Daihatsu Over Wacoal at First West Japan Corporate Women's Ekiden

by Brett Larner

Team Daihatsu outran Team Wacoal for the regional title at the first West Japan Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden Oct. 24 in Munakata, Kyushu. A combination of three previous regional qualifiers for December's National Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden Championships, West Japan was run on the same course as the former Kyushu Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden. With the influx of teams from two other regions, stage records fell on four of the six stages in the 42.195 km race.

Team Wacoal dominated the early parts of the race, leading for the first four stages thanks to stage record performances by First Stage runner Tomoka Inadomi and Third Stage runner Kayoko Fukushi. At the start of the 10.9 km Fifth Stage, the ekiden's longest, Wacoal was up by 37 seconds over Team Sysmex and 1:02 over Team Daihatsu. Fresh from the World Half Marathon, Daihatsu's Ryoko Kizaki then turned in a big run, taking the stage best in 35:50, well over a minute faster than the next-fastest runner on the stage, Wacoal's Noriko Higuchi, and setting the stage for a classic ekiden anchor leg.

Daihatsu anchor Chizuru Ideta began the 6.395 km final leg up just 13 seconds on Wacoal's Chihiro Takato. Ideta ran for her life, finishing just two seconds off the stage record in 21:09. Takato was hell-bent on catching Ideta and snatching back the lead. Despite setting a new stage record of 20:57, she came up an agonzing step short as she finished one second behind Ideta, with Team Daihatsu clocking 2:17:53 and Team Wacoal 2:17:54. Team Sysmex, empowered in part by the return of marathon national record holder Mizuki Noguchi to competition after nearly 2 1/2 years of injury, hung on for 3rd in 2:19:15, three seconds slower than Noguchi's national record. All three teams qualified for the National Ekiden.

In other noteworthy individual performances, the top seven athletes on the 6.7 km First Stage, led by Inadomi, all broke the previous stage record. Kenyan Sally Chepyego Kaptich (Team Kyudenko) set a stage record on the 3.5 km Second Stage, restricted by discriminatory regulations which limit non-Japanese athletes to the shortest stages in most major ekidens. Former 2:21 marathoner Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya), seemingly oblivious to overseas proclamations that her career is over, won the 4.2 km Fourth Stage in 13:28 just two weeks after a dismal showing at the Chicago Marathon and demonstrated that perhaps there is more than one way to have a career.

2010 West Japan Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden
click here for complete results
Stage Best Performances
First Stage (6.7 km) - Tomoka Inadomi (Team Wacoal) - 21:17 - CR (top seven broke CR)
Second Stage (3.5 km) - Sally Chepyego Kaptich (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 10:34 - CR
Third Stage (10.5 km) - Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) - 33:44 - CR
Fourth Stage (4.2 km) - Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya) - 13:28
Fifth Stage (10.9 km) - Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu) - 35:50
Sixth Stage (6.395 km) - Chihiro Takato (Team Wacoal) - 20:57 - CR

Top Team Performances - 42.195 km
1. Team Daihatsu - 2:17:53
2. Team Wacoal - 2:17:54
3. Team Sysmex - 2:19:15
4. Team Tenmaya - 2:20:01
5. Team Otsuka Seiyaku - 2:20:23
6. Team Noritz - 2:20:46
7. Team Juhachi Ginko - 2:22:05
8. Team Kyocera - 2:22:37
9. Team Shikoku Denryoku - 2:22:45
10. Team Kyudenko - 2:23:24

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Police Arrest 20-Year-Old Man Charged With Assaulting Female Runner at Popular Tokyo Running Spot

A 20-year-old man has been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a female runner along the banks of the Tama River in Ota Ward, Tokyo. "I've been stuck at home because of the coronavirus, so I wanted to go for a walk and move my body a bit," the man told police. Local resident Hirai Muroyama , 20, of no known occupation, was arrested on charges of sexual assault. He is accused of acts including grabbing the breasts of a woman in her 20s at around 10 p.m. on May 31 along the banks of the Tama River. According to police, the woman was taking a break in her run when Muroyama approached her silently from behind and grabbed her breasts before running away. Under police interrogation Muroyama told investigators, "I've been stuck at home because of the coronavirus, so I wanted to go out for a walk and move my body. I'd had a few drinks and was feeling pretty hype. She was totally my type." source article: https://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newsey

Suguru Osako Makes it Through Trail Debut at UTMB MCC Two Weeks After Olympic Marathon

Two-time Olympic marathoner Suguru Osako posted on his Instagram story on Aug. 26 about his trail running debut at last weekend's UTMB MCC in Chamonix, France with support from his high school friend, trail runner Ruy Ueda . Osako ran the 40 km division with 2300 m cumulative elevation gain. In 4th at the first checkpoint, he slowed partway through when the course got steep and rocky. "To be honest it was too scary," he wrote. "How can people run there? LOL. It was different from what I'd heard. Mostly rock." Osako struggled on the descents, writing that he had cramps in his legs. Video showed trail specialists running smoothly past him on a steep downhill. But in the end he managed to finished, placing 50th among men and 52nd overall in 4:30:41. Afterward he wrote, "It was scarier than I expected and my legs wouldn't move, even more on the downhills where I'm terrible. But at least I was able to make a mark in the safe first 10k! LOL. I'v

Lima World U20 Championships - Day Five Japanese Results

The Lima World U20 Championships wrapped with 5th-place finishes by Japanese athletes in both finals that had them. In the men's 3000 mSC final, Soma Nagahara started conservatively, sitting 11th at 1000 m in 2:49.36 with leader Edmund Serem of Kenya almost 2 second ahead. Over the next 1000 m Nagahara moved up into 5th, and that's where he stayed. Serem took gold in an U20 world-leading 8:15.28, and with 8 of the next 9 finishers running PBs to get there Nagahara hung on for 5th in a PB 8:30.37 just over 6 seconds outside the medals. Nagahara's former Saku Chosei H.S. teammate Tetsu Sasaki , who had scratched from the 3000 m earlier in the championships, was in 15th at 1000 m but dropped to last, 16th of 16 in 9:16.20 and the only athlete not to break 9 minutes. The men's 4x400 m relay got off to a slow start, opening runner Ryota Oishi 7th of 9 in 47.66. Japan's next two runners Kentaro Shirahata and Kairi Gonda moved up to 6th and then 5th, and with a stro

japan running news

Search This Blog