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

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...

Mashiko Breaks U20 5000 m NR - Weekend Track Roundup

Saturday's Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto was the weekend's main event in Japanese track, but there were good results at the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama too. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) led the men's 5000 m A-heat at Kanakuri in 13:14.06, with Tomonori Yamaguchi (SGH) clocking the fastest Japanese time in 13:16.38 in his first race as a corporate leaguer. Waseda University duo Rui Suzuki and Yota Mashiko went 6-7 in 13:20.64 and 13:22.87, the 18-year-old Mashiko shaving 0.04 off the U20 NR. In 8th, Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) ran a PB of 13:23.92. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) continued to struggle after a weak indoor season, finishing 18th of 20 finishers in 13:45.10. 19-year-old Festus Kimorwo (Kurosaki Harima) was under 13:20 in the B-heat too, winning in a 13:19.59 PB. 2 more collegiate men broke 13:30, Daichi Fujita (Chuo Univ.) 8th in 13:28.93 and Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) 9th in 13:29.09. The top 6 in the men's 800 m A-hea...