While the girls' race was a blowout by 2022 champ Nagano Higashi H.S. , the boys' race at Sunday's National High School Ekiden was a tense battle of turnover that saw all of the final top four teams take a stab at leading. 2023 3rd-placer Yachiyo Shoin H.S. handled the first 2 of the 7 stages in the 42.195 km race, with lead runner Rui Suzuki delivering a bold run on the 10.0 km First Stage that produced the fastest-ever time by a Japanese runner on the stage, 28:43, and put Yachiyo Shoin 29 seconds out front. Last year's Fifth Stage CR breaker Tetsu Suzuki ran Yachiyo Shoin down to put 2023 champ Saku Chosei H.S. into 1st on the 8.1075 km Third Stage, but Genta Sugano of last year's 8th-placer Sendai Ikuei H.S. had other plans and took the lead on the 8.0875 km Fourth Stage. Smiling and fist pumping to the crowd almost the entire way, Taketo Tsukada of last year's 6th-placer Omuta H.S. moved up from 3rd to 1st by 2 seconds over Saku Chosei on the 3.0 k...
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Comments
I have just seen the news in The Guardian and I thought... OK Brett should have written something about it!
I think it is, finally, a sensible decision by the organisation, but it seems a mess to decide it now. What was the point of doing the Trials in the original course, then? And if volunteers and spectators have already arranged trips and accommodation mainly or even just to see the marathon? This is outrageous!!!
And there many other outdoor endurance events which will be dangerous because of heat and humidity. Are they going to move all of them to Sapporo? Ridiculous...
Anyway, neither Tokyo or Sapporo reaches the over 40C heat and the high humidity that the runners faced in Doha.
I was planning to visit Tokyo during the summer Olympics because even though I cannot afford tickets to other events I thought I could participate in cheering on the athletes in the marathon. With the marathon moving to Sapporo, I have cancelled my trip to Japan.
Hokkaido 2020 is better for doped athletes
because the harsh climatic conditions are more favorable for athletes "clean"