Yamanashi Gakuin Prep Wins Four-Way Last Sprint for First-Ever National High School Boys Ekiden Title
by Brett Larner
click photo for video highlights courtesy of NHK
Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S. (Yamanashi) won a four-way sprint finish to claim its first-ever national title Dec. 22 in Kyoto at the 64th running of the National High School Boys Ekiden Championships. Always in contention without ever taking the lead, Yamanashi Gakuin Prep, powered by sub-14 seniors Ryutaro Ichitani and Kenta Ueda, took the title in an all-around strong team performance without a single individual stage win.
Ueda, son of Yamanashi Gakuin university head coach Masahito Ueda, got things going strong with a 29:46 for the 10.0 km First Stage off a slow 15:10 first half but, outkicked by Suguru Hirosue (Kobayashi H.S.), took 2nd. Kobayashi's Takashi Kawano added to his team's slight lead on the short 3.0 km Second Stage, but the dynamic changed on the longer 8.1075 km Third Stage when Kenyan Paul Kamathi (Sera H.S.) took over the lead.
From there the other contenders were playing catchup. Yamanashi G…
click photo for video highlights courtesy of NHK
Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S. (Yamanashi) won a four-way sprint finish to claim its first-ever national title Dec. 22 in Kyoto at the 64th running of the National High School Boys Ekiden Championships. Always in contention without ever taking the lead, Yamanashi Gakuin Prep, powered by sub-14 seniors Ryutaro Ichitani and Kenta Ueda, took the title in an all-around strong team performance without a single individual stage win.
Ueda, son of Yamanashi Gakuin university head coach Masahito Ueda, got things going strong with a 29:46 for the 10.0 km First Stage off a slow 15:10 first half but, outkicked by Suguru Hirosue (Kobayashi H.S.), took 2nd. Kobayashi's Takashi Kawano added to his team's slight lead on the short 3.0 km Second Stage, but the dynamic changed on the longer 8.1075 km Third Stage when Kenyan Paul Kamathi (Sera H.S.) took over the lead.
From there the other contenders were playing catchup. Yamanashi G…