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Wanjiku Breaks 10000 m Collegiate Record, Sub-15 Women, and High Schoolers Under 28:15 and 13:40 at Nittai Time Trials


Half marathon collegiate record holder Mekubo Mogusu's 10000 m collegiate record lasted for over than 13 years until Joseph Razini Lemeteki (Takushoku Univ.) bettered it by 2 seconds with a 27:25.65 at the Sept. 27 Nittai University Time Trials meet. Lemeteki's record lasted less than 7 weeks, as Charles Kamau Wanjiku (Musashino Gakuin Univ.) won the latest Nittai iteration's A-heat in 27:18.89. With the always-fast Hachioji Long Distance meet just around the corner it was a surprisingly deep race, Wanjiku leading the top four under 27:30 and the top 13 all sub-28, four of them Japanese.

In the slowest heat, 57-year old Tatsuo Koizumi ran 32:38.88, short of Australian Keith Bateman's M55 world record of 31:51.86 but a M55 Japanese national record by almost two minutes and over 30 seconds under the known age 57 world record.


The B-heat was hot too, with three Sendai Ikuei H.S. runners going sub-29, Boniface Mutech and Shunsuke Yoshii running 28:11.48 and 28:11.96 and teammate Sosuke Hori going 28:40.90. Yoshii, the younger brother of U20 5000 m national record holder Yamato Yoshii, landed at #7 on the all-time Asian U20 and #6 on the Japanese U20 lists, two places on each behind his brother. 

Six high schoolers also went sub-14 in the 5000 m at Nittai. Oita Tomei H.S. 3rd-year Daniel Ndiritu led the way with a 13:18.75 for 3rd, the second-fastest time ever by a student at a Japanese high school. Tomonori Yamaguchi (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) ran 13:35.16 in the same heat, the third-fastest ever by a Japanese-born high schooler. 


With the East Japan Women's Ekiden happening Sunday women's races were thin, but one fast result came in the 5000 m A-heat. Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) ran a PB 14:55.43 to win by nearly a minute, the fastest women's time so far in the Nittai series' 292-meet history.. Complete results here.

© 2021 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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