by Brett Larner
The 2011 National Interprefectural Men's Ekiden Championships take place Jan. 23 in Hiroshima. The race, which features teams made up of the best pro, university, high school and junior high school runners from each of Japan's 47 prefectures, will be broadcast live and commerical-free on NHK beginning at 12:15 p.m. Overseas viewers should be able to watch live online for free using Keyhole TV, available here, with password NHK. JRN will be doing live English-language commentary via Twitter @JRNLive. Live splits and race highlight videos will be available on NHK's race website.
Looking at the overall team competition, despite the absence of last year's anchor Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B), defending champion Hyogo is in an excellent position to defend its title with five of the team's seven runners ranked among the best on their respective stages. Look for First Stage runner Kazuto Nishiike, winner of last year's National High School Ekiden First Stage to put Hyogo into an early lead. Hyogo's strongest challenge will come from Kagoshima, which features three members of the 2010 National High School Ekiden champion Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S. team. Tochigi also features an excellent lineup with as many top-ranked men as Hyogo and should challenge for the win. Miyagi, Yamaguchi, host Hiroshima, Chiba, Nagano and Fukushima are in the next tier and should be near the front of the race throughout the afternoon. For JRN's entry list-based preview of individual stage highlights, click here.
2011 National Interprefectural Men's Ekiden
Start List Highlights
Jan. 23, 2011, Hiroshima
7 stages, 48.0 km
click here for complete entry lists
bib numbers: team - stage
First Stage - 7 km (H.S.)
stage record: 19:51 - Yuki Matsuoka (Kyoto/Rakunan H.S.), 2003 / Yuki Sato (Nagano/Saku Chosei H.S.), 2005
28-1. Kazuto Nishiike (Hyogo/Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 13:54.33
24-1. Mitsunori Asaoka (Gifu/Chukyo H.S.) - 13:55.02
46-1. Takashi Ichida (Kagoshima/Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) - 13:55.44
9-1. Genki Yagisawa (Tochigi/Nasu Takuyo H.S.) - 13:57.37
35-1. Genki Matsumura (Yamaguchi/Saikyo H.S.) - 13:59.54
5-1. Kengo Namioka (Akita/Akita Kogyo H.S.) - 14:01.23
4-1. Kota Murayama (Miyagi/Meisei H.S.) - 14:04.18
Second Stage - 3 km (J.H.S.)
stage record: 8:30 - Yuta Katsumata (Shizuoka/Fujioka J.H.S.), 2009
46-2. Taishi Sakamoto (Kagoshima/Akune J.H.S.) - 8:31.89
11-2. Kazuki Takeshita (Saitama/Higashi Matsuyama E. J.H.S.) - 8:38.14
9-2. Wataru Tochigi (Tochigi/Ohira J.H.S.) - 8:38.58
34-2. Ren Josai (Hiroshima/Sera Nishi J.H.S.) - 8:38.84
27-2. Kenta Hosokawa (Osaka/Yuhigaoka J.H.S.) - 8:39.31
12-2. Kengo Takamori (Chiba/Abiko J.H.S.) - 8:39.64
Third Stage - 8.5 km (univ./pro)
stage record: 23:26 - Terukazu Omori (Kochi/Team Kuroshiro Tsushi Service), 2005
40-3. Yu Mitsuya (Fukuoka/Team Toyota Kyushu) - 27:41.10
1-3. Takashi Ota (Hokkaido/Team Konica Minolta) - 28:06.22
16-3. Yusuke Hasegawa (Niigata/Jobu Univ.) - 28:07.47
34-3. Naoki Okamoto (Hiroshima/Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 28:07.99
19-3. Kenta Murotsuka (Ishikawa/SDF Academy) - 28:18.49
30-3. Takeshi Hamano (Wakayama/Team Toyota) - 28:20.85
33-3. Yosuke Kanezuka (Okayama/Team Honda) - 28:25.34
35-3. Taku Fujimoto (Yamaguchi/Kokushikan Univ.) - 28:27.66
8-3. Kazuya Deguchi (Ibaraki/Nittai Univ.) - 28:34.02
17-3. Akinobu Murasawa (Nagano/Tokai Univ.) - 28:44.23
14-3. Yo Yazawa (Kanagawa/Waseda Univ.) - 28:45.56
20-3. Tsubasa Hayakawa (Fukui/Tokai Univ.) - 28:47.37
44-3. Ikuto Yufu (Oita/Komazawa Univ.) - 28:51.71
9-3. Ryota Matoba (Tochigi/Juntendo Univ.) - 28:52.02
28-3. Yuki Yagi (Hyogo/Waseda Univ.) - 28:55.24
13-3. Ryotaro Nitta (Tokyo/Team Konica Minolta) - 28:56.88
Fourth Stage - 5 km (H.S.)
stage record: 14:10 - Hirotaka Tamura (Aomori/Aomori Yamada H.S.), 2010
46-4. Hiroshi Ichida (Kagoshima/Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) - 14:01.59
43-4. Kazuma Watanabe (Kumamoto/Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 14:20.54
7-4. Kazuhito Sato (Fukushima/Tamura H.S.) - 14:20.75
12-4. Teruyasu Otsuki (Chiba/Kashiwa Nittai Prep H.S.) - 14:21.00
17-4. Toshiya Agekura (Nagano/Saku Chosei H.S.) - 14:21.47
Fifth Stage - 8.5 km (H.S.)
stage record: 23:55 - Akinobu Murasawa (Nagano/Saku Chosei H.S.), 2009
4-5. Kenta Murayama (Miyagi/Meisei H.S.) - 13:49.45
7-5. Norihisa Imai (Fukushima/Ishikawa H.S.) - 13:52.52
46-5. Yuki Arimura (Kagoshima/Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) - 13:56.02
9-5. Ken Yokote (Tochigi/Sakushin Gakuin H.S.) - 13:58.93
28-5. Shota Shinjo (Hyogo/Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 13:59.61
Sixth Stage - 3 km (J.H.S.)
stage record: 8:31 - Taiga Machizawa (Chiba/Minami Nagareyama J.H.S.), 2010
19-6. Ryutaro Ichitani (Ishikawa/Tsubata Minami J.H.S.) - 8:34.57
28-6. Shigeki Fujiwara (Hyogo/Hiraoka J.H.S.) - 8:38.75
10-6. Yusuke Koike (Gunma/Nakano J.H.S.) - 8:43.01
12-6. Yuichi Yasui (Chiba/Tokiwadaira J.H.S.) - 8:44.16
46-6. Shunya Nomura (Kagoshima/Shibushi Ariake J.H.S.) - 8:45.74
Seventh Stage - 13 km (pro/univ.)
stage record: 37:09 - Kenta Oshima (Kochi/Team Kuroshiro Tsushi Service), 2004
46-7. Satoshi Irifune (Kagoshima/Team Kanebo) - 27:53.92
23-7. Yusuke Takabayashi (Mie/Team Toyota) - 27:57.46
28-7. Satoru Kitamura (Hyogo/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 28:00.22
9-7. Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Tochigi/Team Konica Minolta) - 28:01.54
13-7. Daisuke Shimizu (Tokyo/Team Kanebo) - 28:10.68
35-7. Takuya Ishikawa (Yamaguchi/Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 28:17.39
24-7. Chihiro Miyawaki (Gifu/Team Toyota) - 28:21.00
10-7. Hiroyuki Ono (Gunma/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 28:26.61
17-7. Yuichiro Ueno (Nagano/Team S&B) - 28:27.39
5-7. Satoru Sasaki (Akita/Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:32.30
40-7. Bunta Kuroki (Fukuoka/Team Yasukawa Denki) - 28:33.34
34-7. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Hiroshima/Meiji Univ.) - 28:34.12
4-7. Kosaku Hoshina (Miyagi/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 28:44.00
26-7. Hiroki Mitsuoka (Kyoto/Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 28:48.23
7-7. Hiromitsu Kakuage (Fukushima/Komazawa Univ.) - 28:57.47
11-7. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama/Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 29:02.33
(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
The 2011 National Interprefectural Men's Ekiden Championships take place Jan. 23 in Hiroshima. The race, which features teams made up of the best pro, university, high school and junior high school runners from each of Japan's 47 prefectures, will be broadcast live and commerical-free on NHK beginning at 12:15 p.m. Overseas viewers should be able to watch live online for free using Keyhole TV, available here, with password NHK. JRN will be doing live English-language commentary via Twitter @JRNLive. Live splits and race highlight videos will be available on NHK's race website.
Looking at the overall team competition, despite the absence of last year's anchor Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B), defending champion Hyogo is in an excellent position to defend its title with five of the team's seven runners ranked among the best on their respective stages. Look for First Stage runner Kazuto Nishiike, winner of last year's National High School Ekiden First Stage to put Hyogo into an early lead. Hyogo's strongest challenge will come from Kagoshima, which features three members of the 2010 National High School Ekiden champion Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S. team. Tochigi also features an excellent lineup with as many top-ranked men as Hyogo and should challenge for the win. Miyagi, Yamaguchi, host Hiroshima, Chiba, Nagano and Fukushima are in the next tier and should be near the front of the race throughout the afternoon. For JRN's entry list-based preview of individual stage highlights, click here.
2011 National Interprefectural Men's Ekiden
Start List Highlights
Jan. 23, 2011, Hiroshima
7 stages, 48.0 km
click here for complete entry lists
bib numbers: team - stage
First Stage - 7 km (H.S.)
stage record: 19:51 - Yuki Matsuoka (Kyoto/Rakunan H.S.), 2003 / Yuki Sato (Nagano/Saku Chosei H.S.), 2005
28-1. Kazuto Nishiike (Hyogo/Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 13:54.33
24-1. Mitsunori Asaoka (Gifu/Chukyo H.S.) - 13:55.02
46-1. Takashi Ichida (Kagoshima/Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) - 13:55.44
9-1. Genki Yagisawa (Tochigi/Nasu Takuyo H.S.) - 13:57.37
35-1. Genki Matsumura (Yamaguchi/Saikyo H.S.) - 13:59.54
5-1. Kengo Namioka (Akita/Akita Kogyo H.S.) - 14:01.23
4-1. Kota Murayama (Miyagi/Meisei H.S.) - 14:04.18
Second Stage - 3 km (J.H.S.)
stage record: 8:30 - Yuta Katsumata (Shizuoka/Fujioka J.H.S.), 2009
46-2. Taishi Sakamoto (Kagoshima/Akune J.H.S.) - 8:31.89
11-2. Kazuki Takeshita (Saitama/Higashi Matsuyama E. J.H.S.) - 8:38.14
9-2. Wataru Tochigi (Tochigi/Ohira J.H.S.) - 8:38.58
34-2. Ren Josai (Hiroshima/Sera Nishi J.H.S.) - 8:38.84
27-2. Kenta Hosokawa (Osaka/Yuhigaoka J.H.S.) - 8:39.31
12-2. Kengo Takamori (Chiba/Abiko J.H.S.) - 8:39.64
Third Stage - 8.5 km (univ./pro)
stage record: 23:26 - Terukazu Omori (Kochi/Team Kuroshiro Tsushi Service), 2005
40-3. Yu Mitsuya (Fukuoka/Team Toyota Kyushu) - 27:41.10
1-3. Takashi Ota (Hokkaido/Team Konica Minolta) - 28:06.22
16-3. Yusuke Hasegawa (Niigata/Jobu Univ.) - 28:07.47
34-3. Naoki Okamoto (Hiroshima/Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 28:07.99
19-3. Kenta Murotsuka (Ishikawa/SDF Academy) - 28:18.49
30-3. Takeshi Hamano (Wakayama/Team Toyota) - 28:20.85
33-3. Yosuke Kanezuka (Okayama/Team Honda) - 28:25.34
35-3. Taku Fujimoto (Yamaguchi/Kokushikan Univ.) - 28:27.66
8-3. Kazuya Deguchi (Ibaraki/Nittai Univ.) - 28:34.02
17-3. Akinobu Murasawa (Nagano/Tokai Univ.) - 28:44.23
14-3. Yo Yazawa (Kanagawa/Waseda Univ.) - 28:45.56
20-3. Tsubasa Hayakawa (Fukui/Tokai Univ.) - 28:47.37
44-3. Ikuto Yufu (Oita/Komazawa Univ.) - 28:51.71
9-3. Ryota Matoba (Tochigi/Juntendo Univ.) - 28:52.02
28-3. Yuki Yagi (Hyogo/Waseda Univ.) - 28:55.24
13-3. Ryotaro Nitta (Tokyo/Team Konica Minolta) - 28:56.88
Fourth Stage - 5 km (H.S.)
stage record: 14:10 - Hirotaka Tamura (Aomori/Aomori Yamada H.S.), 2010
46-4. Hiroshi Ichida (Kagoshima/Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) - 14:01.59
43-4. Kazuma Watanabe (Kumamoto/Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 14:20.54
7-4. Kazuhito Sato (Fukushima/Tamura H.S.) - 14:20.75
12-4. Teruyasu Otsuki (Chiba/Kashiwa Nittai Prep H.S.) - 14:21.00
17-4. Toshiya Agekura (Nagano/Saku Chosei H.S.) - 14:21.47
Fifth Stage - 8.5 km (H.S.)
stage record: 23:55 - Akinobu Murasawa (Nagano/Saku Chosei H.S.), 2009
4-5. Kenta Murayama (Miyagi/Meisei H.S.) - 13:49.45
7-5. Norihisa Imai (Fukushima/Ishikawa H.S.) - 13:52.52
46-5. Yuki Arimura (Kagoshima/Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) - 13:56.02
9-5. Ken Yokote (Tochigi/Sakushin Gakuin H.S.) - 13:58.93
28-5. Shota Shinjo (Hyogo/Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 13:59.61
Sixth Stage - 3 km (J.H.S.)
stage record: 8:31 - Taiga Machizawa (Chiba/Minami Nagareyama J.H.S.), 2010
19-6. Ryutaro Ichitani (Ishikawa/Tsubata Minami J.H.S.) - 8:34.57
28-6. Shigeki Fujiwara (Hyogo/Hiraoka J.H.S.) - 8:38.75
10-6. Yusuke Koike (Gunma/Nakano J.H.S.) - 8:43.01
12-6. Yuichi Yasui (Chiba/Tokiwadaira J.H.S.) - 8:44.16
46-6. Shunya Nomura (Kagoshima/Shibushi Ariake J.H.S.) - 8:45.74
Seventh Stage - 13 km (pro/univ.)
stage record: 37:09 - Kenta Oshima (Kochi/Team Kuroshiro Tsushi Service), 2004
46-7. Satoshi Irifune (Kagoshima/Team Kanebo) - 27:53.92
23-7. Yusuke Takabayashi (Mie/Team Toyota) - 27:57.46
28-7. Satoru Kitamura (Hyogo/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 28:00.22
9-7. Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Tochigi/Team Konica Minolta) - 28:01.54
13-7. Daisuke Shimizu (Tokyo/Team Kanebo) - 28:10.68
35-7. Takuya Ishikawa (Yamaguchi/Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 28:17.39
24-7. Chihiro Miyawaki (Gifu/Team Toyota) - 28:21.00
10-7. Hiroyuki Ono (Gunma/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 28:26.61
17-7. Yuichiro Ueno (Nagano/Team S&B) - 28:27.39
5-7. Satoru Sasaki (Akita/Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:32.30
40-7. Bunta Kuroki (Fukuoka/Team Yasukawa Denki) - 28:33.34
34-7. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Hiroshima/Meiji Univ.) - 28:34.12
4-7. Kosaku Hoshina (Miyagi/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 28:44.00
26-7. Hiroki Mitsuoka (Kyoto/Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 28:48.23
7-7. Hiromitsu Kakuage (Fukushima/Komazawa Univ.) - 28:57.47
11-7. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama/Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 29:02.33
(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
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