Skip to main content

National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships Preview (updated)

by Brett Larner

Sunday's National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships kick off a busy string of championship road relays across Japan, with no less than eight major events in five weeks.  The Dec. 16 race in Sendai is the peak of the year for corporate-league women, with the country's top marathoners and track runners from twenty-nine teams squaring off over a six-stage, 42.195 km course.  TBS will broadcast the ekiden live nationwide beginning at 11:50 a.m. local time.  It should be possible for overseas viewers to use Keyhole TV to catch the race, but JRN will also offer live coverage via Twitter @JRNLive.

The favorites look to be evenly divided between the three national divisions.  Team Universal Entertainment won the East Japan regional qualifier last month by 3 1/2 minutes over defending national champion Team Daiichi Seimei and comes to Nationals seeded #1.  A major factor in Universal's performance was a win on East Japan's longest stage by Mizuho Nasukawa, who subsequently finished 2nd at the Yokohama International Women's Marathon.  Much of Universal's chances will depend on how well Nasukawa has recoved in the four weeks since Yokohama.  Daiichi Seimei was missing ace Yoshimi Ozaki at East Japan and, should she be back and at her best, will be far more dangerous.

Central Japan's Team Denso was 5th last year and won its regional qualifier in 2:16:57, giving it the #2 position in the field.  Featuring 2011 national 10000 m champion Kayo Sugihara and former Sera H.S. standout Susan Wairimu Denso should be in a position to give Universal a race.  Not far behind from Central Japan and ranked 4th overall is Team Toyota Jidoshokki, led by 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi.

West Japan dominates the field, with six of the ten teams to have broken 2:20 at the qualifiers hailing from that region.  Team Wacoal leads the way with a 2:17:38 course record win courtesy two new stage records by Olympian Kayoko Fukushi and younger star Chihiro Takato and is the probable favorite for the national title.  Team Daihatsu, featuring London Olympics marathoner Ryoko Kizaki, and Team Sysmex, with marathon national record holder Mizuki Noguchi on its list, should also be factors.  West Japan teams Tenmaya, Otsuka Seiyaku and Juhachi Ginko round out the sub-2:20 teams on the list.

Update: Start lists have now been released.  Absent from defending champion Daiichi Seimei's lineup is 2009 World Championships marathon silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki.  The longest leg, the 10.9 km Third Stage, looks great, with 10000 m national champion Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic), 5000 m national champion Hitomi Niiya (Team Univ. Ent.), half marathon and 5000 m national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal), 10000 m national record holder Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo), 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki), 2011 World Championships marathoners Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) and Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) and more.

The 3.6 km Fourth Stage, the day's shortest, features Kenyans Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko), Susan Wairimu (Team Denso), Grace Kimanzi (Team Starts), Felista Wanjugu (Team Univ. Ent.), Beatrice Wainaina Murugi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) and Doricah Obare (Team Hitachi).

The 10. 0 km Fifth Stage includes marathon national record holder Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex), London Olympics marathoners Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu) and Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya) and Ome 30 km winner Asami Kato (Team Panasonic).

2012 National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships 
Top Team Entries With Time at Regional Qualifier
Sendai, 12/16/12
click here for start list

Universal Entertainment (East Japan) - 2:15:58
Denso (Cental Japan) - 2:16:57
Wacoal (West Japan) - 2:17:38 - CR
Toyota Jidoshokki (Central Japan) - 2:17:49
Daihatsu (West Japan) - 2:18:43
Sysmex (West Japan) - 2:19:23
Daiichi Seimei (East Japan) - 2:19:25
Tenmaya (West Japan) - 2:19:38
Otsuka Seiyaku (West Japan) - 2:19:39
Juhachi Ginko (West Japan) - 2:19:58

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Ninja Runner Yuka Ando Leads Japanese Women's Marathon Team in London: "I Want to Go For It"

Her form has been dubbed "ninja running." Both arms held straight down with almost no movement. That idiosyncratic style carried Yuka Ando , 23, to the fastest-ever marathon debut by a Japanese woman, 2:21:36, at March's Nagoya Women's Marathon to land at #4 on the all-time Japanese lists. All at once Ando found herself catapulted to the top level of women's marathoning, a candidate for Japan's next great marathoner. When she was younger Ando ran moving her arms like other runners, but she had a bad habit of moving robotically, her upper body and lower body not working in sync. The turning point came in 2014 when she joined Suzuki Hamamatsu AC . Working there with coach Masayuki Satouchi to eliminate the faults in her form, the pair arrived at the ninja running style that let her run relaxed. "Other people keep asking me, "Isn't it hard to run like that?" but for me it's comfortable," she said. The efficient form helped her mai

Yamaguchi 10th at United Airlines NYC Half - Weekend Overseas Results

2024 national cross-country champion Tomonori Yamaguchi was the top Japanese finisher in the men's race at the United Airlines NYC Half , taking 10th in 1:04:36. A 2nd-year at Waseda University , Yamaguchi was one of three collegiate runners running New York in the 11th year of JRN's development program collaboration between the Ageo City Half Marathon and the New York Road Runners, a program that has seen people like future half marathon and marathon NR breaker Yuta Shitara and Paris Olympic team member Akira Akasaki make their international debuts. Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito started fast, going with the leaders through 5 km in 14:29 before losing touch. Hosei University senior Rei Matsunaga went through in 14:42 in his last race before joining the JR Higashi Nihon corporate team in April. Yamaguchi, who caught COVID after winning last month's National Cross-Country Championships, started more conservatively with a 15:11 first 5km. But where both Ito

Rui Aoki Wins National University Men's Half Marathon - Weekend Results

Yuka Ando 's win at the Nagoya Women's Marathon was the big news of the weekend, but there were other high-level races happening, even in Nagoya. Held in parallel with the marathon, the Nagoya City Half Marathon saw Australians Natalie Rule and Ed Goddard take easy wins by about 2.5 minutes each, Rule in 1:13:57 and Goddard in 1:04:01. The new Biwako Marathon also had a non-Japanese winner, China's Yousheng Guan scoring 1st in 2:14:58 with Japan's Hirohito Sugai next in 2:16:40. Mikiko Ota won the women's race in 2:50:44. The Shizuoka Marathon returned for its first running in five years, with club runner Shumpei Oda leading the top 7 men under 2:20 in 2:15:36. Women's winner Remi Tanaka ran 2:41:23, beating runner-up Ayumi Sano by exactly 7 minutes. And in Tokyo, Rui Aoki continued what has been a great season so far for Koku Gakuin University with a win at the National University Men's Half Marathon . Aoki and Hiro Konda of Chuo Gakuin Unive