Skip to main content

18-Year-Old Fuwa 31:29 to Anchor Gunma to East Japan Women's Ekiden Win


Two weeks after her public coming out as Japan's next big hope, 18-year-old Seira Fuwa anchored the Gunma team to a come-from-behind win at the East Japan Women's Ekiden. A smaller version of January's National Women's Ekiden with teams representing the 18 prefectures in northeastern Japan, each team made up of the best junior high school, high school, collegiate, club team and corporate league runners from that prefecture, East Japan returned this year after the first cancelation in its 36-year history last year. Two weeks ago Fuwa, a first-year at Tokyo's Takushoku University, set an incredible 28:00 course record for her 9.2 km stage at the National University Women's Ekiden. With her name on the list for the 10.0 km anchor stage at East Japan the entire race was about other teams trying to get as far ahead of Gunma as possible before the last of the marathon-length race's nine stages.

Gunma didn't make it easy for them. Its leading runner Harumi Okamoto ran an 18:44 stage record for the 6.0 km First Stage to give Gunma a 15-second lead right off the bat. It held that through the Fifth Stage, when it fell to 3rd behind 2019 winner Chiba and Miyagi, then to 4th on the Seventh Stage behind Nagano. At that point Gunma was 40 seconds behind leader Chiba. Anything more and Fuwa's chances of catching 1st would be diminished unless she got close to the 30:52 stage record. 

Gunma's eighth runner Sana Koizumi had just what they needed, winning her 3.0 km JHS-only stage in 9:27 and cutting the team's deficit down to 38 seconds. Fuwa closed that up at exactly 5 km into the 10.0 km anchor stage, the longest distance she has ever raced so far, then seemed to back off a bit. Behind her, Nagano's Yuna Wada, winner of the Third Stage at the National University Women's Ekiden, moved up to 2nd and started to close the gap to Fuwa. But when Wada got within 5 seconds Fuwa changed gears and hammered the final kilometers to being Gunma home to the win by 23 seconds in 2:17:10. 

Fuwa's time for the 10.0 km stage was 31:29, the third-fastest ever behind only the current and previous track 10,000 m national record holders. Wada, a 4th-year at national champion Meijo University, ran an impressive 31:40, making them only the fourth and fifth women ever to break 32 minutes on the stage. Wada has been working her way up the ladder through her high school and college careers and should be one of the leaders of the next corporate league generation after her graduation next spring, but let's hope that Fuwa backs off a bit on the double digit distances until she has a bit more development in her.

2019 winner Chiba was 3rd in 2:18:19, 37 seconds faster than its previous winning time but over a minute behind Gunma. Miyagi and hosts Fukushima both cleared 2:20 for 4th and 5th, with 2018 winner Tokyo only 6th after struggling to recover from a weak opening leg from marathoner Shiho Kaneshige.

36th East Japan Women's Ekiden

Fukushima, 14 Nov. 2021
18 teams, 9 stages, 42.195 km

Top Individual Stage Performances
First Stage (6.0 km) - Harumi Okamoto (Gunma) - 18:44 - CR
Second Stage (4.0 km) - Haruko Hosaka (Tokyo) - 12:57
Third Stage (3.0 km) - Kanoko Nawa (Nagano) - 9:59
Fourth Stage (3.0 km) - Sayo Imanishi (Chiba) - 9:27
Fifth Stage (5.0875 km) - Nanaka Yonezawa (Miyagi) - 16:09
Sixth Stage (4.1075 km) - Minami Ito (Kanagawa) - 13:23
Seventh Stage (4.0 km) - Yuka Sato (Nagano) - 13:17
Eighth Stage (3.0 km) - Sana Koizumi (Gunma) - 9:27
Ninth Stage (10.0 km) - Seira Fuwa (Gunma) - 31:29

Top Team Performances
1. Gunma - 2:17:10
2. Nagano - 2:17:33
3. Chiba - 2:18:19
4. Miyagi - 2:19:32
5. Fukushima - 2:19:34
6. Tokyo - 2:20:01
7. Tochigi - 2:20:19
8. Kanagawa - 2:20:39
9. Shizuoka - 2:21:55
10. Hokkaido - 2:22:10

© 2021 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
Another great Exiden to watch. That final leg was exciting. When Yuna Wada closed on Seira Fuwa I did not know what to think other than Wada is a consistent runner who always competes well. Fuwa was very clever in keeping a bit in reserve and she really put things into over drive when she needed to. She is something special and like yourself, I do hope they wrap her up in cotton wool and keep her fresh for shorter distances whilst she is still so young. The worst thing that could happen is that she suffers an injury from over training. Thanks for your twitter post about it being on Fuji tv as I was able to find a streaming site to watch it live. Thanks Brett.
November 15, 2021 at 5:47 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...
3 comments
Read more

Mashiko Breaks U20 5000 m NR - Weekend Track Roundup

Saturday's Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto was the weekend's main event in Japanese track, but there were good results at the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama too. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) led the men's 5000 m A-heat at Kanakuri in 13:14.06, with Tomonori Yamaguchi (SGH) clocking the fastest Japanese time in 13:16.38 in his first race as a corporate leaguer. Waseda University duo Rui Suzuki and Yota Mashiko went 6-7 in 13:20.64 and 13:22.87, the 18-year-old Mashiko shaving 0.04 off the U20 NR. In 8th, Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) ran a PB of 13:23.92. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) continued to struggle after a weak indoor season, finishing 18th of 20 finishers in 13:45.10. 19-year-old Festus Kimorwo (Kurosaki Harima) was under 13:20 in the B-heat too, winning in a 13:19.59 PB. 2 more collegiate men broke 13:30, Daichi Fujita (Chuo Univ.) 8th in 13:28.93 and Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) 9th in 13:29.09. The top 6 in the men's 800 m A-hea...
Post a Comment
Read more