Skip to main content

Tenmaya and Kojokan Win Kita-Kyushu Women's Ekiden

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/track/news/20100125k0000m050090000c.html

translated by Brett Larner

At the last major women's ekiden of the season, the 21st Kita-Kyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden on Jan. 24 in Kita-Kyushu, Team Tenmaya won the five-stage, 32.8 km open division for the first time in 15 years. Top-ranked Kojokan H.S. took its first win the six-stage, 32.8 km high school division. Both teams hail from Okayama Prefecture and carried over the momentum from Okayama's win at last week's National Interprefectural Women's Ekiden.

Tenmaya's Second Stage runner Yuka Izumi took the lead which Third and Fourth Stage runners Yoshie Kurisu and Kaori Urata lengthened with stage best runs. Tenmaya's anchor, Beijing Olympian Yurika Nakamura, was never seriously threatened as she cruised home for the win. Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo took 2nd after advancing in the later stages, while early leader Team Juhachi Ginko fell to 3rd. Team Acom, which will disband at the end of March, finished 7th.

Kojokan H.S. Second Stage runner Mahiro Akamatsu took the tasuki in 4th but moved all the way up to the lead with a stage best performance. The team fell to 3rd on the Fifth Stage, but anchor Katsuki Suga was able to get back on top. Kamimura Gakuen H.S. was 2nd thanks to stage best runs from Fourth and Fifth leg runners Eri Tayama and Ayaka Shibata. National runner-up Suma Gakuen H.S. was 3rd, while two-time defending champion Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. was 6th. Conditions at the start were cool and sunny with light southerly winds.

2010 Kita-Kyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden - Top Team Results
Open Division
1. Team Tenmaya - 1:47:03
2. Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo - 1:47:42
3. Team Juhachi Ginko - 1:48:11
4. Team Yamada Denki - 1:49:17
5. Team Deodeo - 1:49:28

High School Division
1. Kojokan H.S. - 1:47:21
2. Kamimura Gakuen H.S. - 1:48:31
3. Suma Gakuen H.S. - 1:48:38
4. Kita-Kyushu Civic H.S. - 1:49:18
5. Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S. - 1:50:02

Comments

Most-Read This Week

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .

Chesang Wins Osaka Women's Marathon in 2:19:31, Yada Drops 2:19:57 Debut NR

This year's Osaka International Women's Marathon was a race run with a high level of methodicalness, starting slower than the planned 3:19/km but ramping up until the lead pack was skimming around the 2:20:15-30 projected finish level. After hitting halfway in 1:10:13 with a group of 6, by 25 km only 4 were left up front, sub-2:19 runners Workenesh Edesa , Stella Chesang and Bedatu Hirpa , and the debuting Mikuni Yada , and when the last 2 pacers stepped off at 30 km it was Yada who went to the front. Despite never have raced longer than the 10.6 km Third Stage at November's Queens Ekiden where she had helped the Edion team score its first-ever national title, Yada was very, very impressive, fearlessly surging from 12 km and never letting up, even laughing and smiling to fans along the course. When she started sustaining a pace around 3:15/km the projected finish dropped under 2:20 and all the way down to 2:19:28 by 35 km, and even when all 3 of the more experienced ru...

Hirayama Breaks Osaka Half CR, Martinez Set Puerto Rican NR

The Osaka Half Marathon took another big step up the domestic half marathon rankings from a mass-participation race run alongside the Osaka International Women's Marathon to one of the country's top-tier races. In the women's race, the debuting Jecinta Nyokabi (Denso) went out fast, only to be run down by veteran Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon AC) by 10 km. Nyokabi faded to 6th in 1:10:41, but Yoshikawa pushed on to a PB 1:09:14 for the win. Rina Shimizu (Noritz), Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) and Makoto Tsuchiya (Ritsumeikan Univ.) all broke 70 minutes, Tsuchiya taking the Kansai Region collegiate title in 1:09:32 for 4th overall. Everyone in the top 10 who wasn't debuting ran a PB, a mark of how fast the day was even with cold and windy conditions. The men's race went out on sub-61 pace courtesy of Yudai Shimazu (GMO), then got a big injection of speed when Kyuma Yokota (Toyota Kyushu) took off close to 60-flat pace. Yokota opened a 10-second lead by 15 km, but over ...