Hyogo Scores First National Women's Ekiden Title in Fourteen Years

Hyogo Prefecture dominated the second half of Sunday’s National Women’s Ekiden, moving up through the field with three straight stage wins to take its first national title in 14 years.

In a repeat of her performance at last month’s National High School Ekiden, Hyogo’s Nozomi Tanaka went out front early before getting run down late in the opening stage, leading Hyogo off in 5th. Over the first half of the race the perpetually strong Osaka and Nagano emerged as the frontrunners before a brilliant Fourth Stage course record by Ririka Hironaka brought Nagasaki into the picture.

Nagasaki’s fifth runner Chikako Mori extended the lead Hironaka built to 37 seconds with a stage win, but behind her Hyogo’s Mai Ota brought a big run to pass Osaka and Nagano and move into 2nd. A stage win from sixth runner Yume Goto put Hyogo just 2 seconds behind Nagasaki, and with another pair of stage wins from its next two runners Chinatsu Tarumoto and Asuka Ishimatsu Nagasaki was over a minute up going into the 10 km final stage.

Barring disaster there was little chance that Hyogo anchor Yui Fukuda would be caught, and with a solid 31:51 she brought the team to a surprise national title. Further back Mao Ichiyama and Rei Ohara, two of the stars of last month’s Sanyo Ladies Half Marathon, shook up the top five with the two fastest times on the anchor leg, Ichiyama outkicking Nagasaki’s Keiko Nogami in the home straight to move hosts Kyoto into 2nd and Ohara delivering a stage-winning 31:38 to overtake Osaka for 4th. Early contender Nagano fell to 9th by race’s end, just 3 seconds outside the eight-deep podium.

36th National Women’s Ekiden

Kyoto, 1/14/18
47 teams, 9 stages, 42.195 km
click here for complete results

Stage Best Performances
First Stage (6.0 km) – Rina Nabeshima (Kochi) – 19:29
Second Stage (4.0 km) – Yuna Wada (Nagano) – 12:25
Third Stage (3.0 km) – Seira Fuwa (Gunma) – 9:14
Fourth Stage (4.0 km) – Ririka Hironaka (Nagasaki) – 12:32 – CR
Fifth Stage (4.1075 km) – Chikako Mori (Nagasaki) / Reimi Yoshimura (Kanagawa) – 13:04
Sixth Stage (4.0875 km) – Yume Goto (Hyogo) – 12:56
Seventh Stage (4.0 km) – Chinatsu Tarumoto (Hyogo) – 12:27
Eighth Stage (3.0 km) – Asuka Ishimatsu (Hyogo) – 9:42
Ninth Stage (10.0 km) – Rei Ohara (Okayama) – 31:38

Top Team Results
1. Hyogo – 2:15:28
2. Kyoto – 2:16:41
3. Nagasaki – 2:16:42
4. Okayama – 2:17:00
5. Osaka – 2:17:15
6. Kanagawa – 2:17:23
7. Fukuoka – 2:17:40
8. Aichi – 2:17:44
9. Nagano – 2:17:47
10. Shizuoka – 2:17:59

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance? Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance. This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere. It was put into place in 1986. In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made. Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km. When a bicycle is u...

Gold Coast Half Marathon Elite Field

Over the weekend the Gold Coast Marathon announced its elite fields for the China Airlines Half Marathon the day before the main race. For the last couple of years there's been a friendly rivalry between Gold Coast and Tasmania's Launceston Half a month earlier to produce the fastest times ever on Australian soil. Gold Coast has had the women's record for a few years since American Keira D'Amato ran 1:06:39 in 2023, and last year it added the men's record with a 1:01:08 from Andy Buchanan . Launceston took the men's record this year with a 1:00:41 from Haftu Strintzos , and women's winner Izzi Batt-Doyle ran a course record 1:08:46, the fastest time ever by an Australia in Australia. NR holder Batt-Doyle is the favorite again in the women's race at Gold Coast. Women-only half marathon NR holder Rino Goshima has run as fast as 1:08:03, but since moving up to the marathon she hasn't anything near that kind of time, and a 33:12 at the B.A.A. 10 km ...

japan running news

Search This Blog