Skip to main content

Margaret Akidor Breaks 3000 m JPN All Comers Record at Nittai


Two weeks after running 14:44.83 at Kanagawa's Nittai University Time Trials, 22-year-old Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) continued her rise up the ranks to global relevance with another stellar run at Nittai on Sunday. Running in the fastest 3000 m heat with support from 19-year-old Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera), Akidor took nearly 20 seconds off her best with an 8:32.53 for the win. That was the fastest ever run in Japan by 3 seconds and enough to put her #8 in the world this year.

Mwikali was solid too at 8:37.17, almost 10 seconds under her previous best and the next-best ever run in Japan apart from two dodgy early '90s marks by Soviet athletes. 3rd-placer Mizuki Michishita (Rikkyo Univ.) was in another league at 9:13.68. Kazuna Kanetomo (Kyocera) won the women's 5000 m A-heat in 15:56.42, the only woman under 15 minutes.

In the men's 5000 m Kenyan Richard Etir won the A-heat in 13:16.20, a time beaten this weekend only by Benard Koech (Kyudenko) at Fukuoka's Sayagatani Time Trials meet, where Koech soloed a 13:14.28. In 5th behind Etir, Rikkyo University head coach Yuichiro Ueno, 37, improbably ran 13:39.95, a time that would be good enough to put him on his team's starting list for its Hakone Ekiden lineup in January. Four Japanese high school boys were under 14 minutes, the fastest being Kiyoto Ono (Akita Kogyo H.S.) in 13:56.18 to win the B-heat.

Adding to the massive depth at Friday and Saturday's MARCH pentangular and Hachioji Long Distance 10000 m time trial meets, another 60 men went sub-29 minutes at Nittai on Sunday to bring the weekend’s total to 199. B-heat winner Shun Yuzawa (SGH) was the fastest at 28:07.72, but there were other notable times. In the A-heat, Hakone Ekiden Select Team members Yuta Nakayama (Nihon Yakka Univ.) and Hayate Nitta (Ikuei Univ.) both rolled new PBs, Nakayama running 28:20.25 for 3rd and Nitta 28:21.14 for 4th. Jinichiro Kameda (Kansai Univ.) ran 28:25.80 for 9th, a new Kansai Region collegiate record and on the same level as the top Hakone teams in the Kanto Region. 11th-placer Kazuki Muroya (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) was also under the old Kansai record in 28:30.46.

In the B-heat, 18-year-old Aoi Ito of Izumo and National University Ekiden champ Komazawa University had a stellar debut over 10000 m, running 28:28.15. 2nd-year Haato Komaki also joined Komazawa's deep sub-29 club, running a PB 28:52.71 for 9th.

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .
Post a Comment
Read more

Hirayama Breaks Osaka Half CR, Martinez Set Puerto Rican NR

The Osaka Half Marathon took another big step up the domestic half marathon rankings from a mass-participation race run alongside the Osaka International Women's Marathon to one of the country's top-tier races. In the women's race, the debuting Jecinta Nyokabi (Denso) went out fast, only to be run down by veteran Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon AC) by 10 km. Nyokabi faded to 6th in 1:10:41, but Yoshikawa pushed on to a PB 1:09:14 for the win. Rina Shimizu (Noritz), Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) and Makoto Tsuchiya (Ritsumeikan Univ.) all broke 70 minutes, Tsuchiya taking the Kansai Region collegiate title in 1:09:32 for 4th overall. Everyone in the top 10 who wasn't debuting ran a PB, a mark of how fast the day was even with cold and windy conditions. The men's race went out on sub-61 pace courtesy of Yudai Shimazu (GMO), then got a big injection of speed when Kyuma Yokota (Toyota Kyushu) took off close to 60-flat pace. Yokota opened a 10-second lead by 15 km, but over ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Marugame, Beppu-Oita and More - Weekend Preview

After the Osaka International Women's Marathon and Osaka Half Marathon last weekend Japan's winter road season rolls on with 3 big races Sunday. The Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon has a good field up front in the women's race with 5 runners, Eilish McColgan , Dolphine Omare , Isobel Batt-Doyle , Charlotte Purdue and Yuka Ando , with sub-1:09 bests and the debut of #1 collegiate runner Sarah Wanjiru of Daito Bunka University . 3 men in Marugame have recent sub-60 times, Emmanuel Maru , Richard Etir and Kotaro Shinohara leading the way. Shinohara was one of 2 Japanese men to break 60 at Marugame last year and missed the NR by 3 seconds in 59:30. After a 42:53 CR on his 15.3 km leg at the New Year Ekiden on Jan.1, 45:06 pace for 10 miles, he's looking to pick up at least another 4 seconds this time around. 14 other men in the field are at the 60-minute level, and Chuo University 's sub-28 10000 m runner Yamato Hamaguchi is making a highly anticip...
Post a Comment
Read more