Ritsumeikan Takes Third Straight National Ekiden Title

by Brett Larner

After a slow start which saw two-time defending champion Ritsumeikan University in 7th at the end of the first stage of the 38.6 km, six-stage National University Women's Ekiden Championships, also known as the Morinomiyako Ekiden, the school moved up through the field through the following three stages to take first the lead and then its third consecutive national title and fifth national win in six years. Buoyed by a stellar stage-record performance by third-year star Kazue Kojima on the third leg, Ritsumeikan runners clocked stage records on the fourth and fifth legs as well and won in 2:06:53, just off the course record which Ritsumeikan set last year. Rivals Bukkyo University once again had to settle for 2nd, finishing 1:15 behind the winner in 2:08:08. 2005 winner Meijo University rounded out the podium positions with a 2:08:47 finish in 3rd.

Ritsumeikan's win essentially amounted to a simple display of power. Despite five of the six members of last year's course-record team returning in the current season, the school ran first-year runners on four of the ekiden's six stages. With only anchor Akiko Matsunaga graduating in the spring Ritsumeikan looks to have a dynasty in the making.

detailed report coming soon

2008 All-Japan University Women's Ekiden - results
Top Teams - click here for video of each team's finish
1. Ritsumeikan Univ. - 2:06:53
2. Bukkyo Univ. - 2:08:08
3. Meijo Univ. - 2:08:47
4. Tokyo Nogyo Univ. - 2:09:21
5. Tamagawa Univ. - 2:10:05
6. Kyoto Sangyo Univ. - 2:10:20
----- (top six schools seeded for 2009) -----
7. Josai Kokusai Univ. - 2:10:41
8. Nittai Univ. - 2:10:50
9. Josai Univ. - 2:11:00
10. Hakuho Univ. - 2:11:23
11. Nihon Univ. - 2:11:53
12. Juntendo Univ. - 2:12:20
13. Osaka Taiku Univ. - 2:12:49
14. Ritsumeikan Univ. - 2:13:12
15. Kansai Univ. - 2:15:14
16. Kanaya Taiku Univ. - 2:15:56
17. Osaka Nin. Univ. - 2:16:38
18. Matsuyama Univ. - 2:17:13
19. Kyoto Koka Univ. - 2:18:23
20. Chukyo Univ. - 2:19:43
21. Fukushima Univ. - 2:20:35
22. Tohoku Fukushi Univ. - 2:21:36
--- Tohoku Select Team - 2:23:18*
23. Takaoka Univ. - 2:25:20
24. Seishu Univ. - 2:29:04
25. Hokkaido Univ. - 2:29:55

*The Tohoku Select Team is not included in the scored results.

Stage Best Performances
1st stage (6.0 km) - Akiko Matsuyama (1st year, Kansai Univ.): 19:14
2nd stage (6.6 km) - Natsuko Goto (3rd year, Nihon Univ.): 21:16 - stage record
3rd stage (9.1 km) - Kazue Kojima (3rd year, Ritsumeikan Univ.): 29:35 - stage record
4th stage (4.9 km) - Michi Numata (1st year, Ritsumeikan Univ.): 15:19 - stage record
5th stage (4.0 km) - Hanae Tanaka (1st year, Ritsumeikan Univ.): 13:07 - stage record
6th stage (8.0 km) - Eri Sato (4th year, Meijo Univ.): 26:53

(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

60-Year-Old Hiromi Nakata Wins Tottori Marathon Overall Women's Race

The Tottori Marathon held its 12th running on March 10. In light rain and 11˚C temperatures 3717 people ran Tottori's one-way course that passes local historic sites such as the Tottori Sand Dunes and the Tottori Castle ruins. Running 3:12:44 for the overall women's win was 60-year-old Hiromi Nakata.
"I was as surprised as anyone that I won," said Tanaka. "I had to stop at the toilets early on and lost some time, but I tried using the double inhale, double exhale breathing method that the actor Kankuro Nakamura uses on the Idaten TV show and got into a good rhythm. Thanks to that I could just keep going and going. I had no idea I was in 1st, and when they put up the finish tape as I was coming in I thought, 'No way!'""
Nakata is a resident of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka. In 2017 she ran the fastest time of the year in Japan by a 58-year-old, 3:05:02. In the mornings she does housework and works in her garden for an hour, fitting in 30 to 60-minute run…

Japan's Oldest-Ever Olympic Marathoner Suehiro Ishikawa Retires at 39

At a press conference in Sayama, Saitama on Mar. 20, 2016 Rio Olympics marathoner Suehiro Ishikawa, 39, announced that he will retire from competition at the end of the month. At the time of the Rio Olympics Ishikawa was 36 years and 11 months old, surpassing 1996 Atlanta Olympics marathoner Hiromi Taniguchi's record of 36 years and 3 months to become Japan's oldest-ever Olympic marathoner. He finished 36th.

"Since I started running high school it's been 24 years," said Ishikawa at the press conference. "I've been with Honda for 17 years, and I made it all the way to the top, the Olympics. I'm glad that I've kept going this long. I thank you all."

Ishikawa ran the Mar. 10 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon but dropped out after only 10 km. It was to be the last race of his career. "It was the first time in my career that I'd ever DNFd, and I thought, 'OK, this is where it ends,'" said Ishikawa. Shortly after the race he made …

Tokyo Olympics Logo Designer Sano Denies Plagiarism

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20150805-00000072-nksports-spo

translated by Brett Larner

Amid controversy surrounding the "strong similarity" of the official 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and Paralympic Games logos to the logo of Belgium's Theatre de Liege, art director Kenjiro Sano, 43, the person responsible for the Tokyo design, held a press conference August 5th in Tokyo. Sano strongly denied the theater's claims of plagiarism, calling them "totally groundless" and saying that his design was "something made starting from zero." Sano said that he "had never seen" the theater's logo, adding, "As an art director I have never ripped anything off," and "This is the culmination of my career. As something truly original, I wanted to share it with the rest of the world."

Sano was on a business trip to New York through August 4, learning of the current problems while on the trip. "It was a shock," he said. …

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