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2010 As Seen By JRN Readers

JRN's most-read articles of 2010 by month:

January
Toyo University gets the star treatment.Jan. 4
Master shoe craftsman Mimura joins Adidas. - Jan. 13

February
Yoshihisa Hosaka gets world record #3 at Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon. - Feb. 7
Coach Ken Green talks about Jeff Hunt's race-making Beppu-Oita debut. - Feb. 9
"I'm hoping I can be that next chapter in the history books." - Newmade marathoner Jeff Hunt in his own words. - Feb. 10
A tale of two Fujiwaras - Tokyo Marathon 2010. - Feb. 28

March
Arata Fujiwara evaluates the 2010 Tokyo Marathon. - Mar. 2
The 2010 Rome Marathon in pictures. - Mar. 25

April
Yurika Nakamura on the frontlines in Boston. - Apr. 15

May
"I came here to test myself." - Stephen Mayaka on the Kenyan student runner's life. - May 5
Hakone's new star takes first 5000 m win - Taku Fujimoto. - May 24
Iizuka redux: the future king of Japanese sprinting? - May 25
Arata Fujiwara sets Ottawa Marathon course record. - May 30

June
Miss International Queen 2009 to run 100 km 'New Half Marathon.' - June 9

July
Shota Iizuka live up to expectations with first-ever Japanese World Junior 200 m gold. - July 24

August
Marathons maxing out - Tokyo expects applications 10x field limit. - Aug. 4

September
Mitsuoka schools Hakone stars, Nishihara and Takahashi score meet records, Iizuka flat on final day of Japanese University Nationals. - Sept. 12
Osaka and Kobe announce dates of new mass-participation marathons. - Sept. 13
Days shy of 100, Miyazaki targeting triple gold at Masters Championships. - Sept. 16

October
Kaori Yoshida sub-2:30 PB at Chicago Marathon.Oct. 11

November
On his own two feet: Arata Fujiwara faces New York. - Nov. 3
Arata Fujiwara ING New York City Marathon DNF.  - Nov. 8
Freshman Suguru Osako 1:01:47 Jr. national record at 2010 Ageo City Half Marathon. - Nov. 21
Japanese University Select Team takes first-ever International Chiba Ekiden win. - Nov. 23

December
Your 2010 Fukuoka International Marathon viewing guide. - Dec. 3
Murayama 28:23.18 for high school year-leader. - Dec. 4
Fast times depend on pacemakers - inside the strangeness at the Fukuoka International Marathon. - Dec. 12
Kagoshima Jitsugyo takes surprise National High School Boys Ekiden title. - Dec. 27

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

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Most-Read This Week

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and