Kaseda and Kawase Break Stage Records at Tokai Region University Ekiden

Two of Japan's best collegiate athletes broke stage records at Sunday's Tokai Region University Ekiden, a regional championship race for universities in the greater Nagoya area.

In the women's race, eight teams competed over five stages totaling 26.6 km. Four-time national champion Meijo University tuned up for the year-ending Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden with a win in Tokai, leading start to finish and taking four out of five stage stage bests to close out with a lead of three and a half minutes over Chukyo Gakuin University. Meijo fourth-year Rika Kaseda, the top collegiate 10000 m runner of 2020 with a PB of 31:39.86 at last weekend's National Championships, took a second off the record for the 5.9 km Third Stage, winning it in 18:10. Chukyo Gakuin first-year Yumeka Inaba was the only runner to break up Meijo's domination, beating Meijo fourth-year Sena Komori by 11 seconds to win the 4.7 km Fourth Stage in 17:02. Meijo's final time of 1:28:25 was over a minute behind its own course record of 1:27:11 from 2011.

The men's race saw 17 teams race 63.5 km in seven stages. Last year's course record-setting winner Kogakkan University faced an early threat from Aichi Kogyo University as Aichi Kogyo fourth-year Daiki Hattori took over the lead on the 10.6 km Second Stage and following runner Kosuke Kobayashi held it. But with stage best times on the last four stages Kogakkan was just too strong to be beaten. Fourth-year Hiroto Hirayama put Kogakkan back in front on the 8.3 km Fourth Stage, and a course record-tying 16:44 for the 5.4 km Sixth Stage by fourth-year Hibiki Miyagi gave anchor Shoya Kawase, the year's top collegiate half marathoner with a 1:01:18 in Marugame back in February, more than enough space to run it safely.

Not that he did. Already the course record holder for the Second and Fifth Stages, Kawase rocked a 36:59 for the 12.3 km anchor leg to take 49 seconds off its old record in what is probably his final university ekiden. Kogakkan's winning time of 3:16:13 was well off its 3:13:59 record from last year, but with a margin of more than three and a half minutes over Aichi Kogyo by the end there was no doubt it was the best team in the field again. The school that originated the word ekiden for this sport, Kogakkan will have a tough time staying on top next year with four of its five stage winners this time set to graduate in the spring.

14th Tokai Region University Women's Ekiden
82nd Tokai Region University Men's Ekiden

Chita Hanto, Aichi, 13 Dec. 2020

women: 8 teams, 5 stages, 26.6 km

men: 17 teams, 7 stages, 63.5 km

complete results

Top Women's Team Results

1. Meijo University - 1:28:35

2. Chukyo Gakuin University - 1:31:54

3. Chukyo University - 1:35:18

4. Shigakkan University - 1:38:16

5. Tokai Gakuen University - 1:39:01

Top Women's Individual Stage Results

First Stage (3.7 km) - Yuka Masubuchi (1st yr., Meijo Univ.) - 11:22

Second Stage (4.2 km) - Ayaka Kato (4th yr., Meijo Univ.) - 13:59

Third Stage (5.9 km) - Rika Kaseda (4th yr., Meijo Univ.) - 18:10 - CR

Fourth Stage (4.7 km) - Yumeka Inaba (1st yr., Chukyo Gakuin Univ.) - 17:02

Fifth Stage (8.1 km) - Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (3rd yr., Meijo Univ.) - 27:41

Top Men's Team Results

1. Kogakkan University - 3:16:13

2. Aichi Kogyo University - 3:19:50

3. Gifu Kyoritsu University - 3:20:57

4. Nagoya University - 3:21:57

5. Chukyo University - 3:25:28

Top Women's Individual Stage Results

First Stage (8.5 km) - Fuya Kuwayama (4th yr., Kogakkan Univ.) - 25:53

Second Stage (10.6 km) - Haruyuki Morikawa (3rd yr., Nagoya Univ.) - 31:16

Third Stage (8.1 km) - Kosuke Kobayashi (4th yr., Aichi Kogyo Univ.) - 24:48

Fourth Stage (8.3 km) - Hiroto Kirayama (4th yr., Kogakkan University) - 26:25

Fifth Stage (10.3 km) - Fuma Sato (1st yr., Kogakkan University) - 33:08

Sixth Stage (5.4 km) - Hibiki Miyagi (4th yr., Kogakkan University) - 16:44 - CR tie

Seventh Stage (12. 3km) - Shoya Kawase (4th yr., Kogakkan University) - 36:59 - CR

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How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...

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