Japan Post Leads Start to Finish to Win National Corporate Women's Ekiden

2016 national champion Japan Post led start to finish to win the 2019 Queen's Ekiden, the National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships in one of the closest finishes in the event's history. Running on her 19th birthday, Japan Post's star rookie Ririka Hironaka took control early, pushing the pace and kicking from 2 km out on the 7 km First Stage to open 20 seconds on two-time defending champ Panasonic and break the course record by 18 seconds. Miyaka Sugata more than doubled the lead on the 3.9 km Second Stage, with third runner Ayuko Suzuki, one of the two women to have qualified so far for the 2020 Olympic marathon team, losing only 6 seconds to Panasonic's Yuka Hori.

Hori brought Panasonic back into 2nd after a rocky Second Stage, but further back last year's 2nd and 3rd place teams Tenmaya and Daihatsu got off to slow starts, Daihatsu 8th on the opening stage and only up to 7th by the end of the Third Stage, and Tenmaya going from 11th to 18th and back to 11th over the first three stages. As Japan Post and Panasonic held steady in the top two spots both Tenmaya and Daihatsu rapidly moved up through the field, both teams scoring stage best times in the second half.

At the start of the 6.795 km anchor stage Japan Post's lead over Panasonic was 32 seconds, with Daihatsu another 12 seconds back, last year's 5th-placer Wacoal 10 more seconds back and Tenmaya running 5th another 8 seconds behind. Panasonic anchor Yuki Nakamura bore down steadily on Japan Post's Eri Utsunomiya, but running anchor for Daihatsu behind her 10000 m collegiate national record holder Hikari Yoshimoto ran her best performance in years, overtaking Nakamura with less than 400 m to go and closing to within 5 seconds of Utsunomiya on the final lap of the track, determined to give Daihatsu the win in her last race before retiring.

But Utsunomiya held both off, breaking the tape in 2:15:10 to give Japan Post its second national title. Yoshimoto was next in 2:15:15, winning the anchor stage on individual time. Nakamura ended up 3rd in 2:15:21, with Tenmaya's Rei Ohara, 3rd at September's Olympic marathon trials, overtaking Wacoal's Shino Hasegawa for 4th in 2:15:38. Wacoal repeated last year's 5th place finish, with Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo coming back from a DNF last year to score a spot on the podium at 6th. 2013-2015 national champion Denso was 7th, with Toyota Jidoshokki scoring the last podium position in 8th. The top 8 all finished within 1:21 of each other, but over a minute separated Toyota from 9th-placer Sekisui Kagaku.

Queen's Ekiden

National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships
Sendai, Miyagi, 11/24/19
22 teams, 6 stages, 42.195 km
complete results

Top Team Results - top 8 seeded for 2020
1. Japan Post - 2:15:10
2. Daihatsu - 2:15:15
3. Panasonic - 2:15:21
4. Tenmaya - 2:15:38
5. Wacoal - 2:16:07
6. Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo - 2:16:14
7. Denso - 2:16:31
8. Toyota Jidoshokki - 2:16:34
-----
9. Sekisui Kagaku - 2:17:37
10. Edion - 2:17:38

Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (7.0 km) - Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 21:32 - CR
Second Stage (3.9 km) - Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) - 12:06
Third Stage (10.9 km) - Yuka Hori (Panasonic) - 34:36
Fourth Stage (3.6 km) - Husan Zeyituna (Denso) / Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) - 10:58
Fifth Stage (10.0 km) - Sara Miyake (Tenmaya) - 32:33
Sixth Stage (6.795 km) - Hikari Yoshimoto (Daihatsu) - 21:07

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

Restaurant Owner Selected as Olympic Torchbearer Dies in Fire After Becoming Despondent Over Impact of Coronavirus Crisis (updated)

On the evening of Apr. 30, the 54-year-old male owner of a restaurant in Tokyo's Nerima ward specializing in tonkatsu deep fried pork cutlets died from full-body burns in a fire at the restaurant. The man had been one of the people chosen as a torchbearer for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics torch relay. With the coronavirus crisis causing both the postponement of the Olympics and a loss of business at the restaurant, the man had recently started talking pessimistically about the future to those around him. With evidence of the man's body having been doused in tonkatsu cooking oil, metropolitan police from the Hikarigaoka Police Station are carefully examining the cause of the fire. At around 10:00 p.m. on the 30th, the fire broke out in the tonkatsu restaurant on the first floor of a three-story building. A neighborhood resident who noticed smoke called the fire department. Firefighters found the floor and part of a wall burning, with the man lying on the floor in the customer seat...

Kawauchi Wins Inaugural Kawauchi Half Marathon

http://www.minyu-net.com/sports/running/FM20160501-070419.php translated by Brett Larner 川内優輝ロード pic.twitter.com/rEJk7CQPFV — みとっぽ (黒) (@mitoppo_tmyk) April 30, 2016 Yuki Kawauchi Road in Kawauchi, Fukushima Held to inspire former residents to return to the area after the nearby TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident five years ago, the village of Kawauchi held the first " Kawauchi no Sato Kaeru Half Marathon - From Reconstruction to Creation " on April 30. The course started and finished at the village heliport. 1188 runners from across the country gathered to celebrate the village's revival as they ran through its springtime streets. The event's organizing committee was made up of local government and board of education members with support from the Fukushima Minyu Newspaper and other sponsors. The race's purpose was to transmit the vitality and charm of the reconstructing Kawauchi village to the rest of the nation in hopes of helpin...

japan running news

Search This Blog