Skip to main content

Toilet Maker Toto Claims Princess Ekiden Throne to Qualify for National Corporate Women's Ekiden

http://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye2898668.htm

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The Princess Ekiden, gateway to the throne of Japan's ekiden queens.  28 teams competed Oct. 23 for the 14 remaining spots at next month's National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships.

The fierce battle to sit atop the throne started right out of the gate.  Its big movement came on the 3.8 km Fourth Stage.  Shuru Bulo, making her debut for toilet and washlet maker Toto, made up a 46-second deficit to put Toto into the lead by 4 seconds.  From there on out Toto sailed on smoothly and without straining to score its first Princess Ekiden title by 45 seconds over rival Noritz.  The win meant a fourth-straight appearance at Nationals for the Toto team.  Can they become the queens of tomorrow?

More drama was to found further back in the field in the race for the 14th and final ticket to Nationals.  In 14th on the second-to-last stage, the Juhachi Ginko team was overtaken by Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo, dropping out of the qualifying bracket.  With just 1 km to go Juhachi Ginko anchor Yuka Koga caught Route Inn Hotels anchor Suzune Ishikawa, moving back into 14th and sealing ints place on the national stage by a final margin of 12 seconds.

Princess Ekiden
National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships Qualifier
Munakata, Fukuoka, 10/23/16
24 teams, 6 stages, 42.195 km
click here for complete results

Stage Best Performances
First Stage - 7.0 km: Haruna Maekawa (Juhachi Ginko) - 22:34 - CR
Second Stage - 4.0 km: Misaki Tanabe (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 12:23 - CR
Third Stage - 10.3 km: Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) - 33:04
Fourth Stage - 3.8 km: Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) - 11:47
Fifth Stage - 10.4 km: Kyoka Nakagawa (Japan Post) - 35:30
Sixth Stage - 6.695 km: Nozomi Terauchi (Japan Post) - 22:04

Top Team Performances
1. Toto - 2:19:15
2. Noritz - 2:20:00
3. Kyocera - 2:20:11
4. Panasonic - 2:20:14
5. Hokuren - 2:20:16
6. Shimamura - 2:20:25
7. Hitachi - 2:20:42
8. Japan Post - 2:20:45
9. Shiseido - 2:20:50
10. Daihatsu - 2:21:26
11. Wacoal - 2:21:33
12. Yutaka Giken - 2:21:50
13. Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo - 2:22:20
14. Juhachi Ginko - 2:22:45
----- top 14 teams qualify for Nationals
15. Route Inn Hotels - 2:22:57
16. Uniqlo - 2:23:02
17. Otsuka Seiyaku - 2:23:25
18. Edion - 2:23:29
19. Miyazaki Ginko - 2:23:56
20. Sysmex - 2:25:08

Comments

TokyoRacer said…
...without straining, eh?

Most-Read This Week

Endo, Nishikawa and Yamakawa Announce Corporate Team Changes

The SG Holdings men's corporate team announced on Oct. 1 that long-distance athletes Hyuga Endo and Yuichiro Nishikawa have joined its roster after leaving the Sumitomo Denko team. Endo, 28, won the Junior Olympics 3000 m while at Koriyama Nishi J.H.S. before going on to Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. where he was the the top Japanese placer in the 5000 m at the National High School Championships 2 years in a row. After graduating from Gakuho Ishikawa he joined the Sumitomo Denko team, winning the National Championships 5000 m in 2021. He won gold at the 2023 Asian Championships and represented Japan at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. "I will give everything I have as part of the team and work hard toward helping it win the New Year Ekiden," he said of his new environment. Of his personal goals he said, "I want to focus on the 5000 m and reach new levels to compete internationally." Nishikawa, 28, was a member of Tokai University 's winning teams at the H...

3 Athletes Provisionally Suspended After Positive Drug Tests at Asian Games (updated)

The International Testing Agency announced on Oct. 2 that provisional suspensions have been imposed on two athletes, Kazakhstan's Aiana Bolatbekkyzy in track and field, and Tajikistan's Issamjon Sharifov in tennis, after they tested positive for prohibited substances at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Aichi. Bolatbekkyzy, 19, tested positive for the steroid drostanolone in a sample collected during an in-competition test at the Games. A diuretic drug was found in the sample collected from Sharifov, 23. Update:  On Oct. 3 a third athlete, kurash wrestler Yash Kumar Chauhan  of India, was provisionally suspended after an in-competition test detected the steroid metandienone, the metabolic modulator GW1516, and the stimulant mephentermine in his system. source article: https://www.sanspo.com/article/20261002-X4FJLT5MMZKFND6WXPOESAKETQ/ translated by Brett Larner