Skip to main content

Sekisui Kagaku Wins First Queens Ekiden Title, Defending Champ Japan Post 4th


The 41st edition of the 6-stage, 42.195 km National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships took place Nov. 28 in Sendai, Miyagi. 28 teams took part, with Sekisui Kagaku running a course record 2:13:03 to win its first national title. Shiseido was 52 seconds behind in 2nd and Denso 3rd, with 2-time defending champ Japan Post coming up short of a three-peat at 4th.

On the race's longest and most competitive stage, the 10.9 km Third Stage, Sekisui Kagaku's Sayaka Sato took over the lead, and solid runs from the rest of its runners helped protect the team's lead all the way to the end. 

Queens Ekiden

41st National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships
Sendai, Miyagi, 28 Nov., 2021
28 teams, 6 stages, 42.195 km

Top Individual Stage Performances
First Stage (7.6 km) - Harumi Okamoto (Yamada Holdings) - 23:52
Second Stage (3.3 km) - Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku) - 10:07 - CR
Third Stage (10.9 km) - Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 34:24
Fourth Stage (3.6 km) - Teresia Muthoni (Daiso) - 10:53 CR tie
Fifth Stage (10.0 km) - Rino Goshima (Shiseido) - 31:28 - CR
Sixth Stage (6.795 km) - Momoko Watanabe (Tenmaya) - 21:01

Top Team Performances - top 8 auto-qualify for 2022
1. Sekisui Kagaku - 2:13:03 - CR
2. Shiseido - 2:13:55
3. Denso - 2:15:03
4. Japan Post - 2:15:35
5. Daihatsu - 2:15:47
6. Yamada Holdings - 2:16:24
7. Universal Entertainment - 2:16:37
8. Wacoal - 2:16:44
-----
9. Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo - 2:17:16
10. Uniqlo - 2:17:24
11. Edion - 2:17:34
12. Tenmaya - 2:17:37
13. Daiichi Seimei - 2:17:42
14. Kyudenko - 2:17:50

source article:
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
What a great victory to the Sekisui team and what a great third leg from Sayaka Sato. She was only 5 seconds shy of Ririka Hironaka's time. Her run was critical to the team and she delivered big time. I've been watching her for a while and she is always consistently performing well and improving ever so slightly. It was a wonderful team effort from the Sekisui team. Ran Urabe did an excellent in the 2nd leg to break the Course Record and so did Hitomi Niiya to be one second shy of the best run in the 5th leg. Great run considering her disappointment at the Olympics. It appears Mao Ichiyama and Ayuko Suzuki are suffering from post Olympic blues which is understandable. Perhaps motivation or injury/fatigue has taken their toll?

I noticed the absence of Honami Maeda in the Tenmaya team. Is she injured?

TBS did an excellent job with their YouTube coverage.
November 29, 2021 at 8:20 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Keita Satoh Running New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile

1500 m U20 NR holder Keita Satoh (Nike Swoosh TC) is running this weekend's New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile , the first time that a Japanese man has been invited in the race's 45-year history. In university Sato had to change focus away from middle distance to the half marathon-scale lengths of the Hakone Ekiden stages, but since graduating in March and relocating to Flagstaff he has refocused on the 1500 m, going from 3:43.19 in April in his first 1500 m in almost 4 years to 3:38.30 over the course of 5 races. Fifth Avenue will be his last race before heading back to Japan for one more track 1500 m and some down time. Men's entries with best 1500 m times in last 3 years: Stefan Nillessen (NED) - 3:29.23 (2025) Flavien Szot (FRA) - 3:30.74 (2025) Oliver Hoare (AUS) - 3:31.07 (2024) Jake Heyward (GBR) - 3:31.18 (2026) Titouan Le Grix (FRA) - 3:31.46 (2026) Romain Mornet (FRA) - 3:31.62 (2025) Adam Spencer (AUS) - 3:31.83 (2026) Pieter Sisk (BEL) - 3:31.85 (2025) Gary Martin (...
2 comments
Read more

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...
Post a Comment
Read more