Course Records at Chunichi Hamanako Ekiden

by Brett Larner

In what was really and truly probably the last noteworthy ekiden of the season, course records fell Feb. 17 in two of the three divisions at the 37th Chunichi Hamanako Isshu Ekiden at Lake Hamana in Shizuoka. Despite the absence of aces Martin Mathathi and Yusei Nakao, the Suzuki Hamamatsu AC team had no trouble winning the 53.5 km men's race, clocking 2:42:49 to runner-up Teikyo University's 2:44:15. Suzuki men took three of the five stages, with 2010-11 steeplechase national champion Tsuyoshi Takeda setting a course record of 29:12 for the 9.6 km Fourth Stage.

In the six-stage, 42.0 km high school boys' race, 2012 National High School Ekiden runner-up Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S. ran 2:07:38 to set a new overall course record thanks to four of its runners scoring stage bests. Fourth man Yuki Hirota, running the same 9.6 km course as Takeda in the men's race, set a new high school division record of 28:44, almost 30 seconds better than Takeda's mark. Toyokawa Kogyo H.S., in the midst of a corporal punishment scandal, managed 2nd overall in 2:09:58.

The Suzuki Hamamatsu AC women took four of five stages in the 20.6 km women's race to set a new overall course record of 1:07:02. Behind them, 2012 National High School Ekiden champion Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. and runner-up Toyokawa H.S. went 2-3 in 1:08:02 and 1:09:46. Ritsumeikan Uji's Nanami Aoki was the only runner to beat one of the Suzuki women, taking the 4.6 km Second Stage in 15:37.

37th Chunichi Hamanako Isshu Ekiden
Lake Hamana, Shizuoka, 2/17/13

Men
10 teams, 5 stages, 53.5 km
click here for complete results

1. Suzuki Hamamatsu AC - 2:42:49
2. Teikyo Univ. A - 2:44:15
3. Teikyo Univ. C - 2:45:07
4. Yamanashi Gakuin Univ. A - 2:48:05
5. Meiji Univ. - 2:48:26

First Stage - 11.5 km - Kazuma Tashiro (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ. A) - 35:18
Second Stage - 8.4 km - Yasuyuki Nakamura (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 26:09
Third Stage - 13.0 km - Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 38:46
Fourth Stage - 9.6 km - Tsuyoshi Takeda (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 29:12 - CR
Fifth Stage - 11.0 km - Tsukasa Koyama (Teikyo Univ. A) - 33:00

High School Boys
37 teams, 6 stages, 42.0 km
click here for complete results

1. Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S. - 2:07:38 - CR
2. Toyokawa Kogyo H.S. - 2:09:58
3. Aichi H.S. A - 2:10:34
4. Sera H.S. - 2:11:10
5. Tokyo Nogyo Prep #3 H.S. - 2:12:09

First Stage - 8.4 km - Kazuki Takeshita (Tokyo Nogyo Prep #3 H.S.) - 26:39

Second Stage - 3.9 km - Keisuke Nakatani (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 11:09

Third Stage - 9.1 km - Seiji Makiura (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 27:20

Fourth Stage - 9.6 km - Yuki Hirota (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 28:44 - CR

Fifth Stage - 4.0 km - Hiroshi Matsuura (Aichi H.S. A) - 12:13

Sixth Stage - 7.0 km - Tatsuya Taniike (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 21:26

Women

28 teams, 5 stages, 20.6 km

click here for complete results

1. Suzuki Hamamatsu AC - 1:07:02 - CR

2. Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. - 1:08:02

3. Toyokawa H.S. - 1:09:46

4. Bukkyo Univ. A - 1:09:57

5. Tokoha Kikugawa H.S. - 1:10:13

First Stage - 5.0 km - Miki Sakakibara (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 15:44

Second Stage - 8.4 km - Nanami Aoki (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 15:37

Third Stage - 4.0 km - Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 13:00

Fourth Stage - 3.0 km - Yuki Sakata (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 9:58

Fifth Stage - 4.0 km - Misaki Sango (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 12:34

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

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