Another Big Weekend on the Roads – Brett Larner – Japan Running News

The women’s 5 km is probably the race of the day, with six Kenyan women who would probably beat the top Japanese woman by 1 to 2 minutes in an all-out race. Eva Cherono, 14:30.77, Teresiah Muthoni, 14:44.89, and Rebecca Mwangi, 14:55.32, lead the way. 10-mile world best holder Benard Koech is the fastest man in the 5 km at 13:00.38, with the next tier including former Japanese half marathon and marathon NR holder Yuta Shitara at the 13:20-30 level.

Sunday is a big ekiden day, with New Year Ekiden corporate men’s national championships regional qualifying races for the Chubu, Hokuriku, Chugoku and Kansai regions, and in Fukushima the East Japan Women’s Ekiden, a smaller-scale version of January’s National Women’s Ekiden featuring mixed teams of junior high school, high school, university and pro athletes representing their home prefectures. Streaming of the Kansai race will start above at 9:00 local time, and Fuji TV will be broadcasting the East Japan ekiden starting at noon.

Big mass-participation marathons will happen in Okayama and Fukuoka on Sunday, and in Tokyo there’s the Setagaya 246 Half Marathon, a race that usually features a good number of collegiate runners from top Hakone Ekiden schools like Aoyama Gakuin University and Komazawa University.