Mebuki Suzuki 27:05.92 NR at Hachioji Long Distance, 53 Go Sub-28 – Brett Larner – Japan Running News

Conditions were as perfect as they could have been, and as the heats went by it was clear that something big was coming. The E and D-heats both had winning times under 28:10. In the C-heat Hiromichi Nonaka held off alum and former collegiate marathon record holder Kiyoto Hirabayashi to set a Koku Gakuin University school record 27:36.64, Hirabayashi right behind in a 27:37.13 PB and the top 7 all under 28. The B-heat went even faster, Yuto Imae kicking to win in 27:33.84, 4th-placer Kaisei Okada setting a Chuo University school record 27:37.06, and the top 17 all under 28 minutes.

Close by another meet was happening at the same time, the MARCH Taikosen time trial meet made up of the Meiji University, Aoyama Gakuin University, Rikkyo University, Chuo, and Hosei University teams. The A-heat there was massive too, with collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda running an AGU school record 27:37.62 to lead the top 8 under 28 minutes, 5 of them from AGU and the other 3 from Chuo. AGU 2nd-year Sota Orita had an especially good debut in 27:43.92, and in 7th Chuo’s Yamato Hamaguchi debuted in 27:53.85 to become the first Japanese 1st-year ever to crack 28.

But the main event was the Hachioji A-heat, with a massive crew of Japan-resident Kenyan corporate leaguers and Wavelight pacing at 27:10 supporting national champ Mebuki Suzuki, 59:30 half marathoner Kotaro Shinohara, Hakone Ekiden First Stage CR holder Yamato Yoshii and others in taking down the 27:09.80 JPN NR. The pace was just behind target in the early going, 5:27 at 2000 m and 13:37 at halfway, but Suzuki had closed with a 2:32 last 1000 m and 60-second last lap to win Nationals in April, and having positioned himself up front and looking under control the chances looked good that the NR would go down.

Suzuki went to the front at 9000 m, and given how he’d closed at Nationals the prospect of not only the NR but Japan’s first sub-27 was there. But this time around Suzuki seemed to lack the same spark, and at the bell 4 of the 5 Kenyans in tow behind him went by with ease. Suzuki’s Toyota teammate Samuel Kibathi set a meet record 27:01.70 for the win, with the top 5 all under the old record. Suzuki was 6th in 27:05.92, almost 4 seconds under the old record. But look at those Nationals splits again, 2:32 for the last 1000 m and 60 for the last lap. Here he ran 2:37 and 62. Japan’s first 26-minute 10000 m is right there waiting to happen.

21 of the 27 people in the A-heat went under 28 minutes, with Toyota sweeping the top 3 Japanese spots as Yoshii ran a #6 Japanese all-time 27:21.45 PB for 8th and all-time #8 Ren Tazawa coming back from a long injury with a 27:31.90 for 13th. All told 53 people broke 28 minutes between the 4 races, 30 of them Japanese and 11 of those college students. What a time to be alive, really.