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Showing posts with the label Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo

Fukushi Leads Wacoal to Top of Wild National Corporate Women's Ekiden Qualifier

In one of the wildest elite-level ekidens in memory, half marathon national record holder Kayoko Fukushi ran her best race in almost 3 years to anchor the Wacoal team to the win at the Princess Ekiden, the qualifying race for next month's National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships.

The field of 27 teams raced 6 stages totaling 42.195 km for one of 14 spots at Nationals alongside last year's top 8. Things were complicated by the disqualification of 2017 national champion Universal Entertainment, which found itself back at the Princess Ekiden to requalify. Sayaka Sato got things off to a good start for Sekisui Kagaku, winning the 7.0 km First Stage in 22:36 just off the CR. 4 seconds back was Shiori Yano, whose Canon AC Kyushu team missed Nationals by a minute last year. and another 5 seconds behind was Miku Daido of the debuting Iwatani Sangyo team.



Coached by marathon national record holder Mizuki Noguchi's former coach Hisakazu Hirose, Iwatani Sangyo's next …
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Toilet Maker Toto Claims Princess Ekiden Throne to Qualify for National Corporate Women's Ekiden

http://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye2898668.htm

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The Princess Ekiden, gateway to the throne of Japan's ekiden queens.  28 teams competed Oct. 23 for the 14 remaining spots at next month's National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships.

The fierce battle to sit atop the throne started right out of the gate.  Its big movement came on the 3.8 km Fourth Stage.  Shuru Bulo, making her debut for toilet and washlet maker Toto, made up a 46-second deficit to put Toto into the lead by 4 seconds.  From there on out Toto sailed on smoothly and without straining to score its first Princess Ekiden title by 45 seconds over rival Noritz.  The win meant a fourth-straight appearance at Nationals for the Toto team.  Can they become the queens of tomorrow?

More drama was to found further back in the field in the race for the 14th and final ticket to Nationals.  In 14th on the second-to-last stage, the Juhachi Ginko team was overtaken by Mitsui Sumit…
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Denso Sets Course Record for Second-Straight National Corporate Women's Ekiden Title (updated)

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20141214-1409007.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

26 teams ran the 34th edition of the 6-stage, 42.195 km National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships in cold and windy conditions Dec. 14 in Sendai, Miyagi.  The Denso team dominated, breaking its own course record in 2:16:12 to score its second-straight win, the first time that a team has defending its national title since Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo completed a hat trick in 2005.

Denso started off slow, 29 seconds down from the lead in 12th after the First Stage.  Second Stage runner Naoko Koizumi celebrated her 22nd birthday by running the second-best time on the stage to move Denso up to 3rd.  Up against each team's best Japanese athlete on the Third Stage, Yuka Takashima, 26, ran down leaders Toyota Jidoshokki and Yamada Denki in stage record time to put Denso into the lead.  Takashima ran 34:40 for the 10.9 km stage to beat multiple national record holder Ka…
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Former Mitsui Sumitomo Head Coach Suzuki Takes Over at Uniqlo

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2011042100608
translated by Brett Larner
Team Uniqlo announced this week that longtime Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo head coach Hideo Suzuki, 59, would be taking over as head coach at Uniqlo effective May 1. Suzuki led Chiba's Funabashi H.S. girls' ekiden team to two national championships before becoming head coach at Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo, which he led until 2009. Under his leadership Mitsui became the best team in the country, winning countless National Corporate Women's Ekiden titles. Individual team members also became among Japan's best, including two-time Olympian and double World Championships marathon medalist Reiko Tosa and 10000 m national record holder and former marathon national record holder Yoko Shibui.
Speaking of his goals for the Uniqlo team, Suzuki commented, "I want to help the team members move even one step closer toward becoming athletes competitve at the global level. I want to help them build on their…
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Reiko Tosa to Make Comeback at Tokyo Marathon

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/news/20101228k0000m050086000c.html

translated by Brett Larner

After retiring following the 2009 Tokyo Marathon to become a mother, two-time World Championships marathon medalist Reiko Tosa, 34, announced on Dec. 27 that she will make a comeback to competitive running. Tosa will spend the new year training with Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo on Miyako island and will run in February's Tokyo Marathon.

Tosa gave birth to her first baby, a daughter, in April and has remained a part of Mitsui Sumitomo in an advisorial role since her retirement. On her blog Tosa had previously written, "I'm planning to run the January 30 Osaka Half Marathon followed by a marathon in late February. I don't know how far I'll be able to go but I'm excited to see what I can do."

Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo head coach Shigeharu Watanabe commented, "She isn't back to full, serious marathon training yet but we're confident that by the time she runs t…
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Noguchi Takes the National Stage - Watch the National Corporate Women's Ekiden Live Online

by Brett Larner

Note: Start lists will be added when available.

The 30th anniversary National Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden Championships take place this Sunday, Dec. 19. It's fitting that the anniversary edition, the last to be held on the historic Gifu course before the race's move north to Sendai next year, is slated to mark the return of the great Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) to the national stage. Noguchi, the marathon national record holder and 2004 Athens Olympics marathon gold medalist, has been out of competition since an injury in the summer of 2008 prevented her from defending her title in Beijing. Finally racing again earlier this fall in the regional qualifier ekidens, she helped Sysmex to qualify for Nationals for the first time. Start lists have not yet been confirmed but Noguchi's presence on the entry list has been used heavily to promote Sunday's race across the country.

10000 m national record holder and former marathon national record holder Yoko Shib…
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Shibui is Back as Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo Takes 7th National Title

by Brett Larner

Shibui rides again. Click picture for sanspo.com's National Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden photo gallery.

Despite not taking a single stage best title, six-time national champion Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo returned to the top of the six-stage marathon distance 2009 National Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden Championships on Dec. 13 in Gifu with another win to make it seven. The team's chances depended largely on whether its star Yoko Shibui had recovered from the stress fracture that kept her out of the 2009 World Championships marathon. She had. Although she was far from her normal condition, Shibui's stage-4th 32:13 for the 10 km Third Stage was good enough to keep the team in position after a strong stage-2nd performance by First Stage runner Ikuyo Yamashita.

Fresh from last month's Yokohama International Women's Marathon, Miki Ohira ran the 2nd-best time on the Fifth Stage to take the lead and anchor Chisato Osaki likewise was 2nd on her stage to keep…
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Reiko Tosa Returns to Boulder Training Camp After 7 Years

http://www.daily.co.jp/newsflash/2008/05/01/0000996944.shtml

translated by Brett Larner

Beijing Olympics women`s marathon team member Reiko Tosa (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) left Narita Airport on May 1 for a high-altitude training camp in Boulder, Colorado. "My preparations start with this camp," Tosa told reporters. "I`m going to be training very hard." She will return to Japan on June 4.

Tosa last trained in Boulder while preparing for the 2001 Edmonton World Championships where she won a silver in the marathon. Tosa first visited Boulder in 1999 as a training partner for some of her teammates, and rapidly improved while training there. Last year she did most of her training in Kunming, China, but, as she explained, "I`ve always had a good image of Boulder because of how much faster I`ve gotten there in the past."

3 days before leaving Tosa had the dental braces she has worn since the spring of `05 removed. Tosa got the braces on the recommendation of her …
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`Team Mitsui-Sumitomo Win Again in Gifu` (updated)

http://www.iaaf.org/news/kind=2/newsid=42684.html#team+mitsui+sumitomo+again+gifu

Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo won despite missing Osaka World Championships women`s marathon bronze medalist Reiko Tosa who has been suffering from assorted injuries since Osaka. This bodes ill for her recovery leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Similarly, Team Kyocera was missing its star runner Yumiko Hara who performed poorly in Osaka due to a leg injury. Hara is scheduled to run the Osaka International Women`s Marathon next month to attempt to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, but her absence here raises questions about her current fitness.

It is also worth noting that despite most of the teams` best runners being Kenyan, foreign runners were limited to the 10 km third stage rather than being allowed to run the longest stage, the 11.6 km fifth stage. This type of restriction is also true in the men`s All Japan Jitsugyodan Ekiden.

Complete results from the race website:
http://www.tbs.co.jp/ekiden/live…
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Ekiden Runner Tosa Leaves for Kunming Training Camp and Wishes Teammate Shibui Good Luck

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/top/sp200711/sp2007111607.html

Beijing Olympic marathon team member Reiko Tosa (31, Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) left Japan on November 15 to train at altitude in Kunming, China for December`s All-Japan Jitsugyodan Women`s Ekiden.

Since winning the bronze medal in the Osaka World Championships Tosa has been suffering from fatigue and low blood pressure, perhaps lingering effects of the hot and humid conditions at the Championships. Interviewed at Narita Airport, Tosa said, "My body has been so tired lately and I just can`t run well. I want to run as a member of the ekiden team but I need to get through this bad state first."

Tosa`s teammate Yoko Shibui will be running the Tokyo International Women`s Marathon on November 18 in an attempt to join her on the Olympic team. Tosa described Shibui as "...in incredibly good shape, and I think she`s also in the right state of mind to win."
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Yoko Shibui Breaks 7-Year Old 10 km Ekiden Stage Record in Final Tune-Up Before Tokyo International Women`s Marathon

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/p-sp-tp0-20071104-278688.html

translated by Brett Larner

Yoko Shibui displayed peak form before her attempt to make the Beijing Olympic team at the Tokyo International Women`s Marathon. On the 10 km 3rd stage of the East Japan Jitsugyodan Women`s Ekiden Shibui broke her personal stage best by 3 seconds, running 31:06 to take the top spot away from rivals Dai-Ichi Seimei and lead Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo to its 8th straight East Japan victory.

Shibui showed both the strength and speed she will need to beat Athens Olympic gold medallist, and current Japanese national record holder Mizuki Noguchi in Tokyo to make the Olympic team. She started the stage in 2nd place, passed Dai-Ichi Seimei`s Ozaki near the 5 km point, and finished the stage 0:44 ahead of Ozaki. Shibui`s previous best mark on the 3rd stage was set in `00; her new best is just 0:05 short of the stage record of 31:01 (Phyllis, Hokuren). After her run Shibui said "I didn`t do any ekiden train…
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