The two-day Hyogo Relay Carnival was the biggest meet of the weekend on the Japanese calendar. Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) kicked off her 2nd academic year with a 31:48.11 win in the GP women's 10000 m, beating Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) by 4 seconds. Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko) had a tighter win in the GP men's 10000 m, 27:58.01 to 27:58.35 over Jonson Mugeni (Asia Univ.). Kenyans also dominated the men's B and C-heats, Nelson Mandela (Obirin Univ.) taking the B-heat by 0.06 over Stephen Muthini (Soka Univ.) in 28:05.37 and Patrick Wambui (NTT Nishi Nihon) the C-heat in 28:14.83. Top Japanese marks across the four races were 32:24.50 by Sora Shinozakura (Panasonic), 28:11.30 by Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon), 28:41.68 by Masashi Nonaka (Toyota), and 28:42.38 by former Rikkyo University head coach Yuichiro Ueno (Hiramatsu Byoin).
The GP women's 3000 mSC might have been the best race of the meet, both Miu Saito (Nittai Univ.) and Manami Nishiyama (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) going under the old meet record in 9:47.76 and 9:49.77, and previous MR holder Reimi Yoshimura (Cramer Japan TC) also getting under 10 minutes in 9:59.14 for 3rd. Four of the top five men in the GP 3000 mSC ran PBs, World XC relay team member Yutaro Niinae (Aisan Kogyo) winning in 8:33.43, Shintaro Nakazono (SID Group) 2nd in 8:34.76, and Asahi Kuroda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) 3rd in 8:35.10.
NR holder Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) duly set a MR 4:07.79 to win the GP women's 1500 m by over 3 seconds. The GP men's 800 m was unremarkable, Kaishi Kitamura taking the win in 1:48.29. Mitsu Ozaki (Sysmex) won the non-GP women's 5000 m in 15:59.91 in a photo finish with Rina Shimizu (North), who clocked in at 15:59.92. Only a high school boys' 5000 m was on the menu for men, with local Koki Niizuma (Nishiwaki Kogyo) 1st in 14:25.87.
The Tokai University Time Trials meet also had some quality marks, led by Hibiki Yoshida (Soka Univ.) with a 28:12.82 PB for the win in the men's 10000 m A-heat. A trio of men from Toyo University took the next three spots, Mashu Nishimura 2nd in 28:45.98, Ryota Kobayashi 3rd in 28:49.53, and former H.S. 5000 m NR setter Kosuke Ishida continuing his comeback with a 28:49.61 for 4th. Patrick Kamau (Jobu Univ.) took the B-heat in 29:51.22. Hayato Sano (Musashino Gakuin Univ.) ran a decent 3:48.95 to win the men's 1500 m A-heat.
The Kokushikan University Time Trials meet had a good men's 10000 m, where Koei Yahara (Hosei Univ.) got the win in 29:00.29 over Goki Higashihara (Meiji Univ.), 2nd in 29:00.94.
Overseas, four Japanese athletes were in action at the Xiamen Diamond League meet. Shunsuke Izumiya was 3rd in the men's 110 mH with a 13.17 -0.3 m/s SB Tomohiro Shinno was 4th in the men's high jump, clearing 2.24 m on his 2nd attempt but missing 2.27 m. Ryo Wada was 5th in the men's 100 m in 10.31 -0.6 m/s, former NR holder Yoshihide Kiryu 7th in 10.38.
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