Yachiyo Kogyo Leads Start to Finish to Win 70th Towada Hachimantai Ekiden

25 teams from 11 prefectures took part in the 70th anniversary running of the 5-stage, 73.7 km Towada Hachimantai Ekiden on Aug. 7. Saitama's Yachiyo Kogyo corporate team scored its first-ever victory in 3:50:00. ND Software took 2nd and Subaru 3rd, with two-time defending champion Yakult falling to 4th. Kazuno T&F Assoc. was the top local team at 10th overall.

The race began at 8:00 a.m. on the shores of Lake Towada in Aomori. Mid-race temperatures around 30 degrees were recorded in Kazuno, but despite the heat and strong sunlight the athletes on each team gave it their best to ensure their tasuki would make it to the next runner.

On the tough and hilly 13.6 km First Stage Yachiyo Kogyo's Abiyot Abinet took an early lead. Yakult rookie Yuji Asaishi was only 7th. On the downhill 13.4 km Second Stage Yakult's Bernard Kimani ran the fastest time on the stage to move into 3rd, but Yachiyo Kogyo's Takahiro Yagihara ran a strong stage 3rd-best time to maintain the lead.

On the 16.2 km Third Stage through central Kazuno, Yakult's Yusuke Ogura, a two-time stage winner at the Hakone Ekiden, ran the stage's second-best time to close to within 51 seconds of Yachiyo Kogyo. The race's longest stage, the 16.4 km Fourth Stage, saw ND Software move into 2nd thanks to a stage best by Akito Terui. Yakult rookie Rintaro Takeda struggled, losing ground as he finished only 10th on the stage on time.

Subaru anchor Tsukasa Koyama ran the second-fastest time on the 14.1 km, 575 m climb Fifth Stage to go from 6th to 3rd overall, but Yachiyo Kogyo's Kazuyoshi Chiba was out of range. Yachiyo Kogyo led the entire race from start to finish. Head coach Yoshiki Koichi commented, "Every one of our athletes had the will to win. We were able to take our first title thanks to the growth produced through serious training, and I am very happy."

Of the five local teams to take part, the Kazuno T&F Assoc. team had the best placing at 10th. Akita T&F Assoc. was 13th, Daisen-Senboku T&F Assoc. 22nd, Akita University 23rd and Odate Hokushu T&F Assoc. 25th. Kazuno Fourth Stage runner Takaaki Abe, a graduate of Hanawa H.S., commented, "Everyone on our team ran their best. Personally speaking, I had lost some time in training due to injury so my result wasn't what I was hoping for, but it was a lot of fun to be able to run on home ground being cheered on by local friends."

70th Towada Hachimantai Ekiden

Aomori, Akita, 8/7/17
25 teams, 5 stages, 73.7 km
click here for complete results

Top Team Results
1. Yachiyo Kogyo - 3:50:00
2. ND Software - 3:52:13
3. Subaru - 3:53:16
4. Yakult - 3:53:35
5. Komori Corp. - 3:54:03

Stage Best Performances
First Stage (13.6 km) - Abiyot Abinet (Yachiyo Kogyo) - 39:06
Second Stage (13.4 km) - Bernard Kimani (Yakult) - 36:14
Third Stage (16.2 km) - Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) - 46:23
Fourth Stage (16.4 km) - Akito Terui (ND Software) - 51:20
Fifth Stage (14.1 km, 575 m climb) - Yuya Yamashita (Sunbelx A) - 51:18

source article:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/local/akita/news/20170808-OYTNT50195.html
translated by Brett Larner

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...

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...

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...

japan running news

Search This Blog