Skip to main content

Federation Eliminates International Chiba Ekiden Citing Overcrowded Calendar and Declining Significance

http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASH5X5RP5H5XUTQP02J.html
http://www.jiji.com/jc/zc?k=201505/2015052800724&g=spo 
http://www.sankei.com/sports/news/150529/spo1505290004-n1.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner
photo courtesy of STITCHrunner

On May 28 the JAAF announced that it is cancelling the International Chiba Ekiden, scheduled for Nov. 23 this year, and will no longer stage it.  The event's organizing committee at the Federation made the decision today, citing difficulty in recruiting top-level athletes in the midst of a calendar already crowded with marathons and other ekidens and a decreasing significance in staging Chiba as both Japanese and international athletes focus on other international races.

The International Chiba Ekiden was first held in 1988.  Beginning in 2007 it featured mixed teams alternating men's and women's legs over a six-stage, 42.195 km course.  At last year's 26th running 13 teams from 11 countries took place including a team of top Japanese university students, with the Japanese national team winning for the first time in 5 years.  Federation officials summarized Chiba's legacy by saying, "It played a large role in developing our athletes as well as in providing opportunities for international exchange."  Marathon great Toshihiko Seko, who ran the first International Chiba Ekiden as the final race of his career, commented, "It's really sad news."

Translator's note: With the cancellation of the Yokohama International Women's Ekiden in 2009 in favor of the now-defunct Yokohama International Women's Marathon, the elimination of the International Chiba Ekiden means that the last vestige of internationalism in Japan's ekiden circuit is the Ivy League alumni team at October's Izumo Ekiden.  Combined with the announcement a few months ago of the corporate federation's million dollar bonus for a new marathon national record and concomitant bonuses for other quality time performances in the marathon it seems clear where priorities lie in the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Labels:

Comments

TokyoRacer said…
Too bad! I enjoyed going to Makuhari in Chiba and watching that race.
However, I will say, there were not so many spectators.
May 29, 2015 at 12:29 AM
Pablo Villalobos said…
I run #ChivaEkiden in 2001. It was a great experience arroun Japan, Ekiden races and Intercontinental flies ;-)


My experience in my Blog

http://pablovillalobosextremadura.blogspot.com.es/2015/06/cancelacion-ekiden-chiva-japon.html
June 1, 2015 at 5:06 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Yuta Shitara Breaks Japanese Men's Half Marathon National Record in Berlin Marathon Tuneup at Usti nad Labem Half

A week after his 28:55 at the Birell Prague Grand Prix 10 km and just eight days out from the Berlin Marathon, Yuta Shitara (Honda) made the great leap forward, taking 8 seconds off Atsushi Sato's 2007 half marathon Japanese national record, finishing 8th at the Czech Republic's Usti nad Labem Half Marathon.

Shitara is probably most well-known outside Japan for going through halfway under 62 minutes during his marathon debut at this year's Tokyo Marathon and still ending up with a 2:09:27, but he's been turning heads in Japan since his second year at Toyo University when he broke a stage record at the 2012 Hakone Ekiden and outkicked the U.S.A.'s Dathan Ritzenhein to finish in 1:01:48 at the NYC Half two months later, until this year the fastest time ever by a Japanese man on U.S soil.

Three weeks before Tokyo this year he ran a 1:01:19 PB at the Marugame Half. Many people would call that a solid tuneup three weeks out from a serious marathon, but eight days? In P…
Post a Comment
Read more

Hattori Becomes Third-Straight Japanese Men's Sydney Marathon Winner

Following within 24 hours of Yuki Kawauchi's win at the BMW Oslo Marathon and Yuta Shitara's national record at the Usti nad Labem Half Marathon, Shota Hattori (Honda) made it an overseas hat trick for men from Japan's Saitama prefecture when he won the Sydney Marathon in 2:15:16. Having debuted at February's Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon with a 2:14:19 for 2nd, Hattori outlasted Ethiopian Werkuneh Seyoum Aboye, Kenyan Sammy Kigen Korir (Kenya) and compatriot Ryoma Takeuchi (Hitachi Butsuryu) to become the third-straight Japanese men's Sydney champ, winning by a margin of 20 seconds over Aboye.

Congratulations to Shota Hattori, male winner of the Blackmores Marathon – with a time of 02:15:16. #SydneyRunningFestivalpic.twitter.com/R47w8TCG2X — SydneyRunFestival (@officialbsrf) September 17, 2017
No Japanese women made the podium in the marathon, but in the accompanying half marathon both the men's and women's races saw Japanese runners-up. In the men's …
Post a Comment
Read more

Ayuko Suzuki Leaves for Altitude Training in Boulder Motivated for the Marathon

2017 London World Championships 5000 m and 10000 m runner Ayuko Suzuki (25, Japan Post) left from Narita Airport on Sept. 18 for altitude training in Boulder, Colorado.

Two days earlier at a half marathon in Czech Republic, Yuta Shitara (25, Honda), like Suzuki born in 1991, broke the 10-year-old Japanese men's half marathon national record in a time of 1:00:17. "It's a big motivation to see an athlete the same age as me doing something like that," she said. Showing her determination to be one of her generation's leaders, she added, "I'll be 28 [at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics], right in my prime mentally and physically. I want to run big too."

In the leadup to the Tokyo Olympics Suzuki has the marathon in sight along with the track. "I need to run a half marathon and marathon somewhere once to check [how well they suit me]," she said. "Coach and I will be talking about it." If everything goes according to plan, December's Sanyo …
Post a Comment
Read more