Skip to main content

Muritu Over Fujimoto At Record-Breaking Kosa 10-Miler


Fukuoka wasn't the only big race in Japan yesterday. Just south near Kumamoto, the world's #1 10-miler took place in rural Kosa. Primarily a tuneup for the New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships, the Kumamoto Kosa 10-Mile Road Race produced two of the fastest Japanese times ever, two national records, and record-setting depth.

Up front, a larger-than-usual contingent of Japan-based Kenyans and top-level Japanese talent including Chicago 2:07:57 man Taku Fujimoto (Toyota), Jakarta Asian Games steeplechase bronze medalist Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ.) and others pushed through a 14:10 first 5 km despite warm and humid conditions and a light headwind. The lead pack gradually whittled down to five by 15 km, where John Muritu (Toyota Kyushu), Fujimoto and Cyrus Kingori (SGH Group) attacked at the base of a short downhill.

In the last sprint Muritu got away to take 1st in 45:56, with Fujimoto next in 45:57 and Kingori 3rd in 45:58. Fujimoto's time was one second better than last year's winning time by half marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda) and landed him at all-time Japanese #4. Following his 10000 m PB last weekend in Hachioji it looks like Fujimoto, a teammate of Fukuoka winner Yuma Hattori (Toyota), has recovered well from his surprise sub-2:08 in Chicago.

Shiojiri and three-time Kosa winner Jeremiah Thuku Karemi (Toyota Kyushu) were left behind by the top three's final attack, Karemi taking 4th and Shiojiri 5th in 46:06 to position himself as all-time Japanese #10. Veteran 2:07 marathoner and former Hakone Ekiden uphill king Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu) had a surprisingly good day, taking 13 seconds off his 11-year-old PB for 9th in 46:22.


Wrapping up a three-week stint in Japan that saw him run a national record at the Ageo City Half Marathon and a 10000 m season best for the win at the Heisei Kokusai University Time Trials, David Nilsson (Sweden) ran in the second pack in hopes of breaking the relatively soft 48:34 national record. As in Ageo running without a watch, Nilsson found himself pulled along through a 14:13 first 5 km and 28:59 split at 10 km. Working together with 2015 3rd-placer Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei), Nilsson pushed through the second half to take almost a minute and a half off the Swedish national record for 22nd in 47:10. Nilsson will compete for Sweden at next weekend's European Cross Country Championships.

Mongolian half marathon and marathon national record holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (NTN) also set a new national record, running 47:59 for 57th. Kosa this year broke the world records for depth set at the 2015 edition, with 92 men breaking 49 minutes and 114 going under 50. The next three deepest 10-milers in the world this year, Japan's Karatsu 10-Miler, the U.S.A. 10-Mile Championships and the Netherlands' Dam-tot Damloop, had 44, 34 and 25 men under 50 minutes, totaling less than what happened in Kosa.

In the high school boys's 10 km, last year's winner Ryuto Igawa (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) ran one second faster this time, 29:44, but finished a distant second to winner Simon Kimunge (Tokai Prep Fukuoka H.S.). 16-year-old Masaya Tsurukawa (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) was 3rd in 29:50. 2016 winner Erika Ikeda (Higo Ginko) returned to the top of the women's 5 km, winning in 16:36 by one second over teammates Eri Sakamoto and Suzuna Takano.

43rd Kumamoto Kosa 10-Mile Road Race

Kosa, Kumamoto, 12/2/18
complete results

Men's 10 Miles
1. John Muritu (Toyota Kyushu) - 45:56
2. Taku Fujimoto (Toyota) - 45:57 - all-time JPN #4
3. Cyrus Kingori (SGH Group) - 45:58
4. Jeremiah Thuku Karemi (Toyota Kyushu) - 46:05
5. Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ.) - 46:06 - all-time JPN #10
6. Daiji Kawai (Toenec) - 46:15
7. Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta) - 46:20
8. Shohei Otsuka (Kyudenko) - 46:21
9. Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu) - 46:22
10. Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) - 46:26
11. Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) - 46:30
12. Ryosuke Maki (Subaru) - 46:31
13. Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta) - 46:38
14. Akito Terui (ND Software) - 46:49
15. Hidekazu Hijikata (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 46:50
16. Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 46:51
17. Shuhei Yamaguchi (Asahi Kasei) - 46:54
18. Takahiro Nakamura (Kyocera Kagoshima) - 46:56
19. Kohei Futaoka (Chudenko) - 47:02
20. Alex Mwangi (YKK) - 47:08
21. Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei) - 47:09
22. David Nilsson (Sweden) - 47:10 - NR
23. Kento Otsu (Toyota Kyushu) - 47:12
24. Masashi Sakamoto (Toyota Kyushu) - 47:13
25. Enock Omwamba (MHPS) - 47:16
-----
31. Yuki Oshikawa (Toyota Kyushu) - 47:28
57. Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/NTN) - 47:59 - NR
79. Naohiro Yamada (YKK) - 48:28
92. Hikaru Urano (MHPS) - 48:58
104. Tomoki Kawamura (Toyota Boshoku) - 49:29
114. Takaya Arake (Asahi Kasei) - 49:58
-----
DNF - William Malel (Honda)

High School Boys 10 km
1. Simon Kimunge (Tokai Prep Fukuoka H.S.) - 29:19
2. Ryuto Igawa (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 29:44
3. Masaya Tsurukawa (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 29:50
4. Ryosuke Yamasaki (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) - 29:54
5. Yuki Irita (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 30:01

Women's 5 km
1. Erika Ikeda (Higo Ginko) - 16:36
2. Eri Sakamoto (Higo Ginko) - 16:37
3. Suzuna Takano (Higo Ginko) - 16:39
4. Mayu Sakaida (Chiharadai H.S.) - 16:45
5. Eriko Otsuka (Canon AC Kyushu) - 17:01

text and photos © 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr