A team of recent graduates of Cambridge University made the trip to the mountains of southwestern Saitama to race the 64th running of the Okumusashi Ekiden in colder than usual weather on Jan. 28. After hearing about the top-level Izumo Ekiden from Harvard and Yale athletes who had run as part of Izumo's Ivy League Select Team, Cambridge runners Josh Carr, Matt Leach and Alex Short wanted to experience a Japanese ekiden themselves. Pulling together a team of six runners and three alternates, they settled on Okumusashi as the best option in competitive level and timing.
With a 28:45.48 best for 10000 m from Stanford last year Leach led off on the 9.9 km First Stage, facing an unusually deep field including 2018 National Men's Ekiden champion Saitama Prefecture's lead runner Ryu Hashimoto (Tokyo Nogyo Daisan H.S.), 28:17.11 man Yuki Muta and London World Championships marathon 9th placer Yuki Kawauchi. Kenyan Titus Wambua (Musashino Univ.) led in the early going before a p…
With a 28:45.48 best for 10000 m from Stanford last year Leach led off on the 9.9 km First Stage, facing an unusually deep field including 2018 National Men's Ekiden champion Saitama Prefecture's lead runner Ryu Hashimoto (Tokyo Nogyo Daisan H.S.), 28:17.11 man Yuki Muta and London World Championships marathon 9th placer Yuki Kawauchi. Kenyan Titus Wambua (Musashino Univ.) led in the early going before a p…