Skip to main content

Kipkirui and Mwangi Break Takashimadaira Course Records



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, 10/20/19
complete 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

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Metts said…
Watching the race it appears, not everyone has gone completely Nike. The other brands appear to be alive and well in at least this race. Was in Yokohama for a four day weekend starting on Friday. Saw a lot of runners at Yamashita Koen wearing all different brands, not just Nike.
October 24, 2019 at 2:57 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin
Post a Comment
Read more

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi
Post a Comment
Read more

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and
Post a Comment
Read more