Skip to main content

Tomoya Onishi Stage Record on Kyushu One-Circuit Ekiden Day Three

by Brett Larner

With the top Japanese men's 10000 m and half marathon times of the year and a 9th-place finish at the World Half Marathon Championships under his belt within the last month, Miyazaki Prefecture's Tomoya Onishi, 23, delivered another big run with a 43:55 stage record for the 15.3 km Fourth Stage on Day Three of the 2010 Kyushu One-Circuit Ekiden, Oct. 31 on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu. Onishi's time broke the existing stage record by 1:12, 5 seconds per km, and was equivalent to a solid 46:11 10-miler. Stage runner-up Ryuji Watanabe of Fukuoka Prefecture also broke the old Fourth Stage record with a 44:16 clocking.

As with the first two days of the ten-day Kyushu One-Circuit Ekiden, the Miyazaki Prefecture team dominated the early stages of Day Three. A weak run from Third Stage runner Noritaka Yokoyama put Miyazaki 59 seconds behind rivals Fukuoka prefecture at the start of the Fourth Stage, and the team spent the next four stage edging back toward the lead, coming within 18 seconds at the start of the final 12.4 km Eighth Stage. Miyazaki anchor and 2009 World Championships marathoner Masaya Shimizu went to work, reeling in struggling Fukuoka anchor Yutaka Kusaga and retaking the lead. A crushed Kusaga folded and had a rare DNF, meaning that Fukuoka would receive a penalty clocking for the anchor stage of 5 minutes slower than the slowest finisher. Despite this penalty, Fukuoka finished 2nd overall for the day. Nagasaki Prefecture maintained its 3rd place spot as the ekiden moves into its fourth day.

2010 Kyushu Isshu Ekiden Day Three
click here for complete results from Day Three
Stage Best Performances
First Stage (13.4 km) - Kenichi Shiraishi (Miyazaki Pref.) - 39:22
Second Stage (11.7 km) - Kenji Higashino (Miyazaki Pref.) - 35:55
Third Stage (10.4 km) - Yuya Konishi (Fukuoka Pref.) - 30:34
Fourth Stage (15.3 km) - Tomoya Onishi (Miyazaki Pref.) - 43:55 - CR
Fifth Stage (20.0 km) - Noritaka Fujiyama (Nagasaki Pref.) - 1:00:21
Sixth Stage (20.2 km) - Tomoyuki Sato (Miyazaki Pref.) - 1:01:21
Seventh Stage (14.4 km) - Kenichiro Setoguchi (Miyazaki Pref.) - 44:10
Eighth Stage (12.4 km) - Masaya Shimizu (Miyazaki Pref.) - 37:51

Top Team Performances - 117.8 km
1. Miyazaki Pref. - 5:56:53
2. Fukuoka Pref. - 6:03:55
3. Nagasaki Pref. - 6:08:20
4. Oita Pref. - 6:10:26
5. Kagoshima Pref. - 6:13:11

Top Team Standings After Day Three - 286.9 km
1. Miyazaki Pref. - 14:31:20
2. Fukuoka Pref. - 14:44:36
3. Nagasaki Pref. - 14:52:04
4. Oita Pref. - 15:09:20
5. Kagoshima Pref. - 15:12:36

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...
4 comments
Read more

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance?  Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance.  This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere.  It was put into place in 1986.  In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made.  Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km.  When a bicycle is u...
2 comments
Read more

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...
2 comments
Read more