by Brett Larner
Several universities around Tokyo hold monthly open time trials. Anyone from beginner joggers to Olympians is free to run distances from 1500 m to 10000 m in heats seeded by personal best time. The Nihon Taiku University* Kirokukai series of time trials is perhaps the most popular. The November 22nd edition, the 199th in Nittai's series, focused on the 5000 m, with 26 heats of 5000 m and 4 heats of women's 3000 m stretched out over 12 hours from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. 30 to 45 runners ran in each heat, some of which included designated pacemakers. Heats early in the day were slower and featured mostly amateurs, while the later heats were filled with high school, university and jitsugyodan professionals tuning up for their championship ekidens.
Among the noteworthy runners on hand was Arata Fujiwara (Team JR Higashi Nihon), a 2:08:40 marathoner who was the alternate for the Beijing Olympics men's marathon team. Fujiwara is competing in the Fukuoka Internationa…
Several universities around Tokyo hold monthly open time trials. Anyone from beginner joggers to Olympians is free to run distances from 1500 m to 10000 m in heats seeded by personal best time. The Nihon Taiku University* Kirokukai series of time trials is perhaps the most popular. The November 22nd edition, the 199th in Nittai's series, focused on the 5000 m, with 26 heats of 5000 m and 4 heats of women's 3000 m stretched out over 12 hours from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. 30 to 45 runners ran in each heat, some of which included designated pacemakers. Heats early in the day were slower and featured mostly amateurs, while the later heats were filled with high school, university and jitsugyodan professionals tuning up for their championship ekidens.
Among the noteworthy runners on hand was Arata Fujiwara (Team JR Higashi Nihon), a 2:08:40 marathoner who was the alternate for the Beijing Olympics men's marathon team. Fujiwara is competing in the Fukuoka Internationa…