A Mid-Ekiden Season's Weekend Preview

Ekiden season rolls on. Sunday in Fukushima is the 34th running of the East Japan Women's Ekiden, a miniature version of January's National Women's Ekiden featuring teams made up of the best J.H.S., H.S., university, corporate and club runners from each of the 18 prefectures in eastern Japan. Most notable on the entry list is Tokyo's Hitomi Niiya, all-time Japanese #3 for 10000 m and working her way back from a five-year retirement in hopes of making the Tokyo 2020 team. Fuji TV will broadcast the race live from noon to 2:30 p.m. Japan time.

Following last weekend's East Japan and Kyushu corporate men's regional New Year Ekiden national championships qualifiers, the Kansai and Chugoku regions hold their qualifiers Sunday in Wakayama and Hiroshima. Top-placing teams from each region will go on to the New Year Ekiden on January 1st, with Sumitomo Denko and Chugoku Denryoku, featuring 2018 Hokkaido Marathon winner Naoki Okamoto, the favorites. The Kansei Corporate Ekiden will be streamed live on Youtube at the link below starting at 9:10 a.m. Japan time.

For East Japan university and corporate men it's a weekend off from actual ekiden racing, but there's never a weekend fully off. After adding the 2018 National University Ekiden title to its collection last week, Aoyama Gakuin University tunes up for a shot at a fifth-straight Hakone Ekiden win at Tokyo's Setagaya 246 Half Marathon, AGU's half marathon of choice over next weekend's Ageo City Half Marathon where most other Hakone-bound schools line up.

Many of those programs and a range of high school and corporate teams will have people on the track at Yokohama's Nittai University Time Trials as a workout geared toward the different upcoming national championship ekidens. Notables include 2018 World U20 Championships 3000 m gold medalist Nozomi Tanaka (ND28 AC), Harumi Okamoto (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo), who blacked out while leading last month's National Corporate Women's Ekiden Qualifier, National University Ekiden standout Yuhi Nakaya (Waseda Univ.) and world-level medalist Kenyans William Malel (Honda) and Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu).

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

World Championships Medalist Racewalking Coach Mizuho Sakai Recognized With Highest Coaching Honor

The 2023 Mizuno Sports Mentor Awards recognizing excellence in coaching were held Apr. 23 in Tokyo. Toyo University assistant coach and race walking coach Mizuho Sakai was given a gold award, the program's highest honor, and expressed her thanks and joy in a speech at the award ceremony. The coach of 2023 Budapest World Championships men's 35 km race walk bronze medalist Masatora Kawano , Sakai said, "This is an incredible honor and I'm truly grateful. As a child I wanted to be in the sporting world and I've spent my life in that world. My end goal was always to play a supporting role for other athletes, so I'm honored to be recognized in this way." Sakai's husband Toshiyuki Sakai , head coach of Toyo's three-time Hakone Ekiden champion team, attended the awards gala with her and was also introduced to the audience. After bowing he took a seat in front of her and watched with warmth as she received recognition for her outstanding work. The Mizun

Hirabayashi Runs PB at Shanghai Half, WR Holder Nakata Dominates Fuji Five Lakes - Weekend Road Roundup

Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57. Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon , with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half

Okumoto and Kondo Score Silver and Bronze - U20 Asian Championships Day One

The U20 Asian Athletics Championships started Wednesday in Dubai, U.A.E. Narumi Okumoto (Hitachi) and Nozomi Kondo (Meijo Univ.) scored Japan's first two medals in the women's 3000 m, running behind leader Yaxuan Li of China over the first 1000 m. Kondo lost touch after the first 1000 m, while Okumoto lasted another 1000 m with Li. Li took gold in 9:12.79, Okumoto silver in 9:25.19 and Kondo bronze in 9:38.91. In qualifying rounds: Both Yuri Nishida (Ritsumeikan Univ.) and Sari Kameda (Kyoto Kyoiku Univ.) won their women's 800 m heats and advanced to the next round, Nishida in a PB 2:07.36 and Kamei in 2:10.87, also a PB. Shota Fuchigami (Waseda Univ.) won his 400 mH heat in a PB 50.19 to make the final. Hiroto Shogomori (Chuo Univ.) was 2nd in his 400 m heat in 47.37, yet another athlete to run a PB, moving on to the semifinals. The lone female sprinter on the Japanese team, Misaki Morimoto (Sonoda Joshi Gakuen Univ.) won her 100 m heat in 12.20 (-1.4) and advance

japan running news

Search This Blog