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Takezawa Takes 50th Himejijo 10 Miler

by Brett Larner

22 year old Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) returned to his home ground of Hyogo Prefecture on Feb. 11 to win the 50th anniversary Himejijo 10 Mile Road Race. As a high school student Takezawa had won the high school division of the 2005 Himejijo 10 Miler, but today's win marks the first victory on the roads of his pro career. As in January's Interprefectural Ekiden duel with half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku), Takezawa stalked leader and course record holder Terukazu Omori (Team Shikoku Denryoku) throughout the race and beat him only in the last sprint. Both men clocked 47:33, over a minute off Omori's course record in cold and rainy conditions, with Toyo University grad Yoshihiro Wakamatsu (Team Tokyo Denryoku) just 2 seconds behind. It was Omori's second year in a row to lose at the line in Himejijo after last year's three-way photo finish with Sato and that year's winner Satoru Kitamura (Team Nissin Shokuhin).

2010 Himejijo 10 Mile Road Race - Top Finishers
click here for detailed results
1. Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) - 47:33
2. Terukazu Omori (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 47:33
3. Yoshihiro Wakamatsu (Team Tokyo Denryoku) - 47:35
4. Yukio Fujimura (Team Sumitomo Denko) - 47:53
5. Tsukasa Morita (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 47:53
6. Shinichi Watanabe (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 47:55
7. Tomoya Shirayanagi (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 48:03
8. Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 48:03
9. Yoshiyuki Oseki (Team Aichi Seiko) - 48:04
10. Tsuyoshi Ogata (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 48:04

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
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