Skip to main content

Toyokawa Girls Win Record-Setting Fourth Title at 25th National High School Girls Ekiden

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20131222-00000075-spnannex-spo

translated and edited by Brett Larner
click photo for video highlights courtesy of NHK

The 25th edition of the National High School Girls Ekiden Championships took place Dec. 22 in Kyoto.  In honor of the event's anniversary, eleven extra teams were added to the forty-seven champion high schools from each of Japan's prefectures to bring the field up to fifty-eight schools competing over five stages totalling 21.0975 km.

After missing out on defending its 2011 win last year, Toyokawa H.S. of Aichi returned to the top this year with its fourth national title, the most in Nationals history.  2010 national champion Kojokan H.S. (Okayama) took 2nd, battling Suma Gakuen H.S. (Hyogo) all the way to the final Fifth Stage before pulling ahead for the runner-up position.  Defending champion Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. (Kyoto) was 4th.

Winner Toyokawa's time of 1:06:54 tied the second-fastest mark ever at the National Championships, the first sub-1:07 clocking in eight years and blowing out the rest of the field by nearly a minute.  With its 2nd place finish Kojokan continued a ten-year streak of making it to the podium.

25th National High School Girls Ekiden Championships
Kyoto, Dec. 22, 2013
58 teams, 5 stages, 21.0975 km
click here for complete results

Top Team Performances
1. Toyokawa H.S. (Aichi) - 1:06:54
2. Kojokan H.S. (Okayama) - 1:07:51
3. Suma Gakuen H.S. (Hyogo) - 1:07:53
4. Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. (Kyoto) - 1:07:55
5. Aomori Yamada H.S. (Aomori) - 1:08:11
6. Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S (Yamanashi) - 1:08:21
7. Tokiwa H.S, (Gunma) - 1:08:33
8. Osaka Kunei Joshi H.S. (Osaka) - 1:08:33
9. Eda H.S. (Kanagawa) - 1:08:40
10. Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 1:09:09

Stage Best Performances
First Stage (6.0 km) - Saki Yoshimizu (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 19:28
Second Stage (4.0975 km) - Yui Fukuda (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 12:44
Third Stage (3.0 km) - Nanako Kajiya (Toyokawa H.S.) - 9:33
Fourth Stage (3.0 km) - Harumi Okamoto (Tokiwa H.S.) - 9:10
Fifth Stage (5.0 km) - Rosemary Wanjiru (Kenya/Aomori Yamada H.S.) - 15:29
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...
2 comments
Read more

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...
8 comments
Read more

Route Inn Hotels Win National Corporate Women's Ekiden Qualifier for First Time

After Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race in Tokyo, 2nd-tier corporate women's teams were in Fukuoka for their own national championships qualifying race, the Princess Ekiden . With Queens Ekiden 19-placer Otsuka Seiyaku a DNS, 30 teams lined up for the 6-stage, 42.195 km race where the top 16 would go on to join the top 8 from last year's Queens Ekiden at next month's national race. Coming right in the middle of the international fall marathon season several teams had people still tired from Berlin and Chicago, with Daihatsu fielding Rika Kaseda and Natsuki Omori from Berlin, Tokyo Metro sending out its own Berlin duo of Mao Uesugi and Ayumi Morita , and Kraftia not playing its top member Yuka Akasaki after her solid run in Chicago last week. After a fast start from eventual 9th-placer Denso 's Rio Matsutani , Daihatsu took over on the Second Stage and held it until the Fifth, where a tired Omori dropped to 3rd. Mayuka Fujita from Route Inn H...
2 comments
Read more