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.
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