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Aoyama Gakuin Back on Top of Izumo Ekiden



Leading start to finish, 2015-2016 Izumo Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University overcame last year's winner Tokai University and a tough challenge from Toyo University to win Izumo's 30th anniversary edition.

In hot and sunny conditions that followed the passing of Typhoon #25 AGU's Taisei Hashizume got things rolling, opening a six-second lead over Toyo's Akira Aizawa on the 8.0 km First Stage. Tokai's Yuichiro Nishikawa was 20 seconds back in 6th.

Takato Suzuki increased AGU's lead on the 5.8 km Second Stage with a 16:26 stage win. Indoor mile national record holder Ryoji Tatezawa was next-fastest in 16:29, running down four teams including Toyo to put the defending champs into 2nd. The lone crack in Toyo's armor, Kazuya Nishiyama ran only 16:54 to drop Toyo back to 3rd some 34 seconds off the lead.

Back in 4th place, Takushoku University captain Workneh Derese ran a 25:17stage best on the 8.5 km Third Stage to overtake both Toyo and Tokai, but with AGU's Homare Morita running 25:21 the lead was out of reach. Tokai's Reiri Nakashima struggled, running only the 12th-fastest time of the stage and dropping behind Toyo's Shuji Yamamoto into 4th.

An 18:00 win by Keita Yoshida on the 6.2 km Fourth Stage gave AGU its biggest lead of the day, 45 seconds, while Toyo moved into 2nd overall thanks to a solid 18:09 run from Ryo Kozasa. Tokai's top talent Hayato Seki was 2nd on stage time in 18:06 but couldn't catch Takushoku's Ryosuke Tobe, holding steading in 4th.

On the final two stages it was up to Toyo and Tokai to play catchup. Toyo's Shunsuke Imanishi and Hirotsugu Yoshikawa both won their stages, Imanishi cutting AGU's lead down to 27 seconds on the 6.4 km Fifth Stage to put Yoshikawa into excellent position for the 10.2 km anchor stage. Yoshikawa gave it everything he had, closing to within 3 seconds just before 5 km, AGU anchor Naoto Takeishi judged things perfectly, accelerating just before halfway to drop Yoshikawa and reopen the gap to 12 seconds. With this classic ekiden strategy AGU took the win in 2:11:58, Toyo coming across next in 2:12:10.

Further back, Tokai's fifth man Akihiro Gunji caught Takushoku's Ryotaro Yoshihara to move into 3rd, anchor Shun Yuzawa holding on to bring Tokai home in 2:13:31. Takushoku was a surprising 4th thanks in part to the stage win by its Ethiopian team captain.

Because of the lure of the season-ending Hakone Ekiden the schools in the Kanto Region tend to have a lopsided advantage over the rest of the country. With ten Kanto teams at Izumo it's always notable when a team from elsewhere breaks into the top ten. Pre-race Kyoto's Ritsumeikan University said its goal was to make the top six. Heading into the final stage it was in 10th, but anchor Ryuto Yoshioka ran the fifth-fastest time on his leg to move up into 7th, just 3 seconds behind Chuo Gakuin University's Hiroto Ishiwata. A potential top-five placer on paper, the American Ivy League Select Team was only 11th despite a fast anchor stage run by Matthew McDonald.

The top three teams' results at this year's Izumo and that of Ritsumeikan showed the importance of a strong team performance and how every member counts. Winner AGU took three stage bests and put its other three men into 2nd on their stages. If Toyo's Nishiyama had been closer to potential, say 20 seconds faster, it would have been enough to overtake AGU for the win. Tokai's team position might not have changed had Nakashima also been up to his usual ability, but if the defending champs had been in the mix up front earlier on the dynamic in the rest of the race would definitely have been different.

The top three and the best of the rest meet up next at the season's second big university ekiden, the 50th anniversary National University Men's Ekiden Championships on November 4.

30th Izumo Ekiden

Izumo, Shimane, 10/8/18
21 teams, 6 stages, 45.1 km
complete results

Top Team Performances
1. Aoyama Gakuin University - 2:11:58
2. Toyo University - 2:12:10
3. Tokai University - 2:13:31
4. Takushoku University - 2:14:16
5. Teikyo University - 2:15:02
6. Chuo Gakuin University - 2:15:04
7. Ritsumeikan University - 2:15:07
8. Josai University - 2:15:11
9. Nittai University - 2:15:31
10. Waseda University - 2:15:34
11. Ivy League Select Team - 2:16:01
12. Hosei University - 2:16:14

Top Individual Stage Performances
First Stage (8.0 km)
1. Taisei Hashizume (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 23:15
2. Akira Aizawa (Toyo Univ.) - 23:21
3. Tomoya Ogikubo (Josai Univ.) - 23:28
-----
8. Jordan Mann (Ivy League) - 23:51

Second Stage (5.8 km)
1. Takato Suzuki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 16:26
2. Ryoji Tatezawa (Tokai Univ.) - 16:29
3. Kaisei Kakino (Takushoku Univ.) - 16:47
-----
7. Dan Nestor (Ivy League) - 17:02

Third Stage (8.5 km)
1. Workneh Derese (Takushoku Univ.) - 25:17
2. Homare Morita (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 25:21
3. Shuji Yamamoto (Toyo Univ.) - 25:23
-----
13. Kevin Dooney (Ivy League) - 26:16

Fourth Stage (6.2 km)
1. Keita Yoshida (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 18:00
2. Hayato Seki (Tokai Univ.) - 18:06
3. Ken Meguriya (Nittai Univ.) - 18:08
-----
14. Brian Elmstad (Ivy League) - 19:09

Fifth Stage (6.4 km)
1. Shunsuke Imanishi (Toyo Univ.) - 18:30
2. Atsuya Ubukata (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 18:48
3. Akihiro Gunji (Tokai Univ.) - 18:51
-----
11. Julian Heninger (Ivy League) - 19:28

Sixth Stage (10.2 km)
1. Hirotsugu Yoshikawa (Toyo Univ.) - 29:53
2. Naoto Takeishi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 30:08
3. Matthew McDonald (Ivy League) - 30:15

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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