Temperatures in the single digits and strong winds held back people's chances of qualifying for next year's World Championships, but they couldn't stop this year's Hachioji Long Distance meet from delivering a piece of history. In the fastest of the meet's seven heats of 10,000 m, Evans Keitany (Toyota Boshoku) ran 27:28.25 for the win, edging 2nd-placer James Muoki (Konica Minolta) by 0.24 seconds and 3rd-placer Samwel Masai (Kanebo) by 0.52. Behind them another 18 men broke 28 minutes for a total of 21, breaking the record of 20 set at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 8 of the 21 men were Japanese, with Tatsuhiko Ito (Honda) taking the top Japanese spot at 4th in 27:30.69 and Tomoki Ota (Toyota) breaking through with a 27:33.13 PB for 5th. National record holder Akira Aizawa (Asahi Kasei) was 20th in 27:58.35.
And it didn't stop there. In the final heat marathoner Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) ran a 13-second PB of 27:43.17 for the win, leading 14 Japanese men under 28 minutes in his heat. Heat 4 had 6 men under 28:10 and Heat 5 a winning time of 28:10.57 from Yamato Otsuka (NTT Nishi Nihon), with Yuma Hattori (Toyota) finishing 8th in 28:22.86 in his first race since suffering symptoms of heat stroke in the Tokyo Olympics marathon. All around it was one of the deepest days on the track in Japanese history.
Hachioji Long Distance
Kamiyugen Park Field, Hachioji, Tokyo, 27 Nov. 2021
Heat 6
1. Evans Keitany (Toyota Boshoku) - 27:28.25
2. James Muoki (Konica Minolta) - 27:28.49
3. Samwel Masai (Kanebo) - 27:28.77
4. Tatsuhiko Ito (Honda) - 27:30.69
5. Tomoki Ota (Toyota) - 27:33.13
6. Patrick Kiprono (Komori Corp.) - 27:33.78
7. Philip Muluwa (Soka Univ.) - 27:35.29
8. Boniface Kandie (Mitsubishi JUko) - 27:36.06
9. Titus Wambua (SID Group) - 27:36.87
10. Amos Kurgat (Chudenko) - 27:37.82
11. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) - 27:41.78
12. Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) - 27:42.73
13. Kota Murayama (GMO) - 27:45.09
14. Philemon Kiplagat (Aisan Kogyo) - 27:46.91
15. Ledama Kisaisa (Kanebo) - 27:47.17
16. Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 27:48.42
17. Benuel Mogeni Magoma (Asahi Kasei) - 27:48.77
18. Muiru Muthoni (JR Higashi Nihon) - 27:51.43
19. Dominic Langat (Konica Minolta) - 27:57.03
20. Akira Aizawa (Asahi Kasei) - 27:58.35
21. Yuya Yoshida (GMO) - 27:59.14
22. Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 28:05.89
23. Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) - 28:12.91
24. Naoki Koyama (Honda) - 28:12.96
25. Taku Fujimoto (Toyota) - 28:14.86
Heat 7
1. Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) - 27:43.17
2. Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei) - 27:44.17
3. Tomoya Ogikubo (Yakult) - 27:44.74
4. Kanta Shimizu (Subaru) - 27:45.04
5. Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) - 27:45.18
6. Naoki Aiba (Chudenko) - 27:48.26
7. Kazuya Nishiyama (Toyota) - 27:48.26
8. Hironori Tsuetaki (Fujitsu) - 27:49.80
9. Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) - 27:51.64
10. Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota) - 27:52.60
11. Tatsuya Oike (Toyota Boshoku) - 27:53.45
12. Yuki Muta (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 27:56.25
13. Yuki Suzuki (Kanebo) - 27:57.15
14. Masashi Nonaka (Osaka Gas) - 27:58.38
15. Yohei Ikeda (Kanebo) - 28:00.65
16. Shingo Moriyama (YKK) - 28:01.06
17. Shunya Kikuchi (Chugoku Denryoku) - 28:02.17
18. Takahiro Nakamura (Kyocera Kagoshima) - 28:03.73
19. Shoya Kawase (Honda) - 28:03.89
20. Wataru Tochigi (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 28:14.05
Heat 4
1. Shota Maeda (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 28:05.62
Heat 5
1. Yamato Otsuka (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 28:10.57
Heat 3
1. Tetsu Yokoyama (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 28:26.34
Heat 2
1. Tomoya Kitamura (OBRS) - 28:40.69
Heat 1
1. Seiya Kusaka (Nichi Akagaku Kogyo) - 29:22.90
Comments
Was expecting more from Aizawa, to me It seems that since last May he Is not running as well as before. Dont know why.
Ito was impressive.
Talking about Ekiden guys: muluwa had a great run, could be a sign that Soka guys are getting in top form.
Yamato Yoshii at over 29 minutes was disappointing.
Are Ekiden teams still going with heavy work before unloading in december so some runners may still be a work in progress and a bit behind? (Just wondering given Yoshii time)
Anyway was a great meeting.