The Night of the 10000 m PBs meet in the U.K. got most of the hype for good reason, but winner Paul Chelimo's 27:12.73 wasn't the fastest time run worldwide this weekend. That belonged to fastest-ever 10-mile man Benard Koech (Kyudenko). who won the Kyushu Region Corporate Championships 10000 m in 27:07.71. Koech had already cleared the Budapest World Championships qualifying standard with a 26:55.04 PB last October at Nittai University, but his season best run in Kyushu was enough to rank him 4th globally this season.
© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Between Kyushu, the Chugoku Region Corporate Championships and East Japan Region Corporate Championships, a total of six Japan-based Kenyans went sub-28. Ren Tazawa (Toyota) was the only Japanese man to do it, running a 27:40.40 for 5th at the Night of the 10000 m PBs that would have beaten everyone back home but Koech by 10 seconds or more.
Corporate Half champ Dolphine Nyaboke Omare (U.S.E.) had the fastest women's 10000 m between the three meets at 31:45.49 for the win in East Japan. Eva Cherono (Toto) took the Kyushu win in 31:57.62, with marathoner Mizuki Tanimoto (Tenmaya) beating the only other woman in the Chugoku Region race by 3 minutes to win in 33:09.99.
Amos Kurgat (Chudenko) and Hillary Mosop (Mazda) were the only men to go under 13:30 for 5000 m, both of them breaking the Chugoku Region meet record in 13:25.05 and 13:26.18. Most of the top Japanese men's 5000 m talent opted for the Golden Grand Prix 3000 m in Yokohama instead of the regional corporate meets, where indoor 5000 m NR holder Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) won with the 4th-fastest time ever by a Japanese man, a 7:45.08 MR. The top 5 were all under 7:50, with 2:06 marathoner Yohei Ikeda (Kao) running an impressive 7:50.39 for 6th. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura returned to his main event at the GGP meet, winning 8:19.07 by almost 2 seconds.
Esther Muthoni (Nitori) led the top three women under 15:30 in the East Japan meet 5000 m, getting the win in 15:22.51 by less than a second over Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo). Joan Kipkemoi (Kyudenko) took the Kyushu title in 15:35.95, beating a doubling Cherono by only 0.20. Rebecca Mwangi (Daiso) had the fastest 3000 m time in the corporate regional meets with an 8:53.16 to win the Chugoku title, but her teammate Teresiah Muthoni (Daiso) went one better with an 8:43.81 MR to win the Gold Grand Prix. 2nd-placer Rose Davies (Australia) and 3rd-placer Margaret Aikidor (Comodi Iida) ran 8:44.07 and 8:46.77, all three making the world top five so far this year.
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