Ekiden Season Kicks Off in Kanto and Okukuma

Ekiden season saw two of its first important races happen this weekend. Modeled after January's Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden, Sunday's Okukuma Ekiden in Kumamoto put corporate, collegiate and high school teams together on a marathon-length course with teams of 4 all running double-digit distances and high schoolers with teams of 7 and all but the 10.0 km First Stage split into two parts.

Tosu Kogyo H.S. starting runner Taiyo Iwasa led corporate leaguer Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) by 2 seconds on the First Stage, with Omuta H.S. third runner Yuma Matsuda passing both teams to take the lead. It took until the anchor stage for Hiramatsu Byoin's Yeneblo Biyazen to catch Omuta, crossing the line in 2:06:39 with Omuta anchor Nobuyuki Anai 7 seconds back for 1st in the high school division. Soka University was the only other team to go under 2:07, 3rd overall and 2nd in the college/corporate division in 2:06:57. Rakunan H.S. was next in 2:07:07, with early leader Tosu Kogyo 3rd in the high school division and 5th overall in 2:07:44.

Saturday in Chiba, Kanto-region women's university teams faced off to qualify for the Oct. 27 Morinomiyako Ekiden national championships, 21 teams of 6 racing a total of 34.4 km with the top 7 teams advancing. Things were surprisingly fast, with 5 of the 6 stages seeing new course records, most with multiple people breaking the old CRs. Suzuna Kinoshita (Chuo Univ.) led off with a 13:35 CR on the 4.3 km First Stage, Yura Tanaka (Tsukuba Univ.) taking over the lead on the 3.0 km Second Stage with a 9:24 CR. Favorites Daito Bunka University got off to a slow start in 6th, but Sarah Wanjiru took over the lead on the 8.6 km Third Stage with a 27:46 CR and the rest of the DBU women kept them there, winning in 1:53:01.

The 5.6 km Fourth Stage was the only one not to see a new CR, as Mao Kogure (Juntendo Univ.) ran a 23:59 CR on the 7.3 km Fifth Stage and Yuka Komatsu (Tsukuba Univ.) an 18:14 CR on the 5.6 km anchor stage. Along with DBU, Nittai University, Tsukuba, Josai University, Juntendo and Chuo made the cut. Collegiate 10000 m record holder Seira Fuwa didn't run, but Takushoku University still took the last qualifying spot in 7th in 1:55:44, beating Teikyo Kagaku University by just 8 seconds to get there.

In non-ekiden road action:

Hidetoshi Hara of Koku Gakuin University won a competitive Yamagata Marugoto Half Marathon in 1:04:03, just 5 seconds up on teammate Rintaro Motoyama. Haruna Takano (PTC) won the women's race in 1:17:02.
Haruku Gyoten of Hosei University won the Takashimadaira Half Marathon in 1:04:42, with Akihiro Kaneko (Comodi Iida) taking the men's 10 km in 28:55 and Kenyan Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) winning the 5 km outright in 15:31. Former elite athlete Yuki Kawauchi was 246th among men and 268th overall in 1:33:38.
2024 Hakone Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University's Seiryu Morishige won the Sapporo Half Marathon, soloing a 1:05:58 that put him over 5 minutes ahead of 2nd. Local Hina Shiozaki (Oligonol) won the women's race in 1:21:13.
Overseas, Uniqlo teammates Miku Hirashima and Yumi Yoshikawa were at the Twin Cities Marathon in the U.S. Hirashima took 7th in the marathon in 2:39:35 behind winner Molly Bookmyer's 2:28:52 PB, with Yoshikawa 8th in the 10-mile race in 53:58. Natosha Rogers won in 52:29.

On the track:

In Gifu the Chubu Region Corporate Track and Field Championships men's 10000 m saw Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) lead the top 4 under 28 minutes with a quality 27:35.84. Former Chuo star Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) was one of the ones to get under 28 minutes, running a PB 27:58.79 for 4th.
At the Kansai Distance Challenge meet in Nara Shogo Hifumi (Osaka Police Dept.) go under 14 minutes with a 13:58.26 for the win in the men's 5000 m A-heat, with Yuri Tasaki (Sysmex) taking the women's 5000 m in 16:01.06.
The Tokai University Time Trials meet in Kanagawa had a decent men's 10000 m, with Kenta Sekiguchi (SGH) winning in 28:45.38 by 3 seconds over Chuo's Koichi Shoji.

3rd Okukuma Ekiden

Kumamoto, 6 Oct. 2024

open: 16 teams, 4 stages, 42.195 km

H.S.: 53 teams, 7 stages, 42.195 km

complete results

Top Individual Stage Results - High School

First Stage (10.0 km) - Taiyo Iwasa (Tosu Kogyo H.S. A) - 30:08

Second Stage (3.0 km) - Felix Muthiani (Yamanashi Gakuin H.S.) - 8:03

Third Stage (8.25 km) - Yuma Matsuda (Omuta H.S. A) - 24:39

Fourth Stage (7.9 km) - Shu Morimoto (Omuta H.S. A) - 24:15

Fifth Stage (3.0 km) - Ibuki Sugiyama (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 8:26

Sixth Stage (5.2 km) - Raiki Ichinose (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 15:19

Seventh Stage (4.845 km) - Takafumi Okuno (Rakunan H.S.) - 13:47

Top Individual Stage Results - University / Corporate

First Stage (10.0 km) - Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin A) - 30:10

Second Stage (11.25 km) - Yuichiro Ueno (Hiramatsu Byoin A) - 33:57

Third Stage (10.9 km) - Shoki Yamaguchi (Soka Univ. A) - 32:38

Fourth Stage (10.045 km) - Yeneblo Biyazen (Hiramatsu Byoin A) - 29:12

Top Team Results - High School

1. Omuta H.S. A - 2:06:46

2. Rakunan H.S. - 2:07:07

3. Tosu Kogyo H.S. A - 2:07:44

4. Kyushu Gakuin H.S. - 2:08:45

5. Saikyo H.S. - 2:09:21

6. Suma Gakuen H.S. - 2:09:31

7. Shiritsu Funabashi H.S. - 2:10:14

8. Tokyo Nogyo Daini H.S. - 2:10:26

9. Kobayashi H.S. A - 2:11:21

10. Chinzei Gakuin H.S. A - 2:11:27

Top Team Results - University / Corporate

1. Hiramatsu Byoin A - 2:06:39

2. Soka University A - 2:06:57

3. Aoyama Gakuin University A - 2:10:23

4. Soka University B - 2:10:51

5. Chugoku Denryoku - 2:11:13

6. Hiramatsu Byoin B - 2:11:16

7. Rikkyo Univ. - 2:11:33

8. Team Nitro - 2:12:40

9. Hiramatsu Byoin C - 2:14:28

10. Surugadai University - 2:14:40

Morinomiyako Ekiden Kanto Region Qualifier

Chiba, 5 Oct. 2024

21 teams, 6 stages, 34.4 km

complete results

Top Individual Stage Results

First Stage (4.3 km) - Suzuna Kinoshita (Chuo Univ.) - 13:35 - CR

Second Stage (3.0 km) - Yura Tanaka (Tsukuba Univ.) - 9:24 - CR

Third Stage (8.6 km) - Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 27:46 - CR

Fourth Stage (5.6 km) - Airi Tajima (Juntendo Univ.) - 18:22

Fifth Stage (7.3 km) - Mao Kogure (Juntendo Univ.) - 23:59 - CR

Sixth Stage (5.6 km) - Yuka Komatsu (Tsukuba Univ.) - 18:14 - CR

Top Team Results - top 7 qualify for Morinomiyako Ekiden

1. Daito Bunka University - 1:53:01

2. Nittai University - 1:53:25

3. Tsukuba University - 1:53:45

4. Josai University - 1:54:21

5. Juntendo University - 1:54:47

6. Chuo University - 1:55:07

7. Takushoku University - 1:55:44

-----

8. Teikyo Kagaku University - 1:55:52

9. Tamagawa University - 1:56:29

10. Toyo University - 1:56:38

Five New Championship Records at Japanese Olympic Trials Day Two

Great conditions on the second day of Japan's National Track and Field Championships , U20 National Championships and Paris Olympics trials helped athletes set new National Championship meet records in the women's pole vault, men's 400 mH, men's and women's 1500 m, and men's 5000 m, with three of the five record setters and guaranteeing themselves places on the Paris Olympics team. Complete results here . Women's Pole Vault Final National record holder Misaki Morota cleared her minimum goal, the win in 4.31 m to score enough points to move from 33rd to 32nd in the 32-deep Paris Olympic quota. Morota took two attempts to get over 4.30 m, but on her first try at a Japanese National Championships meet record 4.41 m she got it done. That gave her enough points to move to 30th, but it would take clearing 4.50, 2 cm higher than Morota's NR, to move to 29th. That proved to be out of range, leaving Morota in good position but still waiting to see the outcome of...

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