Aizawa Goes Sub-28, Suzuki Returns - Weekend Track Review

Elite road racing returned to Japan this weekend with Saturday's Hakone Ekiden qualifier and Sunday's National Corporate Women's Ekiden qualifier, but there was still a load of track action at every level.

Saturday in Miyazaki, one of the stars of this year's Hakone Ekiden, Akira Aizawa made his corporate debut for New Year Ekiden national champ team Asahi Kasei with a 27:55.78 win in the Miyazaki Time Trials 10000 m, his first time going sub-28. His former Toyo University teammate Kazuya Nishiyama was 2nd in 28:03.94, the best time by a Japanese collegiate student so far this year. Asahi Kasei had eleven men in the race under 29 minutes including Rio Olympics marathoner Satoru Sasaki, putting them in good position for another national title defense come Jan. 1. Kyoto's Ritsumeikan University had three men under 29, setting them up as a threat to the Kanto Region's monopoly on the podium at the Nov. 1 National University Men's Ekiden.

Defending corporate women's national champ Japan Post fielded most of its team at the Tokai University Time Trials meet in Kanagawa. Tokyo Olympics marathon team member Ayuko Suzuki returned from a long injury to win Saturday's 5000 m in heavy rain in 15:57.16 before doubling in Sunday's 3000 m with a 9:19.07 for 2nd behind teammate Hikari Onishi, winner in 9:18.43. Onishi was 2nd in the 5000 m in 15:57.96, with club runner Shiho Kaneshige (GRLab) the only other woman to break 16 at 15:59.52. Junior teammate Ririka Hironaka came back from her sub-15 5000 m last month to win Sunday's 1500 m in a PB of 4:16.48. Steepler Philemon Kiplagat (Aisan Kogyo) won Saturday's men's 5000 m A-heat in 13:33.92, with Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) taking Sunday's 10000 m A-heat in 28:06.21.

National High School Ekiden boys' course record holder Sera H.S. likewise tuned up for championship ekiden season at Sunday's East Hiroshima Nighter meet. The Sera girls took the top four spots and seven of the top ten in the 3000 m A-heat, Kenyan Theresa Muthoni winning in 9:18.25. In the men's 5000 m A-heat Sera had four boys under 14 minutes, Kenyan Cosmas Mwangi winning in 13:38.14, 2nd-years Shota Morishita and Shota Shiode 4th and 5th in 13:57.16 and 13:57.88, and 3rd-year Konosuke Shintani 8th in 13:59.32.

The Sera boys weren't the only high schoolers under 14 minutes over the weekend. At Saturday's Sayagatani Time Trials meet in Fukuoka, Jiyugaoka H.S. 3rd-year Ayumu Yamamoto ran 13:56.31 for 7th, beating Rio Olympics marathoner Hisanori Kitajima (Yasukawa Denki) among others. Kitajima's teammate Kiyoshi Koga returned from a 1:00:49 runner-up finish at this year's National Corporate Half Marathon to take the top spot in 13:39.70.

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...

Route Inn Hotels Win National Corporate Women's Ekiden Qualifier for First Time

After Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race in Tokyo, 2nd-tier corporate women's teams were in Fukuoka for their own national championships qualifying race, the Princess Ekiden . With Queens Ekiden 19-placer Otsuka Seiyaku a DNS, 30 teams lined up for the 6-stage, 42.195 km race where the top 16 would go on to join the top 8 from last year's Queens Ekiden at next month's national race. Coming right in the middle of the international fall marathon season several teams had people still tired from Berlin and Chicago, with Daihatsu fielding Rika Kaseda and Natsuki Omori from Berlin, Tokyo Metro sending out its own Berlin duo of Mao Uesugi and Ayumi Morita , and Kraftia not playing its top member Yuka Akasaki after her solid run in Chicago last week. After a fast start from eventual 9th-placer Denso 's Rio Matsutani , Daihatsu took over on the Second Stage and held it until the Fifth, where a tired Omori dropped to 3rd. Mayuka Fujita from Route Inn H...

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