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Sonota and Nishiyama Make It a Komazawa 1-2, Yiu Breaks own NR at Ageo City Half Marathon
text and photos by Brett Larner video by Ekiden News
Fresh off two hard-fought losses in the season's first two university ekidens and two big 10000 m PBs at yesterday's Nittai University Time Trials, Komazawa University dominated the fall's major Japanese half marathon as fourth-year Kenya Sonota and third-year Yusuke Nishiyama went 1-2 at the Ageo City Half Marathon.
With invites to the 2016 United Airline NYC Half on the line to the top two Japanese collegiate finishers, in light rain and temps in the mid-teens the pack went out on fast on high-1:01 pace, clearing 5 km in 14:40 with a lead pack of around ten gaining separation on a larger chase pack.
The pace slowed slightly over the next 5 km, the leaders going through 10 km in 29:33, with the chase group of around 20 still in sight. On the most technical part of the course near 13 km the leaders slowed as the humidity rose before a move from Taiga Machizawa (Chuo Univ.) shook things up, dropping Shinichiro Nakamura (Waseda Univ.) and Fuminori Shimo (Komazawa Univ.) before regrouping in a lull before the last 5 km.
Behind them, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), running just two weeks after his 6th-place finish at the TCS New York City Marathon, emerged at the front of the chase pack. As the kilometers went on towards the finish Kawauchi pushed the pace, overtaking Nakamura and Shimo and starting to come within range of the lead group.
Machizawa attacked again, shaking it down to a lead quartet with Sonota, Nishiyama and Haruki Minatoya (Tokai Univ.) who had turned heads two weeks ago at the National University Men's Ekiden Championships. Kawauchi, pursued by Waseda teammates Koki Ido and Rintaro Takeda, overtook Shota Miyagami (Tokai Univ.) to move into 5th with less than 2 km to go.
Eyes on the prize, Komazawa Nishiyama made his first move with 1 km to go, gaining a gap with only Sonota able to follow. Heading onto the track Nishiyama seemed to have it in the bag, but, misjudging the finish, he slowed at the start line with 200 m to go. Sonota was by him before he could realize his mistake, and with a last kick it was all he could do to hold off Minatoya for 2nd. Sonota took the win in 1:02:48, Nishiyama next in 1:02:52, picking up the two invites for the next United Airlines NYC Half Marathon.
Minatoya scored a PB 1:02:54 for 3rd, Machizawa rounding out the sub-63 club in 1:02:57 for 4th. Kawauchi held on to 5th in 1:03:11, his best time of 2015 and well ahead of his planned 1:03:30. Kawauchi will be targeting Rio in his next race at the Dec. 6 Fukuoka International Marathon riding a positive wave after good runs in Ageo and New York. "This was great!" he told JRN post-race. "This was just a training run for Fukuoka but I was really moving well and can go into Fukuoka feeling confident. 2:07 and top three."
Just under 10 minutes later defending women's champion Christy Kit Ching Yiu of Hong Kong came through in 1:12:57, the fourth-fastest winning time in Ageo history, 3 1/2 minutes better than the national record she set in Ageo last year and 2 minutes better than her subsequent national record at March's Matsue Ladies Half Marathon. A camera crew was on-hand at the finish to catch her new national record, her fourth on Japanese soil and a good step toward her goal of making next year's Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Overall numbers at Ageo were down from the last two record-breaking years with only 360 men breaking 1:10, but the total results were still in the top five in Ageo's 28-year history for depth:
It says a lot about the ongoing explosion in Japanese university men's distance running that numbers like this that would have been spectacular just three years ago could be considered down. Given the recent string of records at just about every other Japanese university men's race things are bound to pick up again next year in Ageo.
For the time being I'll be using this post for English commentary on today's East Japan Jitsugyodan Ekiden Championships. Reload article to see updates. Race broadcast starts at 1:55 p.m. Japan time. Click here to watch TBS' broadcast online.
The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...
Saturday's Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto was the weekend's main event in Japanese track, but there were good results at the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama too. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) led the men's 5000 m A-heat at Kanakuri in 13:14.06, with Tomonori Yamaguchi (SGH) clocking the fastest Japanese time in 13:16.38 in his first race as a corporate leaguer. Waseda University duo Rui Suzuki and Yota Mashiko went 6-7 in 13:20.64 and 13:22.87, the 18-year-old Mashiko shaving 0.04 off the U20 NR. In 8th, Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) ran a PB of 13:23.92. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) continued to struggle after a weak indoor season, finishing 18th of 20 finishers in 13:45.10. 19-year-old Festus Kimorwo (Kurosaki Harima) was under 13:20 in the B-heat too, winning in a 13:19.59 PB. 2 more collegiate men broke 13:30, Daichi Fujita (Chuo Univ.) 8th in 13:28.93 and Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) 9th in 13:29.09. The top 6 in the men's 800 m A-hea...
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