It's yet another big weekend of racing in Japan. Saturday sees two of the year's biggest 10000 m meets, both in the greater Tokyo area. At Kanagawa's Keio University the Kanto Region University 10000 m Time Trials will have two tiers of scholarship money from the KGRR for any men who break 29 minutes or 29:20 and for women who go under 34 minutes or 34:20. Most of the top Hakone Ekiden programs will have big numbers of people there, with one of the most notable entries being the return of Meiji University's Hiroki Abe, 27:56.45 this time last year but out with injury so far this season.
Most of the top collegians though will be out in Tokyo's western suburbs at Hosei University for the Hachioji Long Distance Meet. 2019 World University Games half marathon medalists Akira Aizawa (Toyo Univ.) and Tatsuhiko Ito (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) are entered, along with #1-ranked 1st-yr Ren Tazawa (Komazawa Univ.) who is also entered at Keio. All three won their stages earlier this month at the National University Ekiden with both Ito and Aizawa setting new course records, in Aizawa's case a stunning 33:01 for 11.9 km, 27:45 km pace for 10 km. Hopes are high that Aizawa will be the one to hit the 27:28.00 Olympic qualifying standard, but as he is entered the the sub-28 Heat 8 instead of the all-African Heat 6 it doesn't look likely that'll happen in Hachioji.
Update: Aizawa is a last-minute scratch.
Sunday things turn to the roads with the National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships, aka the Queen's Ekiden. This race is the focus of the year for the corporate women's team circuit, with the top 22 teams from across the country racing 42.195 km in 6 stages along the Miyagi coastline. Two-time defending champion Panasonic is back, with its toughest competition likely to come from 2018 runner-up Tenmaya and last year's 7th-placer Japan Post.
Panasonic looks to be down on strength while both Tenmaya and especially Japan Post have benefitted from talented new recruits. In Japan Post's case that's the top-ranked 2019 high school graduate Ririka Hironaka. Both teams have also gotten a morale boost by qualifying people for the 2020 Sapporo Olympic marathon squad, Tenmaya putting Honami Maeda into the winner's spot at September's Olympic trials and Japan Post landing team leader Ayuko Suzuki in 2nd. Maeda's high school teammate Mizuki Matsuda was 3rd at the trials and fronts last year's Queen's 3rd-placer Daihatsu.
All three teams were national champions in the recent past, meaning Panasonic will need to be more on its game than ever. Sekisui Kagaku leads the ranks of teams coming to Nationals after finishing off the podium last year and re-qualifying at October's Princess Ekiden. Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo was a DNF last year after star runner Harumi Okamoto went delirious while leading, but they've safely qualified again and will be looking to make up for lost time.
The Queen's Ekiden will be broadcast live Sunday from 11:50 to 14:54 on TBS. Live streaming may be available via either TV Japan Live or mov3.co. Live results and streaming of each exchange zone will be available on the TBS site.
© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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