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
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