World U20 Bronze Medalist Wesley Ledama Breaks CR by Over One Minute at Towada Hachimantai Ekiden

by Brett Larner

Just 17 years old, 2016 Bydgoszcz World U20 Championships men's 5000 m bronze medalist Wesley Ledama of Kenya turned up at Akita's Towada Hachimantai Ekiden running for the Subaru corporate team to rock a new record on the 13.6 km First Stage. Hammering experienced 32-year-old Ethiopian Kassa Mekashaw (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) into the ground, Ledama took almost a minute and a half off the 39:49 stage record set last year by Kenyan Charles Ndungu (Team Komori Corp.) as he handed off in 1st in 38:28. Mekashaw likewise broke the record, next into the first exchange zone in 38:35, with Yuki Takamiya (Team Yakult A), the top Japanese man at this year's Tokyo Marathon and winner on Towada's First Stage in 2014, 3rd in 40:27.

Both Yachiyo Kogyo and Yakult ran down Subaru on the 13.4 km Second Stage, stage record holder Bernard Kimanyi (Team Yakult A) coming just 2 seconds short of Shota Kai (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) for the lead at the second exchange zone. Shun Inoura (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) built his team's lead back up to 27 seconds on the 16.2 km Third Stage, but on the 16.4 km Fourth Stage Yakult's Ryu Takaku overtook Yachiyo Kogyo's Kazuyoshi Chiba and opened a 21-second lead before handing off to anchor Masahiro Kawaguchi.

Facing 14.1 km of steep uphill Kawaguchi ran strong, extending Yakult's lead to 53 seconds to win for the second year in a row in 3:48:57. Yachiyo Kogyo, with a solid team performance that saw four of its five runners make the top three on their stages, was 2nd in 3:49:50. Last year's runner-up Komori Corporation, short its Olympian ringer Ronald Kwemoi, caught Subaru on the Third Stage for 3rd and held on to that position for the rest of the race, finishing in 3:51:53.

69th Towada Hachimantai Ekiden
Kazuno, Akita, 8/7/16
5 stages, 73.7 km, 37 teams
click here for complete results

Top Team Results
1. Yakult A - 3:48:57
2. Yachiyo Kogyo - 3:49:50
3. Komori Corp. - 3:51:53
4. Subaru - 3:53:44
5. JR Higashi Nihon - 3:55:50
-----
DNF - Comody Iida

Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage - 13.6 km
1. Wesley Ledama (Subaru) - 38:28 - CR
2. Kassa Mekashaw (Yachiyo Kogyo) - 38:35 (CR)
3. Yuki Takamiya (Yakult A) - 40:27

Second Stage - 13.4 km
1. Bernard Kimanyi (Yakult A) - 36:09
2. David Njuguna (Yakult B) - 37:32
3. Shota Kai (Yachiyo Kogyo) - 37:59

Third Stage - 16.2 km
1. Charles Ndungu (Komori Corp.) - 47:27
2. Shun Inoura (Yachiyo Kogyo) - 48:12
3. Cyrus Njui (Team M&K) - 48:13

Fourth Stage - 16.4 km
1. Shoya Kurokawa (JR Higashi Nihon) - 50:42
2. Ryu Takaku (Yakult A) - 50:46
3. Kazuyoshi Chiba (Yachiyo Kogyo) - 51:34

Fifth Stage - 14.1 km uphill
1. Shun Gorotani (Comody Iida) - 52:20
2. Sho Sakuma (Komori Corp.) - 52:43
3. Masahiro Kawaguchi (Yakult A) - 52:58

© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...

Long Time Coming - Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera's Road to the 2022 United Airlines NYC Half

Back in pre-pandemic days Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera were still in college, Akasaki at Takushoku University and Onodera at Teikyo University . At the 2019 Ageo City Half Marathon they frontran most of the race together, dead set on finishing in the top two Japanese collegiate spots to win invitations to the 2020 United Airlines NYC Half. For Akasaki it had already been a year and a half wait. Inspired by Kenta Murayama 's 1:00:57 5th place in finish in New York in 2017 and Kei Katanishi 's 7th-place in 2018, Akasaki went for it his junior year in his debut at the 2018 Ageo Half . "Coming up to 10 km I was in the lead pack and feeling good, so I knew I had a shot at going to New York and got pretty excited," he said. But right after the 10 km turnaround point he tripped and fell, and by the time he was back up the lead group was out of range. He finished 20th in 1:03:07, over a minute and a half behind top Japanese university man Ken Nakayama . "I was f...

My Training for 1:00:44

Hi, I'm Ayumu Kobayashi . Today I'm going to write about this year's National Corporate Half Marathon and the training I did for it. I hope other runners will find it even a little bit helpful. At the Corporate Half on Feb. 13 I was 10th in 1:00:44. My goal had been to run 61 minutes, so I hit that target. My Training Menu In January I ran a total of 681 km. Key workouts: Jan. 11: 1000 m x 5 at 2:50/km Jan. 12: 22.5 km Jan. 15: 9 km variable pace Jan. 17: 25 km Jan. 24: 1000 m x 8 at 2:52/km Jan. 27: 1 km + 4 km + 2 km Jan. 30: 16 km at 3:18/km avg. In January I was tired from the New Year Ekiden and had some knee pain after it, so I just jogged for 10 days until I started doing workouts again on the 11th. That's why I only ran 681 km for the month. But even on the jog days I was aware that I had the Corporate Half coming up, so I was doing around 30 km. It's pretty meat and potatoes, but I think it was really important. February (training for the 10 days before...

japan running news

Search This Blog