Benard Koech Clears Budapest 10000 m Standard Again

Benard Koech Clears Budapest 10000 m Standard Again - Weekend Track Roundup

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.

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.

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance? Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance. This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere. It was put into place in 1986. In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made. Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km. When a bicycle is u...

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...

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