for the win by a margin of two seconds.  Defending national corporate 5000 m champion Daniel Gitau (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) was a distant 3rd in 13:37.50 ahead of 10000 m national champion Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin).  After winning the 10000 m and his 5000 m heat Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) was unable to match Chepyego's achievement in the women's 5000 m, finishing only 6th.

2012 National Corporate Track and Field Championships Day Two Finals
Hakatanomori Field, Fukuoka, 9/22/12
click here for complete results

Women's 5000 m Final
1. Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 15:32.37
2. Misaki Onishi (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:32.88 - PB
3. Hanae Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 15:34.21
4. Grace Kimanzi (Kenya/Team Starts) - 15:34.79
5. Doricah Obare (Kenya/Team Hitachi) - 15:37.28
6. Risa Kikuchi (Team Hitachi) - 15:39.84
7. Yuka Miyazaki (Team Kyudenko) - 15:44.62
8. Kotomi Yakayama (Team Sysmex) - 15:47.43
9. Mayumi Fujita (Team Juhachi Ginko) - 15:52.56
10. Mai Ishibashi (Team Denso) - 15:55.22

Men's 5000 m Final
1. Bitan Karoki (Kenya/Team S&B) - 13:21.02
2. Charles Ndirangu (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) - 13:23.40
3. Daniel Gitau (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) - 13:37.50
4. Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 13:38.51
5. Patrick Muwaka (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) - 13:39.72
6. Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 13:41.62
7. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei) - 13:48.58
8. Minato Oishi (Team Toyota) - 13:50.83
9. Ryo Matsumoto (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 13:50.87
10. Ryohei Kawakami (Team Kanebo) - 13:52.32

Junior Women's 3000 m Final
1. Beatrice Wainaina Murugi (Kenya/Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 9:05:56
2. Susan Wairimu (Kenya/Team Denso) - 9:06.57
3. Riko Matsuzaki (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 9:08.66
4. Rose Maranga (Kenya/Team Toto) - 9:10.16
5. Akari Ota (Team Tenmaya) - 9:13.89
6. Naoko Koizumi (Team Denso) - 9:15.99
7. Madoka Mitsueda (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 9:23.82
8. Yuko Aoki (Canon AC Kyushu) - 9:30.24
9. Yui Okada (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 9:31.58
10. Nene Kawanishi (Team Wacoal) - 9:32.83

(c) 2012 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

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