Aoyama Gakuin Dominates MARCH Taikosen 10000 m Meet

The bar was raised again for the Hakone Ekiden's 100th running on Jan. 1-2. Wednesday night at the Meiji-Aoyama Gakuin-Rikkyo-Chuo-Hosei pentangular MARCH Taikosen 10000 m meet in Machida, Tokyo, hosts Aoyama Gakuin University dominated with 10 of its members running new sub-29 PBs, 6 of them going sub-28:30. AGU 4th-year Issei Sato led the way with a meet record 28:11.00 to win the fastest heat, 2nd-year Asahi Kuroda following up great runs at both the Izumo and National University ekidens with a 28:15.82 PB for 3rd and 4th-year Genta Kuramoto just getting under 28:20 with a 28:19.31 PB for 4th.

2023 Hakone runner-up Chuo University and some of the other teams that just ran the Ageo City Half Marathon on Sunday had a lighter presence, but 2 Chuo runners did go sub-28:30, 4th-year Jin Yuasa taking 2nd behind Sato in a PB 28:12.17, and 3rd-year Haruki Abe running a 28:26.58 PB for 6th. The fastest finishers from Rikkyo University and Hosei University both clocked PBs, Rikkyo 3rd-year Kotaro Hayashi running 28:49.09 for 12th and Hosei 2nd-year Koei Yahara 28:54.60 for 5th in the B-heat. Meiji's fastest man was 2nd-year Sosuke Hori, 28:48.86 for 2nd in the B-heat.

Slickly produced by the AGU head coach Susumu Hara-affiliated Kizuna AC and GMO Internet Group, the MARCH Taikosen had what it described as scholarship money on offer for all 5 teams based on aggregated time of its 10 fastest finishers, with AGU totaling 4:44:31.87, a 10-man average of 28:27.19, to take the ¥300,000 prize for 1st, worth roughly $2000 USD. Sato earned ¥30,000 for 1st overall, with a ¥10,000 bonus for breaking the National Championships qualifying standard of 28:16.00, bringing his individual earnings to around $275 USD. Individual scholarship money went 8-deep, and Chuo's Yuasa also earned the ¥10,000 bonus for sub-28:16.00.

MARCH Taikosen 10000 m Meet

Machida, Tokyo, 22 Nov. 2023

complete results

Heat 4

1. Issei Sato (Aoyama Gakuin) - 28:11.00 - MR, PB

2. Jin Yuasa (Chuo) - 28:12.17 - PB

3. Asahi Kuroda (Aoyama Gakuin) - 28:15.82 - PB

4. Genta Kuramoto (Aoyama Gakuin) - 28:19.31 - PB

5. Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin) - 28:20.63 - PB

6. Haruki Abe (Chuo) - 28:26.58 - PB

7. Kosei Shiraishi (Aoyama Gakuin) - 28:27.96 - PB

8. Kento Yamauchi (Aoyama Gakuin) - 28:28.75 - PB

9. Tomoki Aramaki (Aoyama Gakuin) - 28:32.48 - PB

10. Kenta Torii (Aoyama Gakuin) - 28:33.64 - PB

11. Yuto Tanaka (Aoyama Gakuin) - 28:38.58

12. Kotaro Hayashi (Rikkyo) - 28:49.09 - PB

13. Kento Ozaki (Meiji) - 28:50.89 - PB

14. Hiroto Kuniyasu (Rikkyo) - 28:53.80 - PB

15. Kazuki Aya (Meiji) - 28:56.53 - PB

Heat 3

1. Shunya Udagawa (Aoyama Gakuin) - 28:43.70 - PB

2. Sosuke Hori (Meiji) - 28:48.86

3. Sena Minawatari (Aoyama Gakuin) - 28:49.30 - PB

4. Daisuke Inazuka (Rikkyo) - 28:49.55 - PB

5. Koei Yahara (Hosei) - 28:54.60 - PB

Heat 2

1. Yuji Tadauchi (Rikkyo) - 29:17.35 - PB

Heat 1

1. Yuichiro Baba (Meiji) - 29:53.31

Team Scores

1. Aoyama Gakuin University - 4:44:31.87 - 28:27.19 avg.

2. Chuo University - 4:54:28.35 - 29:26.83 avg.

3. Rikkyo University - 4:54:32.60 - 29:27.26 avg.

4. Meiji University - 4:55:32.90 - 29:33.29 avg.

5. Hosei University - 4:57:33.37 - 29:45.34 avg.

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How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...

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