With the shift of the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race to the half marathon distance last year the Takashimadaira Road Race, a fall classic on the Tokyo race calendar, is the last elite-level 20 km left in Japan. Run on a perfectly-flat 5 km loop in Tokyo's northern suburbs, Takashimadaira features 5 km, 10 km and 20 km divisions and tends to attract a mix of some of the better Hakone teams and second-tier corporate teams.
The main event, the men's 20 km, typically sees winning times under 60 or even under 59 minutes. This year it was down somewhat, with Koki Yamane of Hakone 5th-placer Teikyo University edging Hakone champ Tokai University's Tomoya Hada for the win 1:00:34 to 1:00:56. The unattached Kyoko Matsumoto won the women's 20 km in 1:13:31.
The 10 km seemed to be the bigger draw this year. The men's race is typically dominated by the Tokyo Police Department's corporate team, but this year runners from a half dozen other teams fought the cops for control of the city's streets. Newcomer Victor Korir Kipkirui (GMO) was way out front with a 28:33 course record, 45 seconds ahead of top Japanese placer Mizuki Higashi (Comody Iida). 22 men including 4 from the Police Department broke 30 minutes, the most ever at Takashimadaira.
The women's 10 km was mostly an intramural time trial for the Denso corporate team ahead of next month's National Corporate Women's Ekiden, but unsponsored local club runner Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) had other ideas, beating Denso's top woman Mai Shoji by 6 seconds for the win in a PB 33:04.
For reasons unknown Comody Iida fielded its two Kenyans Peter Mwangi and Willy Kipselem in the 5 km instead of the 10 km. Both duly broke the course record, Mwangi running 13:48 and Kipselem 14:25, with top Japanese finisher Hiroki Kamada 3rd in 15:07. High schooler Minamo Kanai (Kinjo Gakuen H.S.) won the women's 5 km by nearly a minute in 17:07.
44th Takashimadaira Road Race
Takashimadaira, Tokyo, 10/20/19complete results
Men's 20 km
1. Koki Yamane (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:00:34
2. Tomoya Hada (Tokai Univ.) - 1:00:56
3. Sora Masuda (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:01:16
4. Ryoya Takashima (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:22
5. Shoma Hosoya (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:01:24
Women's 20 km
1. Kyoko Matsumoto (unattached) - 1:13:31
2. Mitsuko Hirose (Tokyo Wings) - 1:16:10
3. Yuka Aoyama (Sagamihara T&F Assoc.) - 1:19:06
Men's 10 km
1. Victor Korir Kipkirui (GMO) - 28:33 - CR
2. Mizuki Higashi (Comody Iida) - 29:18
3. Shinji Mita (Saitama Ika Univ. Group) - 29:26
4. Ryota Sato (Tokyo Police Dep't) - 29:26
5. Tsubasa Ichiyama (Saitama Ika Univ. Group) - 29:30
Women's 10 km
1. Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) - 33:04
2. Mai Shoji (Denso) - 33:10
3. Nana Kuraoka (Denso) - 33:47
4. Shuri Ogasawara (Denso) - 33:51
5. Ako Matsumoto (Denso) - 34:13
Men's 5 km
1. Peter Mwangi (Comody Iida) - 13:48 - CR
2. Willy Kipselem (Comody Iida) - 14:25 (CR)
3. Hiroki Kamada (unattached) - 15:07
Women's 5 km
1. Minamo Kanai (Kinjo Gakuen H.S.) - 17:07
2. Mizue Uchikoshi (Kinjo Gakuen H.S.) - 18:00
3. Yuma Ozeki (Kinjo Gakuen H.S.) - 18:17
text © 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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