Skip to main content

Ritsumeikan Closes Year With Win at New Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden

by Brett Larner

Kyoto's Ritsumeikan University closed out Japan's last elite race of 2013 with a national title at the new Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden, a relaunch of the short-lived National University Women's Invitational Ekiden Championships previously held in Tsukuba, Ibaraki.  First-year Nanako Kanno got Ritsumeikan off to a good start on the 6.6 km First Stage and from there Ritsumeikan led the entire race, five of its seven women winning their stages.  Senior Akane Yabushita brought the team home on the challenging Seventh Stage, 7.7 km with 166 m elevation gain, the team covering the 43.4 km course in 2:21:48.

Ritsumeikan's nearest competitor, Kagoshima's Kanoya Taiiku University, was over two minutes behind, 2nd in 2:23:58.  Top-ranked Kanto Region school Daito Bunka University took 3rd in 2:24:44.  On the individual level only Minami Nakaarai (Osaka Gakugei Univ.) and Sairi Maeda (Bukkyo Univ.) were able to make dent in Ritsumeikan's armor, winning the Second and Fourth Stages.  With only two graduating seniors Ritsumeikan, the most successful university women's team in Japanese history, looks set for the start of another dynasty after a few rocky years.

2013 Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden
National University Women's Invitational Ekiden Championships
Fujinomiya, Shizuoka, 12/23/13
20 teams, 7 stages, 43.4 km
click here for complete results

Top Team Results
1. Ritsumeikan University - 2:21:48
2. Kanoya Taiiku University - 2:23:58
3. Daito Bunka University - 2:24:44
4. Meijo University - 2:25:07
5. Osaka Gakugei University - 2:25:56
6. Matsuyama University - 2:26:57
7. Bukkyo University - 2:27:01
8. Josai University - 2:27:10
9. Tamagawa University - 2:28:15
10. West Japan University Select Team - 2:28:22

Stage Best Performances
First Stage (6.6 km) - Nanako Kanno (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 20:02
Second Stage (3.5 km) - Minami Nakaarai (Osaka Gakugei Univ.) - 10:43
Third Stage (4.4 km) - Shoko Sonoda (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 13:54
Fourth Stage (9.4 km) - Sairi Maeda (Bukkyo Univ.) - 30:57
Fifth Stage (5.0 km) - Natsuki Omori (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:29
Sixth Stage (6.8 km) - Ayako Mitsui (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 22:30
Seventh Stage (7.7 km) - Akane Yabushita (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 27:15

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...
4 comments
Read more

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance?  Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance.  This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere.  It was put into place in 1986.  In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made.  Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km.  When a bicycle is u...
2 comments
Read more

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...
2 comments
Read more