Shiseido Breaks Princess Ekiden Course Record

Coming back from a scandal earlier this year in which a non-Japanese former team member spoke out about abusive behavior by male coaches toward the team's female athletes, Shiseido was back with what looked like a more positive team culture, dominating Sunday's Princess Ekiden with a course record win.

Shiseido didn't quite lead start-to-finish, but it came close. Tomoka Kimura got it rolling with a 21:44 stage record on the 7.0 km opening leg, 38 seconds under the old record. Former national champ Daiichi Seimei's Hibiki Sakuragawa broke the course record on the Second Stage to put her team 5 seconds ahead of Shiseido, but it didn't last long as on the next stage Shiseido's Naruha Sato retook the lead and built up a margin that Shiseido's last three runners held. Anchor Kain Maeda brought the team home in 2:16:41 for the full 42.195 km distance, 21 seconds under the previous course record and securing the team's place at next month's Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championship race.

Times were fast all around. Along with Shiseido's overall course record and stage records from Kimura and fifth runner Yuka Takashima, the Second and Fourth Stages also saw new records. Hibiki Onishi (Universal) was fastest on the 3.6 km Second Stage, the race's shortest, 29 seconds under the old record in 10:48. Teresiah Muthoni (Daiso) took 3 seconds off the 3.8 km Fourth Stage record, winning it in 11:25.

Muthoni gave a boost to the young Daiso team that helped it finish 15th and qualify for the Queens Ekiden for the first time. Also giving it a boost was the fact that the qualifying bracket was expanded from 14 to 20 teams this year. Iwatani Sango took 12th to make Nationals for the first time, fair and square, and like Daiso the Nitori and Saitama Ika Daigaku Group teams made the relaxed grade for the first time, finishing 17th and 19th. Another newer team, Comodi Iida, was locked in a tough duel with Canon over the final two stages for the final qualifying spot, but Canon anchor Natsumi Furukawa was too strong for Comodi Iida's Kaho Nishizawa, opening a gap of 16 seconds by the end of the 6.695 km Sixth Stage to send Comodi Iida home.

The influx of new teams was a good sign, and with Iwatani Sangyo's sponsor company having been one of the race broadcast's main advertisers their success at making it to Nationals was a win for the entire system. They and the rest of the qualifiers will join the top 8 from last year's Nationals at the main event on Nov. 28.

7th Princess Ekiden

National Corporate Women's Ekiden Qualifier

Munakata, Fukuoka, 24 Oct., 2021

31 teams, 6 stages, 42.195 km

complete results

Top Individual Stage Results

First Stage - 7.0 km

1. Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido) - 21:44 - CR

2. Haruka Kokai (Daiichi Seimei) - 21:51

3. Misaki Nishida (Edion) - 22:16

Second Stage - 3.6 km

1. Hibiki Onishi (Universal) - 10:48 - CR

2. Hibiki Sakuragawa (Daiichi Seimei) - 11:03

3. Yui Yabuta (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 11:07

Third Stage - 10.7 km

1. Kaede Hagitani (Edion) - 34:18

2. Naruha Sato (Shiseido) - 34:40

3. Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) - 34:51

Fourth Stage - 3.8 km

1. Teresiah Muthoni (Daiso) - 11:25 - CR

2. Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) - 11:27

3. Naomi Muthoni (Universal) - 11:28

Fifth Stage - 10.4 km

1. Yuka Takashima (Shiseido) - 34:18 - CR

2. Honoka Tanaike (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 34:44

3. Yuna Daito (Tenmaya) - 34:46

Sixth Stage - 6.695 km

1. Yukari Abe (Shimamura) - 21:47

2. Momoko Watanabe (Tenmaya) - 22:09

3. Ayari Harada (Daiichi Seimei) - 22:16

Top Team Results

top 20 teams qualify for National Corporate Women's Ekiden

1. Shiseido - 2:16:41 - CR

2. Tenmaya - 2:18:02

3. Daiichi Seimei - 2:18:32

4. Otsuka Seiyaku - 2:18:49

5. Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo - 2:19:05

6. Edion - 2:19:16

7. Hitachi - 2:19:29

8. Daihatsu - 2:19:45

9. Uniqlo - 2:20:11

10. Route Inn Hotels - 2:20:14

11. Shimamura - 2:20:27

12. Iwatani Sangyo - 2:20:37

13. Starts - 2:20:44

14. Universal - 2:20:49

15. Daiso - 2:20:51

16. Kyocera - 2:21:00

17. Nitori - 2:21:35

18. Sysmex - 2:22:21

19. Saitama Ika Daigaku Group - 2:22:39

20. Canon - 2:23:39

-----

21. Comodi Iida - 2:23:55

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...

16 Women and 26 Men on the Current Olympic Trials Qualifier List

Last weekend's Nagoya Women's Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon the weekend before brought the main part of the first year of qualification for the Marathon Grand Championship Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials to be held in Nagoya in October, 2027, to an end. There are still a few races like the Nagano Marathon and overseas World Athletics platinum label races this season where people might qualify, but for the most part we're not likely to see many new additions until August's Hokkaido Marathon, where the qualifying period opened last year. As of right now 16 women and 26 men have qualified, although the first woman to make the cut, Ai Hosoda , announced that she was retiring after Tokyo earlier this month. Out of the 16 women to have qualified so far, Mikuni Yada is the fastest with her 2:19:57 debut at Osaka Women's in January. Including Hosoda that makes 2 qualifiers for the Edion corporate team, but Daihatsu has the biggest share of the field so ...

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...

japan running news

Search This Blog