by Brett Larner Alongside the Fukuoka International Marathon , Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu hosted another major road race on Sunday, the Kumamoto Kosa 10 Mile Road Race. The world's most competitive 10-miler by a wide margin , Kosa plays an important role for the coaches of Japan's corporate teams in helping them refine their lineups for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships. Kosa has long been dominated by Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), who has won six times since 2003 and holds the course record of 44:51 but opted for a marathon debut in Fukuoka this year. Despite the advantages of having Africans in the race to keep things fast among the predominantly Japanese field Kosa employs a strange format with any non-Japanese entrants segregated together in an "International Division" and given a one-minute head start. The winner of the all-Japanese division is typically reported as the winner by the ...
the world's window into elite japanese distance running, since 2007