Skip to main content

Ritsumeikan Wins Tango University Ekiden - Weekend Race Roundup

The Ageo City Half Marathon, which saw new men's and women's course records and a Swedish national record, was the biggest race of the weekend, but across the country and abroad were a half dozen other events with quality Japanese athletes.

Saturday morning in Kyoto was the Tango University Ekiden, the 80th edition of the Kansai Region's university men's ekiden championships. Last year's runner-up Ritsumeikan University finished up a strong season with a decision win, leading start to finish to cover the 8-stage, 84.1 km course in 4:16:00. 2017 winner Kwansei Gakuin University got off to a slow start, 44 seconds behind Ritsumeikan in 5th after the first stage and spending the rest of the race trying to catch up. After six stages it was only 26 seconds behind, but a 35:00 stage record for the 11.7 km anchor leg by Ristumeikan's Shinji Koiwa meant the end of Kwansei Gakuin's hopes. Kyoto Sangyo University was 3rd, briefly threatened mid-race by Hyogo Gakuin University but safely regaining its position.

Saturday evening saw corporate leaguers lining up for mid-season workouts at the Chugoku Corporate Time Trials meet in Hiroshima. Kohei Futaoka (Chundeko) took the top spot in the men's 10000 m in 28:38.17, beating Kenyan Cyrus Kingori (SGH Group) by 7 seconds. Yumika Katayama (Wacoal) won the women's 3000 m in 9:18.72, with her teammate Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) taking the 5000 m in 15:42.30. National record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) was 6th in 15:50.63.

Sunday morning saw the Kobe Marathon make its debut as an IAAF bronze label race. Defending men's champ Khalil Lemciyeh (Morocco) took the lead after 10 km and never looked back, easily winning in 2:13:54. Runner-up Liam Adams (Australia) reeled in Hamza Sahili (Morocco) at 30 km before dropping him to take 2nd in 2:14:38, the fastest time of the year by an Australian man. Sora Tsukada (SGH Group) was the top Japanese man at 5th in 2:19:26.

The women's race in Kobe was a duel between Mongolian national record holder Munkhzaya Bayartsogt and Kenyan Susan Jerotich that went all the way to end before Jerotich pulled away for the win in a PB 2:31:38. Bayartsogt finished 10 seconds back in 2:31:48 just over 30 seconds off her NR. Nina Savina (Belarus) rounded out the top three in 2:33:36 with Miki Yokogawa (Hyogo Univ.) the top Japanese woman at 7th in 2:49:21.

Also Sunday morning, corporate men's qualification for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national championships wrapped up with the combined Chubu and Hokuriku Corporate Men's Ekidens. Toyota won the Chubu division for the fifth year in a row, running the 7-stage, 80.5 km course in 3:54:56 to lead seven qualifying teams. YKK won the Hokuriku division, with a total of two teams from that region advancing to the New Year Ekiden.

Overseas, several university women and men made their annual pilgrimage to the Netherlands' Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km. In a race that saw a new men's world record of 41:05 from Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda), Yuya Yoshida (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) took the top Japanese spot at 10th in 44:31. Ryuichi Hashimoto (Juntendo Univ.) was 13th in 44:58. Rika Kaseda (Meijo Univ.) was the top Japanese woman at 7th in 49:30 just over two minutes behind winner Stella Chesang (Uganda). Yukina Ueda (Tsukuba Univ.) also made the top 10 at 8th in 50:13, with Hikaru Sudo (Tohoku Fukushi Univ.) 11th in 51:24 and Ayaka Ogumi (Tamagawa Univ.) 13th in 52:37.

text and photos © 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...
1 comment
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview

The Nagoya Women's Marathon , the world's largest women-only marathon and the last race in the selection cycle for September's Tokyo World Championships, happens Sunday. Weather conditions are looking better than what they had in Tokyo and Osaka the last two weekends, 7Ëš at the start and rising to 12Ëš with sunny skies. The wind looks a bit stronger than ideal, but it could be worse. Fuji TV has the live broadcast starting at 9:00 a.m. Sunday local time, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch the TVer streaming . One option for  a leaderboard is here , and another here . We'll have some coverage on @JRNLive . Just like last time around there are three Ethiopian and Kenyan-born athletes at the top list, this time it being sub-2:20 women Sheila Chepkirui , winner in NYC last year, and Ruti Aga , winner in Xiamen in January, and last year's Nagoya runner-up Eunice Chebichii Chumba . But last year Yuka Ando still pulled off the win, so there's a c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...
1 comment
Read more