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WR Holder Kazami Wins Shibamata 100 km, Nakata Breaks Women's Course Record



Nao Kazami (Aisan Kogyo), the undisputed world record holder in the men's 100 km, took another title Saturday in Tokyo with a win at the Shibamata 100 km. Running two laps of a 25 km out-and-back course along the Edo River in high humidity but moderate temperatures, Kazami had company from Hiroki Takashima (GASC) and the debuting Junpei Yamaguchi (Eldoreso) through 60 km, all three passing halfway in 3:17 flat and keeping the pace steady for the next 10 km. 

Takashima was the first to fall off just after 60 km, and a surge from Kazami just before 65 km was enough to put Yamaguchi away. Kazami covered the 5 km from 65 to 70 km in 18:34, about a minute faster than his splits up to that point, and while he slowed incrementally the rest of the away he still had it in him to drop a negative split of over two minutes to win in 6:31:47. 

After getting dropped Yamaguchi, pictured above, stayed strong to take 2nd in 6:39:16, just cracking the 4:00 min/km barrier. Takashima had an agonizing final third of the race, slowing to almost 33 minutes for 5 km by the end. He was run down by Taku Fujiwara (Tokyo Metro Gov't), who took 3rd in 6:48:44 after running much of the race alone. All three in the top three broke the previous course record.

In the women's race, Miho Nakata (Funabashi City Hall) also took down the old course record, beating her nearest competitor by almost 35 minutes to win in 7:40:06.  Akiko Maruichi was 2nd in 8:14:18 with Yukari Adachi 3rd in 8:30:21.

photo ©2021 Eldoreso, all rights reserved
text © 2021 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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