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Imai Wins Fukuoka Prefecture Road Championships 10-Miler

by Brett Larner

Having been runner-up in the Fukuoka Prefecture Road Race Championships 10-miler twice, the popular Masato Imai (Team Toyota Kyushu) finally took the win in the 2012 edition, Sept. 30 in Omuta, Fukuoka. Despite tough conditions at the tail end of the passing typhoon that stuck Japan over the weekend, Imai outpaced teammates Ryuji Watanabe and Yuki Oshikawa over the latter stages of the race to win in 47:53, the second-fastest known time in the Championships' 66-year history behind only Beijing Olympics marathon gold medalist Samuel Wanjiru's 46:18 course record from 2005 and the first Japanese man to break 48 minutes on the challenging Omuta course since 2003. As his best performance since his 2:10:32 PB at last year's Fukuoka International Marathon, Imai's run bodes well for the upcoming season and his bid to make the Moscow World Championships marathon team after missing out on London.

66th Fukuoka Prefecture Road Race Championships
Omuta, Fukuoka, 9/30/12
complete results coming soon

Men's 10 Miles
1. Masato Imai (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 47:53
2. Ryuji Watanabe (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 48:10
3. Yuki Oshikawa (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 48:19
4. Teruo Taneno (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 48:20
5. Takeshi Makabe (Team Kurosaki Harima) - 48:21
6. Hayato Ideue (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 48:25
7. Kenichi Kawano (Team Kurosaki Harima) - 48:31
8. Kaoru Hirosue (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 48:45
9. Shinji Tateishi (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 48:47
10. Hayato Sonoda (Team Kurosaki Harima) - 48:47

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
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