Hachioji Wins Tokyo Championship Ekiden

by Brett Larner
The team from Tokyo's western suburb of Hachioji showed the value of solid teamwork, winning the 61st Tokyo Tomin Ekiden on Mar. 23 in Tokyo's Komazawa Park without the benefit of an ace runner. Professional, university and talented amateur runners alike competed as 24 teams representing Tokyo's wards and suburbs faced off in the annual metropolitan championship. Each of the six runners on a team covered two laps of a rolling 2.6 km course beginning and ending in Komazawa Stadium. Several days of rain ended just in time for the race to take place under warm, sunny skies free of the cedar pollen which blankets Tokyo each spring.

1st Stage
Leading the pack from the start was Shibuya's Yuhei Tomioka, a former Josai University runner who ran the 9th stage of the 2004 Hakone Ekiden. After the first lap the lead pack had whittled down to three, with Tomioka trailed by fellow Hakone alumnus Keishi Nomura of Fuchu and Hachioji's Sadakazu Saito. Tomioka and Nomura entered the track together, but Nomura had the stronger kick and took first on the stage by a single step. Tomioka recorded an identical time, with Saito two seconds behind.

2nd Stage

Fuchu's Jun Shida ran an outstanding leg, running 15:28 for the 5.2 km course to widen Fuchu's lead to almost one minute. Hachioji's Hirohiko Kumazawa likewise maintained his team's 3rd place position, while Shibuya's Jason Lawrence had a difficult day, dropping to 4th. Surprisingly, Shida did not take the stage best title; Tachikawa's Taiki Tsuji came up from 14th place to 2nd with a 15:17 to steal the honor.

3rd Stage

The 3rd stage saw a complete shakeup among the top teams' standings. Hachioji's Katsumi Asada ran a stage-best 16:29 to move the eventual winners into 1st place, while Fuchu dropped to 2nd after Kazukin Kitagawara's weak 17:29 showing. Tachikawa's Daiyu Yabushita likewise dropped a position, coming in 3rd with Shibuya's Taro Agui maintaining 4th close behind.

4th Stage

The 4th stage saw somewhat slower performances as most teams placed their weakest members here simply to hold position. Hachioji's Koji Kawamura kept the 1st position despite running a stage 4th 17:01. Tachikawa regained 2nd place thanks to Harumichi Imazeki, while Koto's Kitaro Hirano ran a stage 2nd 16:57 to move Koto into 3rd place. Stage best honors belonged to Mitaka's Satoshi Noguchi who overtook Shibuya's struggling Shinji Nakadai in the stage's final 100 m to move Mitaka into 4th.

5th Stage

Once again Hachioji managed to hold on to its lead despite faster performances by the chasing runners. Masayuki Shigehara of Hachioji was 3rd on the 5th stage in 16:44, while behind him Osamu Watanabe of Koto recorded the stage best of 16:18, passing Tachikawa's Satoshi Tomizawa to move into 2nd. Shibuya's Brett Larner was 2nd on the stage with 16:34, passing Mitaka's Yutaka Okura and Tachikawa's Tomizawa and moving Shibuya up from 5th to 3rd.

6th Stage

Hachioji's Ryosuke Nakazato held on to the lead, running 16:37 to clock the stage 3rd time. National duathlon champion Yuya Fukuura, running on the Shibuya team, ran the stage best of 16:07 to pass Koto's Masashi Endo and put Shibuya into 2nd. Koto hung on for 3rd. The 2nd best time on the stage was run by Chiyoda's Katsutoshi Higuchi, running 2nd to last in 23rd place.

Top 10 Results

1. Hachioji: 1:39:25

2. Shibuya: 1:39:44

3. Koto: 1:40:27

4. Tachikawa: 1:42:08

5. Shinjuku: 1:42:40

6. Mitaka: 1:43:03

7. Edogawa: 1:43:32

8. Fuchu: 1:43:35

9. Adachi: 1:45:27

10. Arakawa: 1:46:20

Stage Bests - all stages 5.2 km

1st Stage: Keishi Nomura, Fuchu: 16:18

2nd Stage: Taiki Tsuji, Tachikawa: 15:17

3rd Stage: Katsumi Asada, Hachioji: 16:29

4th Stage: Satoshi Noguchi, Mitaka: 16:55

5th Stage: Osamu Watanabe, Koto: 16:18

6th Stage: Yuya Fukuura, Shibuya: 16:07

(c) 2008 Brett Larner

all rights reserved

all photos by Yuko Kondo

used by permission