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Ekiden Weekend Roundup

by Brett Larner

It was a busy weekend across Japan, with six major ekidens taking place simultaneously. For professional men there were four regional qualifiers for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden, while for women there was the Fukui Super Ladies' Ekiden featuring corporate, university, regional and amateur teams, and the regional East Japan Women's Ekiden. Among the highlights:

  • Ritsumeikan University had a surprise win over rivals Bukkyo University and every corporate team in the Fukui Super Ladies' Ekiden. Four of the six Ritsumeikan runners took stage bests, leading the team to a course-record 1:34:56 for 30 km. Bukkyo was 2nd without a single stage best, while Team Denso took 3rd thanks to stage bests from aces Betelhem Moges and Kayo Sugihara.
  • Chiba Prefecture prevented another Nagano Prefecture win at the East Japan Women's Ekiden, taking four of nine stage bests. Anchor Chika Horie, who runs for Team Universal Entertainment and is usually thought of as a marathoner, was brilliant on the 10 km anchor leg, splitting 5 km in 16:08 and winning the stage in 32:30. Horie could be a major factor in the upcoming World Championships marathon qualifying period.
  • Team Sagawa Express prevailed in a close-pitched Kansai Jitsugyodan Ekiden despite taking only one stage best. 48 seconds separated 2nd and 5th place in the 80.45 km race.
  • Team Toyota nearly swept the Chubu Jitsugyodan Ekiden, with its runners taking five of the seven stage bests and 2nd on the remaining two stages. Toyota won by over 5 minutes.
  • Team Chugoku Denryoku did sweep their qualifier, the Chugoku Jitsugyodan Ekiden, all seven runners taking stage bests and the team winning by over 9 minutes. Sixth Stage runner Naoki Okamoto was voted MVP after winning his 17.9 km leg by nearly 3 minutes. Chugoku Denryoku's marathon ace Atsushi Sato was on the entry list to make a return to competion for the first time since February's Tokyo Marathon but was a DNS.
  • Team YKK easily took the Hokuriku Jitsugyodan Ekiden, the smallest of the six regions in the jitsugyodan system, like Chugoku Denryoku taking all seven stages. Runner-up Team Omokawa Murakiya qualified for the New Year Ekiden for only the second time in its history.

53rd Kansai Jitsugyodan Ekiden
Tabe, 11/14/10
click here for complete results
Stage Best Performances
1st Stage (12.6 km) - Osamu Ibata (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 39:15
2nd Stage (7.68 km) - Masashi Kada (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 23:16
3rd Stage (10.87 km) - Noriyuki Nabetani (Osaka Pref. Office AC) - 31:14
4th Stage (9.5 km) - Masato Ando (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 27:06
5th Stage (16.0 km) - Ryo Yamamoto (Team Sagawa Express) - 47:51
6th Stage (11.0 km) - Toyoyuki Abe (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 33:32
7th Stage (12.8 km) - Shinji Yamashita (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 38:19

Top Team Performances - 80.45 km
1. Team Sagawa Express - 4:01:28
2. Team NTT Nishi Nihon - 4:03:02
3. Osaka Prefectural Office AC - 4:03:31
4. Team Shikoku Denryoku - 4:03:47
5. Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko - 4:03:50

50th Chubu Jitsugyodan Ekiden
Gero, Gifu, 11/14/10
click here for complete results
Stage Best Performances
1st Stage (10.4 km) - Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) - 31:26
2nd Stage (7.2 km) - Micah Njeru (Kenya/Team Toyota Boshoku) - 21:23 - CR
3rd Stage (15.4 km) - Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota) - 45:17
4th Stage (13.9 km) - Yusuke Takabayashi (Team Toyota) - 41:36
5th Stage (14.0 km) - Yoshiaki Shiota (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 40:33
6th Stage (11.6 km) - Takamasa Uchida (Team Toyota) - 33:14
7th Stage (10.4 km) - Kenta Matsumoto (Team Toyota) - 29:53

Top Team Performances - 82.9 km
1. Team Toyota - 4:03:27
2. Team Aichi Seiko - 4:07:35
3. Team Toyota Boshoku - 4:07:51
4. Team Aisan Kogyo - 4:08:43
5. Team NTN - 4:09:10

49th Chugoku Jitsugyodan Ekiden
Sera, Hiroshima, 11/14/10
click here for complete results
Stage Best Performances
1st Stage (12.0 km) - Norihide Fujimori (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 36:10
2nd Stage (8.2 km) - Hideaki Date (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 23:37
3rd Stage (12.7 km) - Takuya Ishikawa (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 37:35
4th Stage (8.5 km) - Takuji Morimoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 24:31
5th Stage (10.0 km) - Rui Yonezawa (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 30:20
6th Stage (17.9 km) - Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 52:56
7th Stage (13.5 km) - Hiroki Tanaka (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 39:48

Top Team Performances - 82.8 km
1. Team Chugoku Denryoku - 4:04:57
2. Team JFE Steel - 4:13:58
3. Team Mazda - 4:14:34
4. Team Chudenko - 4:18:55
5. SDF Yonago Base - 4:32:38

40th Hokuriku Jitsugyodan Ekiden
Gero, Gifu, 11/14/10
click here for complete results
Stage Best Performances
1st Stage (10.4 km) - Naohiro Yamada (Team YKK) - 31:43
2nd Stage (7.2 km) - Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 21:44 - CR
3rd Stage (15.4 km) - Tsubasa Maeda (Team YKK) - 46:32
4th Stage (13.9 km) - Yoshihiro Hinomoto (Team YKK) - 42:56
5th Stage (14.0 km) - Tetsuo Nishimura (Team YKK) - 41:00
6th Stage (11.6 km) - Teppei Suegami (Team YKK) - 34:04
7th Stage (10.4 km) - Kazuya Miyamoto (Team YKK) - 30:39

Top Team Performances - 82.9 km
1. Team YKK - 4:08:38
2. Team Omokawa Murakiya - 4:15:31
3. SDF Takada Base - 4:17:29
4. Team Sekino - 4:22:50

26th Fukui Super Ladies' Ekiden
Fukui, 11/14/10
click here for complete results
Stage Best Performances
1st Stage (6 km) - Risa Takenaka (Ritsumeikan Univ. A) - 18:42
2nd Stage (3 km) - Betelhem Moges (Ethiopia/Team Denso) - 9:06
3rd Stage (4 km) - Akane Yabushita (Ritsumeikan Univ. A) - 12:33
4th Stage (4 km) - Michi Numata (Ritsumeikan Univ. A) - 12:45
5th Stage (5 km) - Kayo Sugihara (Team Denso) - 15:38
6th Stage (8 km) - Hanae Tanaka (Ritsumeikan Univ. A) - 25:41

Top Team Performances - 30 km
1. Ritsumeikan Univ. A - 1:34:56 - CR
2. Bukkyo Univ. A - 1:36:02
3. Team Denso - 1:37:18
4. Team Panasonic - 1:38:06
5. Meijo Univ. A - 1:38:50

26th East Japan Women's Ekiden
Fukushima, 11/14/10
click here for complete results
Stage Best Performances
1st Stage (6.0 km) - Miharu Shimokado (Tochigi) - 19:21
2nd Stage (4.0 km) - Rui Aoyama (Kanagawa) - 13:00
3rd Stage (3.0 km) - Miki Kobayashi (Saitama) - 9:55 - CR
4th Stage (3.0 km) - Yuka Kobayashi (Tochigi) - 9:10
5th Stage (5.0875 km) - Chiaki Takagi (Chiba) - 16:38
6th Stage (4.1075 km) - Yuriko Kosaki (Chiba) - 12:57 - CR
7th Stage (4.0 km) - Emi Ito (Chiba) - 12:59
8th Stage (3.0 km) - Naho Matsumoto (Kanagawa) - 9:18
9th Stage (10.0 km) - Chika Horie (Chiba) - 32:30

Top Team Performances - 42.195 km
1. Chiba Pref. - 2:18:02
2. Saitama Pref. - 2:18:59
3. Nagano Pref. - 2:19:28
4. Tokyo Met. - 2:19:52
5. Tochigi Pref. - 2:20:08

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
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Comments

TokyoRacer said…
To other readers: In the East Japan Women's Ekiden, some of the legs were run by high school and junior high school runners, so if they seem "not so fast", that's why.
It was a fun race to watch, there were quite a lot of changes among the top six throughout the race.
November 15, 2010 at 7:58 PM
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