Like Saturday's National Cross Country Championships going ahead in the face of the COVID-19 coronavirus scare, the Tokyo Tomin Ekiden, the championship ekiden for Tokyo citizens representing their home districts, held its 73rd running Monday along the Arakawa river in the northeastern suburb of Katsushika. 23 teams fielded 6 runners apiece, each of them covering the same 5.0 km stage under beautifully sunny early spring skies.
The First Stage was the fastest of the day, with Takuya Saito of Meguro covering it in 15:00. Starting 40 seconds back in 7th, Shibuya's second runner Gary Wilberforce moved into the top spot just past halfway and pushed on to open a 22-second lead over the Hamura team and win his stage on time. That dropped to 15 seconds on the Third Stage, but with another stage win from fourth runner Issei Mori Shibuya's lead grew to 1:03.
On the Fifth Stage it fell again to 46 seconds due in large part to a stage win from 2nd-place Adachi's fifth runner Shun Komino, but Shibuya anchor Sho Matsumoto succeeded in turning things back around over the second half of his stage, bringing Shibuya home for just its second-ever title in 1:35:00 with a margin of 1:19 over defending champ Adachi. Repping western Tokyo, Mitaka was 3rd in 1:36:51 despite not winning a single individual stage.
73rd Tokyo Tomin Ekiden
Katsushika-ku, Tokyo, 2/24/2023 teams, six stages, 30.0 km
Top Team Results
1. Shibuya - 1:35:00
2. Adachi - 1:36:19
3. Mitaka - 1:36:51
4. Hachioji - 1:38:23
5. Koto - 1:38:27
6. Nerima - 1:38:38
7. Machida - 1:39:56
8. Ota - 1:40:28
9. Komae - 1:40:39
10. Hamura - 1:41:16
Top Individual Stage Results - all 5.0 km
First Stage - Takuya Saito (Meguro) - 15:00
Second Stage - Gary Wilberforce (Shibuya) - 15:21
Third Stage - Tomohiro Ono (Ota) - 15:41
Fourth Stage - Issei Mori (Shibuya) - 16:04
Fifth Stage - Shun Komino (Adachi) - 15:10
Sixth Stage - Satoru Suzuki (Hachioji) - 15:26
© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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