Skip to main content

Suzuki Delivers on Anchor Stage for Aichi Prefecture's First-Ever National Women's Ekiden Win

by Brett Larner
video highlights courtesy of broadcaster NHK

One of the only bright lights for Japanese long distance at last summer's Beijing World Championships, 2015 national corporate 10000 m champion Ayuko Suzuki delivered an incredible anchor run in Kyoto on Sunday, making up more than a minute and a half over 10 km to give Aichi its first-ever National Women's Ekiden title.  The peak of the women's ekiden season, the National Women's Ekiden features teams from each of Japan's 47 prefectures all made up of top local junior high school, high school, university, club and pro runners.

The race got off the track start and onto the roads safely without any falls, but a few km into the 6.0 km First Stage Naoko Koizumi (Niigata), a stage record setter at last month's National Corporate Women's Ekiden, tripped in the front row and went down.  The lead pack went by before Koizumi could get to her feet, but she quickly shot back to the front row in time for the big move from last year's First Stage winner Yuka Ando (Shizuoka).  Fresh off a solid 1:09:51 half marathon debut a few weeks ago at the Sanyo Ladies Half, Ando had no trouble holding off the competition to put Shizuoka into the Second Stage in 1st.  Favorite Kyoto was 7 seconds back in 6th, with last year's winner Osaka 26 seconds behind in 21st amidst top-level teams Hyogo, Aichi and Gunma.

Kyoto's next runner Fukiko Ando put the team 3 seconds out front on the 4.0 km Second Stage, a lead that stretched out to 6 seconds on the 3.0 km Third Stage, but on the 4.0 km Fourth Stage Hyogo's Kotona Ota ran a stage best 12:52 to overtake Kyoto's Kureha Seki and take over the lead by a second.  Heading into the second half of the race Aki Manabe turned Kyoto's luck back around with a Fifth Stage win and a lead of 15 seconds over Hyogo, a lead that Kyoto's next three runners stretched out to 1:13 partly thanks to a stage record-tying run from junior high schooler Ayaka Murao on the 3.0 km Eighth Stage.

Kyoto anchor Yukiko Okuno started the 10.0 km Ninth Stage 5 seconds up on overall course record pace with a reasonable margin of safety, but behind her the race had set up for something dramatic.  Yamada Denki corporate teammates Shiho Takechi (Hyogo) and Kasumi Nishihara (Gunma) started three seconds apart, 2015 national 10000 m champion Nishihara quickly making up the gap and the two working together to try to cut down the 73-second distance to Okuno.  As the kilometers went by they were making up 10 seconds per km, but even when it was clear they were going to catch Okuno the race's outcome was getting less and less so.

Starting 21 seconds behind Nishihara, Suzuki was advancing on the two chasers even as they made up the ground to the leader.  Nishihara lost touch with Takechi and was immediately swallowed up by Suzuki who stared straight ahead with determination and focus.  At 8 km Suzuki went by Takechi, and 400 m later she flew past Okuno to take the lead.  Never looking back, she narrowly missed tripping over a spectator's dog heading onto the track but had no trouble pushing on to give Aichi its first-ever national title in 2:16:02, her time of 31:30 putting Suzuki at all-time #4 for the 10.0 km stage.

Takechi overtook Okuno for 2nd at 8.7 km and held that position the rest of the way, crossing the line in 2:16:22.  Okuno was next onto the track but was run down by a hard-kicking Nishihara who gave Gunma 3rd in 2:16:28, a disappointed Okuno coming through 7 seconds later.  The top six teams all beat last year's winning time of 2:17:26.  Tokyo moved up to 6th in 2:17:25 thanks to a sensational run from anchor Hanami Sekine, a teammate of Suzuki's at the young Japan Post corporate team.  As amazing as Suzuki's performance was Sekine was 12 seconds faster, replacing Suzuki at all-time #4 in 31:18.  The pair's domination of the stage had strong implications for Japan Post's future in the corporate leagues.

Further back on the anchor stage, Rio Olympics marathon team member Mai Ito ran 32:38, the 17th-fastest time in the 47-deep field, to bring Tokushima home in 32nd.  Amateur Hiroko Yoshitomi ran 34:03 to anchor the Saga team in 38th after having set a course record at the Ibusuki Nanohana Marathon last Sunday and then winning the Imari Half Marathon the next day on Monday's national holiday.

Some women will line up one more time next weekend at the Kita-Kyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden, but for most today's race marked the end of ekiden season before shifting focus to open road races through the end of March.  The men's counterpart race, the National Men's Ekiden, takes place next Sunday in Hiroshima with a live commercial-free broadcast on NHK.  JRN will cover the race live @JRNLive.

34th National Women's Ekiden
Kyoto, 1/17/16
47 teams, 9 stages, 42.195 km
click here for complete results

Top Team Results
1. Aichi - 2:16:02
2. Hyogo - 2:16:22
3. Gunma - 2:16:28
4. Kyoto - 2:16:35
5. Chiba - 2:16:59
6. Tokyo - 2:17:25
7. Fukuoka - 2:17:39
8. Nagasaki - 2:17:47
9. Kanagawa - 2:17:52
10. Shizuoka - 2:17:58

Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage - 6.0 km
1. Yuka Ando (Shizuoka) - 19:19
2. Yukari Abe (Saitama) - 19:24
3. Sae Hanada (Fukuoka) - 19:25

Second Stage - 4.0 km
1. Rika Kaseda (Chiba) - 12:36
1. Nana Kuraoka (Fukushima) - 12:36
3. Yuna Wada (Nagano) - 12:37
3. Fukiko Ando (Kyoto) - 12:37

Third Stage - 3.0 km
1. Aika Nishihara (Ehime) - 9:20 - all-time #7
1. Ririka Hinonaka (Nagasaki) - 9:20 - all-time #7
3. Shuri Ogasawara (Ishikawa) - 9:23
3. Yuki Kanemitsu (Okayama) - 9:23

Fourth Stage - 4.0 km
1. Kotona Ota (Hyogo) - 12:52
2. Risa Shibuya (Akita) - 12:55
3. Yuka Mukai (Hiroshima) - 12:55

Fifth Stage - 4.1075 km
1. Aki Manabe (Kyoto) - 13:03
2. Kumi Ogura (Aichi) - 13:16
3. Natsuko Goto (Chiba) - 13:18

Sixth Stage - 4.0875 km
1. Sakiho Tsutsui (Gunma) - 12:37 - CR
2. Yumika Katayama (Kyoto) - 12:50
3. Yumi Yoshikawa (Aichi) - 12:57

Seventh Stage - 4.0 km
1. Yukari Wada (Kyoto) - 12:31
2. Yuka Mukai (Aichi) - 12:36
3. Madoka Mitsueda (Kagoshima) - 12:39

Eighth Stage - 3.0 km
1. Ayaka Murao (Kyoto) - 9:41 - CR tie
2. Ayuka Kazama (Chiba) - 9:53 - all-time #5
3. Akari Yamamoto (Okayama) - 9:55 - all-time #10

Ninth Stage - 10.0 km
1. Hanami Sekine (Tokyo) - 31:18 - all-time #4
2. Ayuko Suzuki (Aichi) - 31:30 - all-time #5
3. Mao Kiyota (Shizuoka) - 31:55 

© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...
1 comment
Read more

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...
1 comment
Read more

Tokyo Marathon Top Japanese Man Tsubasa Ichiyama Works 4 Days a Week, Walked On in College

38,000 people ran the 2025 Tokyo Marathon . Every runner had their own story, but one of the most special was Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx). Despite being on almost nobody's radar, he outran some of the best in the country to finish as the top Japanese man. Ichiyama ran most of the race in the 3rd pace group, going through halfway in 1:02:44 and 30 km in 1:29:13. When the pacers stopped, he showed what he could really do. "I'm not good at downhills, so in the first part it was hard to run smoothly," he said at the post-race press conference. "But after the downhill part ended I got into my rhythm, and I think that helped me over the 2nd half." After dropping Asian Games gold medalist Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) and others, he quickly bore down on the Japanese athletes who had gone out faster in the 2nd pace group. Overtaking Paris Olympics 6th placer Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu), at 39.8 km he caught all-time Japanese #2 man Yohei I...
Post a Comment
Read more