Last time around it was September's Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup 5000 m in Niigata, where Singh ran a 13:11.82 NR, outpowering Suzuki over the last 200 m but Suzuki still coming in with an all-time Japanese #8 13:13.80. This time it was the Hachioji Long Distance 10000 m time trial meet in suburban Tokyo. Running the fastest heat targeting the 27:00.00 Tokyo World Championships standard, Singh started at the back of the pack and worked his way forward as the race progressed. The front end of the pack wore down to just Singh, Suzuki and Japan-based Kenyans Samwel Masai (Kao), Gilbert Kiprotich (Sunbelx) and Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko), splitting en route:
2:42
5:25 (2:43)
8:08 (2:43)
10:51 (2:43)
13:36 (2:45)
16:19 (2:43)
19:04 (2:45)
21:50 (2:46)
24:38 (2:48)
It was never really on the target sub-27 pace, but once it dropped slower than sub-27:20 in the second half Suzuki went to the front multiple times to try to get it going again, Singh covering each move but never taking a turn up front. On the last lap Singh waited until the back straight to set up his attack, then went with 200 m. He clocked 2:36 for the last 1000 m, with a 57-second last lap and 26-second last 200 m to cross the line 1st in a new Indian NR of 27:14.88. It was the 8th-fastest time ever by an Asian and 4th-fastest by an athlete actually born in Asia.
Masai and Kiprotich were next in 27:17.78 and 27:19.35, with Suzuki just missing out on a sub-27:20 time but moving up to all-time Japanese #5 in 27:20.33. 5th through 7th all finished together in 27:45, with Suzuki's fellow Komazawa grad Ayumu Kobayashi running down Kiplagat and holding off Gideon Rono (Logisteed) in 27:45.01 for 5th.
The B-heat was also fast. With highly professional pacing from Amos Kurgat, Tomoya Ogikubo took the win in 27:38.28 with a long surge that opened just enough ground to hold off a fast-closing Ryuto Igawa (Asahi Kasei), who ended up 2nd in 27:39.05. Yuto Imae (GMO) continued a great season with a 27:42.65 for 3rd, with the rest of the top 10 all breaking 28 minutes.
The all-Kenyan C-heat where the few Japanese have usually run in past years had incredible depth if not truly top-tier times up front. In a 7-way sprint finish with only 1.60 seconds of separation Emmanuel Kiprop Kipruto (Asahi Kasei) took the win in 27:29.10, Evans Keitany (Toyota Boshoku) 2nd in 27:29.11 and Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) 3rd in 27:29.33. The top 17 all broke 28 minutes. With this race serving as part of the decision-making process for coaches of teams with more than one non-Japanese athlete about who to run in the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national championship, where only one non-Japanese athlete is allowed per team, teammates Keitany and Maru finishing only 0.22 seconds apart showed how hard that decision can be.
And Hachioji wasn't even the only game in town. Along with time trials meets at Heisei Kokusai University on Saturday and Tokai University on Sunday, the MARCH Taikosen meet with Meiji University, Aoyama Gakuin University, Rikkyo University, Chuo University and Hosei University happened at the same time as Hachioji just down the road in Machida. In the fast heat there AGU's Masaya Tsurukawa ran a school record 27:43.33 for the win over Chuo's Shunsuke Yoshii, who also ran a school record in 27:44.48. Chuo's Hayate Honma and AGU's Asahi Kuroda both went under 27:50, with AGU's Hiroki Wakabayashi sneaking under 28 minutes in 27:59.53. That brought the total count for sub-28 performances for the night to 39 across the two meets.
In team scoring, the aggregate time of each school's top 10 finishers across the meet's four heats of 10000 m, Chuo was fastest in 4:43:37.02, an average of 28:21.71, with AGU close behind in 4:44:04.18, a 28:24.42 10-man average.
Hachioji Long Distance
Kamiyugi Field, Minami Osawa, Tokyo, 23 Nov. 2024
Race 8
1. Gulveer Singh (India) - 27:14.88 - NR
2. Samwel Masai (Kenya/Kao) - 27:17.78
3. Gilbert Kiprotich (Kenya/Sunbelx) - 27:19.35
4. Mebuki Suzuki (Toyota) - 27:20.33
5. Ayumu Kobayashi (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 27:45.01
6. Emmanuel Kiplagat (Kenya/Mitsubishi Juko) - 27:45.14
7. Gideon Rono (Kenya/Logisteed) - 27:45.64
8. Kotaro Shinohara (Komazawa Univ.) - 28:05.22
9. Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 28:07.40
10. Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) - 28:38.49
-----
DNF - Takuya Hanyu (Toyota Boshoku)
DNF - Richard Kimunyan (Logisteed)
Race 7
1. Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 27:38.28
2. Ryuto Igawa (Asahi Kasei) - 27:39.05
3. Yuto Imae (GMO) - 27:42.65
4. Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) - 27:42.88
5. Ryo Saito (Asahi Kasei) - 27:45.08
6. Shoya Saito (Josai Univ.) - 27:45.12
7. Tsuyoshi Bando (Osaka Gas) - 27:48.53
8. Kanta Shimizu (Subaru) - 27:50.81
9. Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) - 27:55.05
10. Shunya Kikuchi (Chugoku Denryoku) - 27:58.63
Race 6
1. Emmanuel Kiprop Kipruto (Kenya/Asahi Kasei) - 27:29.10
2. Evans Keitany (Kenya/Toyota Boshoku) - 27:29.11
3. Emmanuel Maru (Kenya/Toyota Boshoku) - 27:29.33
4. Brian Kiptoo (Kenya/Reitaku Univ.) - 27:29.82
5. Gideon Kiplagat (Kenya/Aisan Kogyo) - 27:30.14
6. Dan Kiplagat (Kenya/JFE Steel) - 27:30.51
7. Shadrack Rono (Kenya/Subaru) - 27:30.70
8. Antipas Kibet (Kenya/Komori Corp.) - 27:32.17
9. Edwin Kisalsak (Kenya/Fujisan no Meisui) - 27:33.76
10. Rogers Kibet (Kenya/Konica Minolta) - 27:36.13
11. Shadrack Kipchirchir (Kenya/Chudenko) - 27:37.39
12. Philemon Kiplagat (Kenya/Aisan Kogyo) - 27:39.58
13. Titus Wanbua (Kenya/SID Group) - 27:47.03
14. Stephen Muthini (Kenya/Soka Univ.) - 27:47.30
15. Dennis Kipkirui (Kenya/Makes) - 27:54.68
16. Simon Saidimu (Kenya/Chuo Hatsujo) - 27:54.79
17. Felix Korir (Kenya/Toyota) - 27:56.57
Race 5
1. Shinsaku Nomura (Toyota) - 28:06.03
2. Tatsuya Tsunashima (YKK) - 28:07.02
3. Tatsuya Maruyama (Toyota) - 28:08.40
4. Jin Yuasa (Toyota) - 28:08.82
5. Tomoki Ota (Toyota) - 28:12.12
Race 4
1. Sota Fukutani (Kurosaki Harima) - 28:27.50
2. Eikichi Kazaoka (JFE Steel) - 28:33.60
3. Yuta Shitara (Nishitetsu) - 28:39.02
Race 3
1. Kei Katanishi (JR Higashi Nihon) - 28:13.53
2. Yuito Matsukura (Aisan Kogyo) - 28:15.55
3. Yusuke Kodama (Aichi Seiko) - 28:18.37
Race 2
1. Shota Nishiwaki (JR Higashi Nihon) - 28:25.86
2. Chihiro Ono (GMO) - 28:35.03
3. Kosei Matsunami (Kurosaki Harima) - 28:48.60
Race 1
1. Masaki Sakuda (JR Higashi Nihon) - 28:40.39
2. Shinba Sato (Sekino Kosan) - 28:58.83
3. Hiromi Suzuki (Sekino Kosan) - 28:59.36
MARCH Taikosen
Gion Stadium, Machida, Tokyo, 23 Nov. 2024
Race 4
1. Masaya Tsurukawa (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 27:43.33
2. Shunsuke Yoshii (Chuo Univ.) - 27:44.48
3. Hayate Honma (Chuo Univ.) - 27:46.60
4. Asahi Kuroda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 27:49.60
5. Hiroko Wakabayashi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 27:59.53
6. Kasei Okada (Chuo Univ.) - 28:08.51
7. Kosei Shiraishi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 28:21.57
8. Daichi Fujita (Chuo Univ.) - 28:29.98
9. Daisuke Sato (Chuo Univ.) - 28:32.14
10. Sota Namikawa (Chuo Univ.) - 28:32.15
text and photo © 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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