Photo Finishes in Hofu and Sanyo - Weekend Road Race Results

Sunday had the last two big non-ekiden Japanese road races of the year, the 52nd Hofu Yomiuri Marathon and 40th Sanyo Ladies Road Race half marathon and 10 km.

In Hofu, as expected the race was all about whether former Hakone Ekiden uphill star Daichi Kamino (Cell Source), now coached by 2:07 Olympian and past Hofu winner Arata Fujiwara, could finally pull off a good marathon. Despite strong winds, pacers Titus Wambua and Michael Githae, the winner in Fukuoka two weeks ago and Kamino's training partner under Fujiwara, did a stellar job through 30 km, their projected finish time never varying by more than a few seconds at each 5 km split and hitting halfway in 1:04:47.

When they stopped, the debuting Dominic Nyairo (NTT Nishi Nihon), winner of Hakone's most competitive stage in 2018 while at Yamanashi Gakuin University, went to the front. Kamino was the only one to go with him, and they stayed locked together until Nyairo made a break at 41 km. It looked over, but in the home straight on the track Kamino found a sprint in himself and pulled even with Nyairo right before the line. Nyairo responded, just enough, and broke the tape by the narrowest of margins.

Both runners clocked 2:09:34, exactly double their halfway splits. It was a solid start to his marathon career for Nyairo and enough to get Kamino onto the still very short list of qualifiers for MGC II, the 2024 Olympic marathon trials. Following Githae's win in Fukuoka it was also a big boost for Fujiwara's coaching career. Fujiwara also had 2 other runners on the 8-deep podium, Tadashi Suzuki 5th in 2:12:12 and Takumi Oishi 8th in 2:13:09. 4 of the top 9 doubled after running Fukuoka, and enigmatically all of them except 40-year-old Mongolian NR holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir were faster this time. Most noteworthy was amateur Yusuke Tobimatsu, 4th in a 2-minute PB of 2:10:47 after running 2:13:24 for 15th in Fukuoka. Bat-Ochir took 9th in 2:14:03, just under 2 minutes slower than his 2:12:06 in Fukuoka.

In the women's race, Nana Sato, a training partner of last year's winner Yomogi Akasaka, went out at CR pace while favorite Reia Iwade, who had said she was running Hofu as a training run effort for a serious spring race, stayed around the 2:30~31 line. Sato maintained a lead of over a minute over Iwade most of the way, but between 35 and 40 km she abruptly crashed. Iwade took the win in 2:31:32, Sato finishing over 2 minutes behind in 2:33:42. 47-year-old Mai Fujisawa continued a solid season, taking 3rd in 2:37:43.

Tokyo Paralympics women's marathon gold medalist Misato Michishita negative split a 2:58:06 to win the women's IPC category race, Toshiharu Takai taking the men's IPC race in 2:29:39.

In Sanyo, Ethiopian Denso teammates Zeyituna Husan and Desta Burka ran side-by-side the entire way in the half marathon, clocking identical splits at every 5 km and both finishing in 1:09:31. Husan got the win and Burka 2nd after the pair dropped Kenyan Joan Chepkemoi, 3rd in 1:09:38. Steeplechase specialist Yumi Yoshikawa was the top Japanese woman at 5th in 1:10:07 after lasting with the lead ground through 15 km.

The 10 km was fast from the start, with Kenyan trio Agnes Mwikali Mutuku, Naomi Muthoni Kariuki and Janet Nyiva Mutungi, a student at local Kurashi H.S., going through 5 km in 15:33 versus the Japanese pack's 16:18. All three broke Mwikali's 31:39 course record from last year, the 19-year-old Mwikali winning in again in 31:11, Muthoni 2nd in 31:15, and 17-year-old Nyiva 3rd in 31:21. Mwikali and Nyiva set the two fastest U20 times in the world this year, with Nyiva's also the U18 world leader. Another steeplechase specialist, Chikako Mori, was the fastest Japanese athlete here too, running 32:41 for 4th.

Also on Sunday, the National Junior High School Ekiden had its 29th edition. In the 5-stage, 12.0 km girls' race, Hyogo's Inami J.H.S. led start-to-finish for the win despite anchor Naoko Fujita struggling and finishing only 11th of 48 teams in the race. In the 6-stage, 18.0 km boys' race, Kyoto's Katsura J.H.S. overcame a slow start to move up from 17th to 1st by the Fourth Stage. Katsura ultimately finished with a 29-second lead over Fukushima's Tanaka J.H.S.

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The last big dynasty school in Japanese women's distance running with 7-straight wins at October's Morinomiyako Ekiden from 2017 to 2023 and 6-straight titles at the season-ending Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden from 2018 to 2023, Meijo University came back from a 3rd-place finish last year to win the 44th Morinomiyako Ekiden again, leading almost start-to-finish to set a 2:02:21 CR for the 6-stage, 38.0 km course in Sendai. 12 second back in 2nd after the opening leg, collegiate 3000 mSC champ Nozomi Kondo put Meijo out front with a 12:36 CR for the 4.0 km Second Stage, and the rest of the team never looked back. The biggest threat to a Meijo win was on the 9.2 m Fifth Stage, where this year's collegiate 10000 m winner Sarah Wanjiru from last year's runner-up Daito Bunka University started 50 seconds back from Meijo 1st-year Mao Kimura . In taking the 10000 m title Wanjiru had outrun Kimura by over a minute, but today Kimura was a revelation, strong and smooth out fr...

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