by Brett Larner Almost 2500 people started the fourth edition of Hida Takayama Ultramarathon on Sunday, both its 71 km and 100 km divisions featuring a tough series of hills peaking out at 1345 m, around 800 m above the start point, on scenic road courses through the mountains of Gifu prefecture. Good weather meant new men's and women's records in both distances. A second-year ekiden team member at Ryutsu Keizai University , alma mater of marathon great Daniel Njenga and sub-27 track runner Josphat Ndambiri , 20 year-old Hiroumi Kamada made the news of the day in the 100 km, taking almost 18 minutes off the event record to win in 7:41:25 in his ultramarathon debut. Kamada was so dominant that runner-up Wataru Iino , also under the course record, was nearly 15 minutes back in 7:55:49, with previous course record holder Kaname Miyagi a distant 3rd in 8:05:41. Painfully shy during the award ceremony, in response to the MC's questions Kamada said, "It wasn...
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