Skip to main content

International Chiba Ekiden to Feature Tomescu-Dita, Fukushi, Browne and Other Olympians

by Brett Larner

On Nov. 10 the International Chiba Ekiden released the entry lists for the 2008 edition of the race, to take place Nov. 24 just east of Tokyo in central Chiba Prefecture.

In the second year of the Chiba Ekiden's mixed team format Japan will once again field a team of Olympians and national record holders including Kayoko Fukushi, Yuriko Kobayashi and Takayuki Matsumiya. Other countries competing in this year's Chiba Ekiden include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Ethiopia, Great Britain, Romania, Russia, Sweden and the United States, along with a team representing hosts Chiba Prefecture and another made up of top Japanese university runners. Notably absent is Kenya, which has in the past typically fielded teams made up of professionals living in Japan.

The biggest name in the field is undoubtedly Beijing Olympics women's marathon gold medalist Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania. Several others countries are fielding runners with Olympic and world-level credentials, but all will have their work cut out for them to best Japan's all-star lineup. Ethiopia is likely to be Japan's strongest challenger, with two men under 13:10 for 5000m, two under 27:15 for 10000m, and one woman under 15:00 for 5000m. Russia also fields a dangerous team including two women with 5000m times better than 15:00. The Japanese university team this year is exceptionally strong and will be a candidate for a top-3 finish.

A complete listing in both English and Japanese of each country's team lineup is located here. Noteworthy runners in the field include:

Simon Bairu (Canada) - 10000m: 27:50.71
Daniel Brown (U.S.A.) - Athens Olympics men's 10000m and marathon
Constantina Dita (Romania) - Beijing Olympics women's marathon gold medal
Belaynesh Fikadu (Ethiopia) - 5000m: 14:45.25
Shawn Forrest (Australia) - 2008 NCAA 10000m 2nd place
Kayoko Fukushi (Japan) - 3000m, 5000m, half marathon NR, 15 km WR, Beijing Olympics women's 5000m and 10000m
Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia) - 10000m: 27:13.08
Ryuji Kashiwabara (Japanese Univ.) - #1-ranked univ. 1st year
Yuriko Kobayashi (Japan) - 1500m NR, Beijing Olympics women's 5000m
Kazue Kojima (Japanese Univ.) - #1-ranked univ. woman nationally
Maria Konovalova (Russia) - 5000m: 14:38.09
Maria Magdalena Luca (Romania) - 2008 World Youth women's 800m gold medal
Takayuki Matsumiya (Japan) - 5000m NR, 30km WR, Beijing Olympics men's 5000m and 10000m
Hunegnaw Mesfin (Ethiopia) - 10000m: 27:13.05
Tera Moody (U.S.A.) - U.S. Olympic Trials women's marathon 5th place
Edward Moran (U.S.A.) - 2007 Pan American Games men's 5000m gold medal
Yusei Nakao (Japan) - 5th place, 2008 World Half Marathon
Hitomi Niiya (Chiba Pref.) - winner, 2007 Tokyo Marathon
Tomoya Onishi (Japanese Univ.) - Toyo Univ. star
Yui Sakai (Japanese Univ.) - #1-ranked univ. woman in Kanto Region
Lilia Shobukhova (Russia) - Beijing Olympics women's 5000m 6th place
Ben St. Lawrence (Australia) - 2008 World XC bronze medal team member
Melinda Vernon (Australia) - 2008 World XC bronze medal team member

(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters