Skip to main content

New Okukuma Ekiden's First Running Canceled

On Aug. 31 the organizers of the new Okukuma Ekiden announced that this year's first running on Oct. 4 has been postponed one year due to the ongoing coronavirus saga. The 42.195 event was to bring together top high school, university and corporate league teams for the ultimate showdown with all teams starting together, collegiate and corporate runners covering the distance in four stages and high schoolers in seven.

The new race was announced in late April and gained attention following the cancelation of the Oct. 11 Izumo Ekiden, the traditional start of university men's ekiden season, when several top university programs voiced plans to instead run Okukuma to begin their seasons. But following discussions with representatives from the four towns involved in the race, the decision to move the inaugural race to 2021 was finalized.

A spokesperson for the organizers commented, "We apologize for not being able to meet the expectations of the athletes, coaches, officials, parents and everyone else who had looked forward to this race. We ask for your understanding. We will continue to work with the four municipal governments toward putting on our first edition next year, and ask for your continued support until then."

source articles:
https://hochi.news/articles/20200831-OHT1T50114.html
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance?  Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance.  This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere.  It was put into place in 1986.  In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made.  Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km.  When a bicycle is u...
2 comments
Read more

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...
2 comments
Read more

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .
77 comments
Read more