Skip to main content

Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. and Tenmaya Win Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden

by Brett Larner

The 2012 Kitakyushu Invitational Women's Ekiden came close to an upset as Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. came close to running down the leading pro teams, as close as 18 seconds to taking the lead spot.  Ritsumeikan Uji started off in 7th overall and 3rd among high school teams, but a strong Second Stage run by Nanami Aoki moved them up to 3rd overall and the lead high school position.  Team ace Nanako Kanno won the 5.1 km Third Stage outright in a solid 16:26,  overtaking the pro Team Kyocera and coming within 22 seconds of leader Team Kyudenko, no small feat considering that Kyudenko's Second Stage runner Sally Chepyego (Kenya) won her leg by 26 seconds.

Past Olympian Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya) overtook Ritsumeikan Uji's Asaka Iwai by 2 seconds on the 5.9 km Fourth Stage, but both advanced on Kyudenko, Tenmaya to within 16 seconds and the high schoolers to 18 seconds.  Kyudenko anchor Mika Okunaga needed a big run to stay ahead of Tenmaya's Rei Ohara but came up short, finishing only 6th on the 11.7 km Fifth Stage on time to drop from 1st of 3rd in the pro division.  Ohara gave Tenmaya the win, with half-marathon specialist Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) also catching Kyudenko for 2nd.  The high school teams split the anchor stage into two shorter legs, 4.9 km and an anchor run of 6.8 km, but despite this advantage Ritsumeikan Uji's final two runners could not stay with Ohara.  Ayano Ikeuchi won the high school anchor stage to bring Ritsumeikan Uji across the line 55 seconds behind Tenmaya and 36 seconds ahead of Kyocera, 1st in the high school division by over two minutes.

2012 Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden
Kitakyushu, 1/22/12
open division: 11 teams, 5 stages, 32.8 km
high school division: 17 teams, 6 stages, 32.8 km
click here for complete results

Stage Best Performances
First Stage - 4.2 km
1. Ayako Jinnouchi (Team Kyudenko) - 13:36
2. Yui Fukuda (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 13:37
3, Mei Suzuki (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 13:41

Second Stage - 5.9 km
1. Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 18:28
2. Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya) - 18:54
3. Shiori Yano (Kitakyushu Municipal H.S.) - 19:02

Third Stage - 5.1 km
1. Nanako Kanno (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 16:26
2. Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 16:38
3. Takako Yamada (Team Edion) - 16:43

Fourth Stage - 5.9 km
1. Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya) - 19:22
2. Risa Yokoe (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 19:48
3. Asaka Iwai (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 19:53
3. Yuki Hidaka (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 19:53

Fifth Stage (open) - 11.7 km
1. Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) - 36:48
2. Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 37:21
3. Keiko Nogami (Team Juhachi Ginko) - 37:28

Fifth Stage (H.S.) - 4.9 km
1. Shoko Sonoda (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 16:29
2. Uran Hamada (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 16:31
3. Yuki Fujiwara (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 16:49

Sixth Stage (H.S.) - 6.8 km
1. Ayano Ikeuchi (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 20:52
2. Miki Yasutomi (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 21:33
3. Saki Yoshimizu (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 22:00

Top Team Performances - Open
1. Team Tenmaya - 1:46:04
2. Team Kyocera - 1:47:35
3. Team Kyudenko - 1:47:50
4. Team Juhachi Ginko - 1:48:51
5. Team Edion - 1:48:55

Top Team Performances - High School
1. Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. - 1:46:59
2. Kamimura Gakuen H.S. - 1:49:10
3. Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S. - 1:49:36
4. Suma Gakuen H.S. - 1:50:03
5. Yamada H.S. - 1:51:35

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Nationally-Ranked Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. Withdraws From Region Championships Due to Bear Attacks

5th at last year's National High School Ekiden boys' race, Fukushima's Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. has withdrawn its boys' and girls' team from the Nov. 6 Tohoku Region Ekiden Championships in Fukushima. A school spokesperson commented, "We made this decision based on the likelihood of our students coming into contact with bears in the city when out running in the morning." The Akita Athletics Association had already made an announcement on its website on Oct. 31 that due to the high number of bear encounters within the city of Akita this year , the ekiden would be held on a track instead of as a road race. Organizers said that they are leaving it up to each individual school whether to participate, and that they will accept schools choosing not to participate due to safety concerns. The Gakuho Ishikawa boys and girls both won the Fukushima Prefecture High School Ekiden in October, earning them places at the Tohoku regional meet and December's National High...
Post a Comment
Read more

Komazawa Back On Top With 17th National University Ekiden Title

#3-ranked Komazawa University came on strong over the second half of the National University Ekiden to take a record 17th national title, more than any other program in the national championship race's 57-year history. It had its share of dominant single-stage runs, but more than that this year's Komazawa lineup was consistent across the board, the only school to put all 8 of its runners into the top 5 on their stages, all but 2 of them in the top 3. Over the first 2 legs it was never more than 3 seconds out of 1st, moving up into that position by 1 seconds on the 3rd leg with a good run from 4th-year Yudai Kiyama . 3rd-year Kaisei Yasuhara was the weakest link with only the 5th-best time on the 4th leg, dropping Komazawa back to 4th and 35 seconds behind #2-ranked Chuo University 's Daichi Shibata . But on the next leg Komazawa 4th-year Aoi Ito turned it back around with the biggest run at this year's Nationals, running 35:01 for the 12.4 km 5th leg, 17 seconds unde...
1 comment
Read more

Hofu Yomiuri Marathon Elite Field

Everything in Japanese marathoning is already about qualifying for the MGC Race, Japan's trials race for the L.A. Olympics. Scheduled the same day as the Fukuoka International Marathon, the Dec. 7 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon counts the same weight as Fukuoka, Tokyo and Osaka in men's qualification, with trials spots up to be had by the first 6 Japanese men under 2:09:00 and the first Japanese woman under 2:27:00. The only real contender to do that among the women is Mizuki Nishimura , running her first marathon off a 1:41:42 CR at the Kumanichi 30k in February. Given the Tenmaya corporate team's track record of success in the marathon, including the current women's NR of 2:18:59, her chances are pretty good. Ayumi Morita ran a 2:31:38 PB in Tokyo last year, but it's a big jump for her to get down to 2:26 and it'll mostly be a question of whether Nishimura executes the same way she did at Kumanichi. For men there are 6 under 2:09:00 in the last 3 years, with Ryoma T...
Post a Comment
Read more