News05 Mar 2007


High School students steal the show in Fukuoka

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Megumi Kinukawa victorious at the Fukuoka Cross Country (© Takefumi Tsutsui (Agence SHOT))

The 21st annual Fukuoka International Cross Country races were held on the same course where the World Cross Country Championships were held last April. Along with the Chiba International Cross Country races held three weeks ago, the Fukuoka International Cross Country is one of the selection races for the World Cross Country Championships. 

On a very warm day, where the temperatures hit 23C, both men’s 10km and women’s 6km races were won by the high school students from Sendai Ikue High School. Micah Njeru, a Kenyan student in Sendai Ikue High School, won the men’s 10km, while Megumi Kinukawa, a junior at Sendai Ikue High School, who finished 14th at the junior race in the 2006 World Cross Country Championships, won the women’s 6km. 

Men’s 10km

Four Kenyans – Micah Njeru, Joseph Gidau, John Wainaina, and Martin Waweru –  along with a Japanese Yuta Takahashi were together in the lead pack at 2 km (5:42) into the race. 

They were followed by a large pack of Japanese runners led mostly by Hidekazu Sato. Nearing 3km, Takahashi lost contact with the Kenyans, which left four Kenyans in front. After passing 6km in 17:35, around 7km into the race, Njeru and Gitau broke away from Wainaina and Waweru. 

Njeru and Gitau passed 8km together in 23:35. The race came down to the last 500m, where Njeru out sprinted Gitau and won by 11 seconds. 

“Because I lost the race in the final sprint last year, I was determined to win this year,” said Njeru after the race. Hiroyuki Ono of Juntendo University, who finished fifth, was the first Japanese in the race. He was followed by Hidekazu Sato, a national high school record holder at 5000m. 

Women’s 6km

A huge pack of runners passed 2km in 6:39. Approaching 3.5km Kenyans Mary Wangari and Teresa Wangui broke out of the lead pack of thirteen runners. The chase pack soon reduced to Akane Wakita, Yuka Kakimi, Aimi Horikoshi and Megumi Kinukawa.

Around 4km, Kinukawa broke away from the chase pack and started to chase two Kenyans ahead. Eight hundred metres later Kinukawa caught and passed the Kenyans. Although Wangari tried to stay with Kinukawa, after passing 5km in 16:43, Kinukawa has broken free from Wangari and run the rest of the race alone. 

Kinukawa won by 10 seconds in 19:56, and became the first high school runner to win the senior race in the Fukuoka Cross Country. 

“This was my first race of the year. I am very happy to win the senior race, after winning the junior race last year,” said Kinukawa, who has been injured most of January and February.

Kinukawa is thinking ahead to the summer season. “I ran aggressively thinking of how to race in the World Championships in Osaka, where I must contend with foreign runners,” continued Kinukawa.

Wangari finished second, while Akane Wakita, who was the first non-African at the junior race in the 2005 World Cross Country Championships, finished one second behind in the third place. 

Junior Races

Yuki Yagi, who also won the junior race in Chiba International Cross Country, won the junior 8km race, while Atsuko Matsumura won the women’s junior 6km race. Like Yagi, Matsumura also won the junior race in the Chiba International Cross Country. 

Ken Nakamura with assistance from Akihiro Onishi for the IAAF

Men’s 10km
1)  Micah Njeru (KEN)   29:29
2)  Joseph Gitau (KEN)  29:40
3)  John Wainaina  (KEN)  29:49
4)  Martin Waweru (KEN)  29:56
5)  Hiroyuki Ono  30:10
6)  Hidekazu Sato  30:11
7)  Yoshitaka Iwamizu  30:12
8)  Yuki Matsuoka  30:12
9)  Naoki Shibata  30:13
10) Takuya Fukatsu  30:13

Women’s 6km
1) Megumi Kinukawa  19:56
2) Mary Wangari (KEN)  20:06
3) Akane Wakita  20:07
4) Aimi Horikoshi  20:11
5) Teresea Wangui (KEN)  20:18
6) Yui Nakadai  20:21
7) Miho Notagashira  20:27
8) Kumi Akaishi  20:29
9) Yuka Kakimi  20:31
10)  Kayo Sugihara 20:31

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