Posted: November 26, 2005

Athletics: Kenya Sweeps Chiba Ekiden Titles - Men Set World Record

U.S. Men's Team Wins Bronze Medal and Also Sets U.S. Record

From IAAF, USATF and other sources

CHIBA, Japan - (November 23, 2005) - After dueling with the team from Japan for most of the race, the Team USA men raced to the highest U.S. men's finish ever at the Hanji Aoki Cup International Chiba Ekiden on Wednesday in Chiba, Japan, with a thrilling bronze medal and U.S. record performance finishing only ten seconds behind host Japan, 1 hour, 58 minutes, 58 seconds to 1:59:08. Over the marathon distance (26.2 miles), Kenya won the men's event in 1:57:06, a world record.

Former Stanford All-American and 2005 NCAA 5000m champion Ryan Hall led off the U.S. six member relay team, and the Team Running USA athlete ran an impressive 5K in 13:22 to finish second on his leg. A string of consistent top performances from his teammates kept the U.S. in contention with Japan throughout the race.

Hall's performance was backed up by Matt Gonzales' 10K in 28:15, good for fourth on his leg. Ian Dobson, another Team Running USA athlete, ran his 5K leg in 13:46 for the fastest time on the third leg. Brian Sell ran a 10K personal record of 28:28 to finish third on his leg. Fernando Cabada finished third on his leg, running 5K in 14:11 and Josh Moen anchored the team running 21:06 for 7.2K to bring the U.S. team home in third.

"We were right there with the team from Japan," said U.S. Team Leader Tomy Sitton. "Josh was giving it everything he had, but just couldn't cover that last move, but the boys are really excited and pumped with their race. It was great."

Kenya also won the women's race in 2:13:33. The USA women finished ninth, running 2:23:50. Team Running USA's Sara Bei led the U.S. performers with a third place finish, running 15:33 for the first 5K leg.

The Hanji Aoki Cup 2005 International Chiba Ekiden was host to 12 international men's teams and 11 women's. This year, for both genders, Chiba went to a 6 leg record standard configuration: 5K / 10K / 5K / 10K / 5K / 7.2K.

Hanji Aoki Cup Int'l Chiba Ekiden Road Relay - Chiba, JPN, Wednesday, November 23, 2005

MEN
1) Kenya, 1:57:06*
2) Japan, 1:58:58 
3) USA, 1:59:08# 
4) Ethiopia, 1:59:53
5) Russia, 2:02:34
6) Morocco, 2:03:23 
7) Great Britain, 2:03:57
8) Brazil, 2:04:09 

*New course and pending world record (previous WR, 1:57:56, Morocco, IAAF World Road Relay, Greece, April 14, 1994)
#pending U.S. record (previous record, 2:03:59, Team USA, IAAF World Road Relay, Madeira, Portugal, May 10, 1992)

Fastest leg
Stage 1 - 5K - Gabo Burka, ETH, 13:22
Stage 2 - 10K - Marthin Mathathi, KEN, 27:12
Stage 3 - 5K - Ian Dobson, USA/CA, 13:46 
Stage 4 - 10K - Mekubo Mogusu, KEN, 27:56 
Stage 5 - 5K - Markos Genetti, ETH, 14:02
Stage 6 - 7.195K - John Kariuki, KEN, 19:59

WOMEN
1) Kenya, 2:13:33*
2) Ethiopia, 2:14:16 
3) Russia, 2:14:48
4) Japan, 2:16:43
5) China, 2:19:26 
6) Chiba-A, 2:20:44
7) Great Britain, 2:22:30 
8) Chiba-B, 2:22:57 
9) USA, 2:23:50
*New course record (new leg configuration)

Fastest leg
Stage 1 - 5K - Ongori Philes, KEN, 14:47 
Stage 2 - 10K - Evelyn Wambui, KEN, 31:18 
Stage 3 - 5K - Sentayehu Ejigu, ETH, 15:29
Stage 4 - 10K - Tomoko Ishii, JPN, 32:19 
Stage 5 - 5K - Meselech Melkamu, ETH, 15:59 
Stage 6 - 7.195K - Maria Konovalova, RUS, 22:46
For more race information and results, go to: www.chiba-ekiden.jp.

 

Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Services Director
385 Oak View Lane
Santa Barbara, CA 93111

(805) 696-6232, fax (805) 967-5958
Ryan@RunningUSA.org
www.runningusa.org.

  

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