Another Fast U20 10000 m at Nittai

Another Fast U20 10000 m at Nittai - Weekend Results

Fukuoka and Hofu were the big races of the weekend in Japan, but there was a lot of other action going on across the country. Saturday at a special one-day edition of the rebranded Nittai University Time Trials series in Yokohama, 19-year-old Sonata Nagashima (Asahi Kasei) followed up Keita Sato's 27:28.50 U20 10000 m national record last weekend with the second-fastest time ever by a Japanese U20 man, winning the fast heat in 27:44.86. 21-year-old Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) was just back in 27:47.01 for 2nd, with 3rd through 5th all getting under 28 minutes. The 10000 m National Championships are still coming Dec. 10, but as of this race Japan has 30 men sub-28 this year. By comparison, Kenya has 58, 49 of them done in Japan, Ethiopia has 11, and the U.S.A. has 8.

The winner at last month's Fst in Fukuoka road 5 km, Edwin Kisalsak (Fujisan no Meisui) took the men's 5000 m fast heat at Nittai in 13:19.97. Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) was the top Japanese man at 13:32.99 for 4th. First-year corporate leaguer Susan Kamotho (Yamada Holdings) went under 15 minutes for the first time to win the women's 5000 m fast heat in 14:59.63, beating current and former 5000 m NR holders Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) and Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) in the process. Lucy Nduta (Aomori Yamada H.S.) won the 3000 m fast heat in an easy 9:13.51. Results from all the fast heats here.

The world's premier 10 miler happened Sunday at the Kumamoto Kosa 10-Mile Road Race, where Benard Koech (Kyudenko) set a world best 44:04 last year. This time Patrick Kamau (Jobu University) took the top spot, winning a close finish in 45:46 by 1 second over Cleophas Kandie (Mitsubishi Juko). Koki Asai (Juntendo University) was 3rd in 46:05 for top Japanese honors, a solid performance on the all-time Japanese lists that saw him outback Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) by 3 seconds in the home straight. Local Isshin Masunaga (Kaishin H.S.) won the high school boys' 10 km in 30:08, and Shiori Nagumo (Higo Ginko) took the women's 5 km in 16:24. Complete results here.

In western Tokyo, the Comodi Iida corporate team tuned up for the New Year Ekiden national championships with a win at one of the oldest ekidens in Japan, the 85th Okutama Keikoku Ekiden. Comodi Iida covered the tough 6-stage, 44.8 km course along the same route as the Ome 30 km Road Race in 2:13:06 for the win, beating top collegiate team Tokyo University by 1:36. Collegiate division runner-up Chuo University's Sota Yamasaki broke the stage record for the mostly uphill 3rd leg. Tokyo Jitsugyo H.S. was the top team in the high school boys' division in 2:24:44.

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...

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