It was the first really busy weekend of outdoor season in Japan, with the first quality results coming at the season's first Setagaya Time Trials in Tokyo. Collegiate 10000 m record holder Amos Bett (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) ran 27:48.00 for the win in the men's 10000 m fast heat, with Takuya Hanyu (Toyota Boshoku) going under 28 minutes for the second time in his career with in 27:49.78 for 2nd. The winner of last month's National University Half Marathon, Rui Aoki (Koku Gakuin Univ.) ran a PB 28:02.00 for 3rd, barely beating Richard Etir (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) by 0.26.
In the men's 5000 m A-heat, photo finish specialist Edwin Kisalsak (Fujisan no Meisui) did it again, both he and Duncan Maina (Senshu Univ.) clocking 13:38.82 in the men's 5000 m fast heat but Kisalsak getting the win by 0.005 in 13:38.815 to Maina's 13:38.820. Five Koku Gakuin University runners went under 14 minutes led by Kosei Atomura in 13:47.46, with Aoi Ito making a partial comeback from the injury that kept him out of January's Hakone Ekiden with a 13:55.76 that was the fastest of the three Komazawa University men to go under 14.
Honda teammates Shota Nakano and Hideo Kosode went 1-2 in the men's 3000 m fast heat in another photo finish, 7:55.43 to 7:55.48, with runners from the Kao corporate team taking the next five spots all between 8:03.86 and 8:08.99. Marathoner Mao Uesugi made her debut with new team Tokyo Metro, winning the women's 3000 m in 9:21.66. Keigo Yuhara (Komori Corp.) won yet another close race in the men's 1500 m fast heat, running 3:46.61 with 2nd-placer Ren Yonemitsu (Konica Minolta) in 3:46.69.
Across town at the Kizuna Time Trials in Machida, Hiroki Wakabayashi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) ran a solo 28:48.10 10000 m with pacing from Hakone Ekiden Third Stage winner Aoi Ota and, in his debut in the AGU uniform, 13:28 high schooler Sota Orita. AGU runners took pretty much everything, with Kosei Yamaguchi taking the 5000 m fast heat in 13:44.25, Akimu Nomura the B-heat in 14:03.98, Hakone Second Stage winner Asahi Kuroda the 3000 mSC fast heat in 8:42.46, and Hikaru Ogawara both the 1500 m in 3:47.76 and the 800 m in 1:54.44.
At the Kokushikan University Time Trials, women's 10000 m collegiate record holder Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) ran her first race since October, 2022. In a mixed 5000 m Fuwa clocked 16:32.92, clearing the qualifying standard for May's Kanto Regionals by over 37 seconds. Fuwa sustained an Achilles tendon injury in January, 2022 after doing multiple ekidens in the weeks after her 30:45.21 collegiate record in December, 2021, and after making a brief comeback in the fall of 2022 suffered a stress fracture that kept her out of the 2023 season.
At the Tokyo Big 6 collegiate meet at Yokohama's Keio University, Waseda University's Junpei Maseda took the men's 5000 m in 13:55.61 over Takuma Akiyoshi (Tokyo University), the only other runner under 14 minutes at 13:56.76. Keio's Rikuto Yasuda won the 3000 mSC in 8:47.04, with Waseda's Nayab Naoki Yoshikura taking the 1500 m in 3:48.60.
At the Kanto Region 7 Private University Meet in Saitama, Mashu Nomura (Toyo Univ.) ran a meet record 13:50.46 to win the men's 5000 m, Stephen Lemayan (Surugadai Univ.) taking 2nd in 13:52.75 and Itsuki Hirabayashi (Josai Univ.) 3rd in 13:53.14. Toyo took the top spot in the men's 3000 m too with Ryota Kobayashi running 8:00.89 for a close win over Shoya Saito (Josai Univ.) and Kyohei Oda (Daito Bunka Univ.). Shuto Iguchi (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) won the 1500 m in 3:49.18.
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