Wanjiku and Yegon Go Sub-27:40 - Long Weekend Track Roundup

As everyone tunes up for the Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden, New Yeark Ekiden and Hakone Ekiden, Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance meet was the main event. But it wasn't the biggest meet of the long weekend, and it didn't produce the fastest men's 10000 m time.

Both of those claims went to Monday's Kanto Region University Time Trials meet at Sagamihara Gion Stadium in rural Kanagawa. With ten heats of men's 10000 m and one women's 10000 m on the program, the seventh heat saw Musashino University first-year Charles Kamau Wanjiku improbably solo the second-fastest time ever by a student at a Japanese university, 27:30.09. Wanjiku's time put him 5 seconds ahead of Hachioji fast heat winner Justus Soget (Honda) and almost two laps ahead of runner-up Yuichiro Ono (Teikyo Univ.).

Heat 9 was supposed to have been the main event at the Kanto meet, and although it lost a bit of flair to Wanjiku's incredible run, fourth-year Gaku Hoshi (Teikyo Univ.) ran a solid PB of 28:20.63 to lead the top three in his heat under 28:30, including Komazawa University first-year Mebuki Suzuki, 2nd in 28:23.87. The top 18 in Hoshi's heat were all under 29 minutes, with Wanjiku the only other runner in the heat to pull it off. Women's results were relatively low-key, with fourth-year Kyoka Kudo (Nittai Univ.) taking the top spot in 34:12.45.

Kanto wasn't the only meet other than Hachioji to unexpectedly see a time under 28 minutes. At Saturday's Heisei Kokusai University Time Trials meet in Saitama, Hakone Ekiden Third Stage course record annihilator Vincent Yegon (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) took 9 seconds off his PB with a solo 27:38.48 to win by nearly a minute over high schooler Patrick Kinyanjui (Sapporo Yamanote H.S.), 2nd in 28:32.41. It was a return to form for Yegon, who has mostly struggled since Hakone last January, and increases his chances of being picked by his coach for TKU's Hakone lineup this time around. Takashi Ichida and Shuho Dairokuno of New Year Ekiden champ Asahi Kasei went 1-2 in the fastest 5000 m heat in 14:02.55 and 14:05.59.

Across Saitama at the Waseda University Time Trials meet on Saturday, Waseda second-yeat Ryuto Igawa ran a 10000 m PB of 28:12.13 to lead the top four under 28:20 and the top 16 under 29 minutes. The top three in the B-heat were also under 29, with fourth-year Eiki Noguchi (Toyo Univ.) leading the way in 28:56.48.

Down south in Hiroshima, Dan Kiplangat (JFE Steel) took the top spot in the Chugoku Corporate Time Trials 10000 m fast year in 28:32.95. The top 14 all followed Kiplangat under 29 minutes, with B-heat top two Nagisa Moriso (Chugoku Denryoku) and Wesley Kimutai (Chugoku Denryoku) doing the same in 28:58.93 and 28:59.03.

Back up in Kanto, the day before the Kanto Time Trials meet the long distance segment of the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, rescheduled from May, took place at same venue as the time trial meet the next day. Usually the highest-level collegiate men's distance track of the year, the rescheduled date up against Hachioji and the Kanto Time Trials meant it was a fraction of its usual self. Second-year Charles Ndungu (Nihon Univ.) won the men's 10000 m in 29:10.73, with second-year Kei Takase (Senshu Univ.) running 14:17.84 to win the men's 5000 m. Despite fewer options women's results were on the same kind of level, fourth-year Sae Hanada (Juntendo Univ.) taking the 5000 m title in 16:28.36 and second-year Satsuki Imai (Daito Bunka Univ.) the 10000 m in 34:59.12.

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

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

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

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