Skip to main content

Honjo Higashi H.S. and Nihon Yakka University Win Saitama Ekiden

http://www.saitama-np.co.jp/news/2017/02/06/08.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

111 men's and women's teams took part in the 84th edition of the Saitama Ekiden on Feb. 5, running from Saitama Shintoshin to Kumagaya Sports Park Field.  Fresh from representing Saitama for the first time at December's National High School Ekiden, the Honjo Higashi H.S. girls scored their first-ever Saitama Ekiden win, covering the five-stage, 20.5 km women's course in 1:12:14.  Honjo Higashi's third, fourth and fifth runners Mayuko Saito, Nanami Ishihara and Tomomi Miyasaki each won their stages to move up their team up place by place into 1st after a slow start.

In the six-stage, 42.195 km men's race, Nihon Yakka University took the top position for the first time in 2:08:13 thanks in part to a 36:07 course record on the 12.1 km Third Stage by Kenyan Simon Kariuki.  The Musashino Ogoshi H.S. boys were the top-finishing high school position for the first time in five years, taking 5th overall in 2:11:07.  Running for the Saitama Prefecture Government team, London World Championships men's marathon team hopeful Yuki Kawauchi was 3rd on the Third Stage behind Kariuki and Titus Mumo (Musashino Gakuin Univ. A) in 36:59.

84th Saitama Ekiden
Saitama Shintoshin, Saitama, 2/5/17
men: 85 teams, six stages, 42.195 km
women: 26 teams, five stages, 20.5 km
click here for complete results

Men
Top Team Performances
1. Nihon Yakka Univ. - 2:08:13
2. Musashino Gakuin Univ. A - 2:10:23
3. Josai Univ. - 2:10:28
4. SDF Academy - 2:10:57
5. Musashi Ogose H.S. - 2:11:07

Stage Best Performances
First Stage (6.595 km) - Yuta Tameike (Nihon Yakka Univ.) - 19:37
Second Stage (3.1 km) - Kentaro Miyahira (Nihon Yakka Univ.) - 9:08
Third Stage (12.1 km) - Simon Kariuki (Nihon Yakka Univ.) - 36:07 - CR
Fourth Stage (3.9 km) - Kaito Komayama (Nihon Yakka Univ.) - 11:52
Fifth Stage (10.5 km) - Ryo Ishita (SDF Academy) - 32:56
Sixth Stage (6.0 km) - Hiromitsu Sakuraba (Nihon Yakka Univ.) - 17:56

Women
Top Team Performances
1. Honjo Higashi H.S. - 1:12:14
2. Shohei H.S. - 1:12:50
3. Sakado Nishi H.S. - 1:14:11

Stage Best Performances
First Stage (4.0 km) - Minami Takano (Saitama Sakae H.S.) - 13:54
Second Stage (3.7 km) - Rika Kaneda (Shohei H.S.) - 12:47
Third Stage (1.4 km) - Mayuko Saito (Honjo Higashi H.S.) - 4:54
Fourth Stage (5.4 km) - Nanami Ishihara (Honjo Higashi H.S.) - 19:14
Fifth Stage (6.0 km) - Tomomi Miyasaka (Honjo Higashi H.S.) - 21:19

Comments

Most-Read This Week

On the Loss of the ARRS Database

At some point in the last few months I discovered that both versions of the ARRS database, the static one and the searchable version , are gone. Last week David Monti posted a link to the ARRS history of an event he covered in Race Results Weekly, I guess copying and pasting a link from last year without looking at it, and that reminded me to write something about the loss of the database. The Association of Road Racing Statisticians was basically a one-man show operated from the remote Northern California shores by Ken Young . When the site existed its intro read: The Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyses and publishes results and statistics regarding elite distance running at distances 3000m and longer...The data of ARRS is stored in the ARRS database, which has more than 1.3 million performances from more than 240,000 races by more than 95,000 elite and sub-elite distance runners worldwide...This website ...

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...

Keita Satoh Running New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile

1500 m U20 NR holder Keita Satoh (Nike Swoosh TC) is running this weekend's New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile , the first time that a Japanese man has been invited in the race's 45-year history. In university Sato had to change focus away from middle distance to the half marathon-scale lengths of the Hakone Ekiden stages, but since graduating in March and relocating to Flagstaff he has refocused on the 1500 m, going from 3:43.19 in April in his first 1500 m in almost 4 years to 3:38.30 over the course of 5 races. Fifth Avenue will be his last race before heading back to Japan for one more track 1500 m and some down time. Men's entries with best 1500 m times in last 3 years: Stefan Nillessen (NED) - 3:29.23 (2025) Flavien Szot (FRA) - 3:30.74 (2025) Oliver Hoare (AUS) - 3:31.07 (2024) Jake Heyward (GBR) - 3:31.18 (2026) Titouan Le Grix (FRA) - 3:31.46 (2026) Romain Mornet (FRA) - 3:31.62 (2025) Adam Spencer (AUS) - 3:31.83 (2026) Pieter Sisk (BEL) - 3:31.85 (2025) Gary Martin (...