Conditions couldn't have been better for Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance meet in western Tokyo's Minami Osawa, with zero wind, 9.5˚C temps and humidity in the low 40% range, the Wavelight ready, and experienced pacers across the seven heats of 10000 m. The field took complete advantage of it, with these winning times in the first five races: Race 1: Shotaro Hosokawa (Sekino Kosan) - 29:27.57 Race 2: Hiromi Suzuki (Sekino Kosan) - 28:47.27 Race 3: Yudai Shimazu (GMO) - 28:27.32 Race 4: Tetsu Yokoyama (Logisteed) - 28:14.05 Race 5: Yuki Muta (Logisteed) - 28:04.41 Things really took off in Race 6, where Shadrack Rono (Subaru) front ran a 27:42.37 to lead the top 17 under 28 minutes. Waseda University grad Ryuto Igawa (Asahi Kasei) ran a 12-second PB of 27:47.21 for top Japanese honors at 4th, with teammate Shuho Dairokuno just behind in 27:49.31 for 6th and three other Japanese men getting under 28. With that kind of progression in winning times across the first six ra...
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