Toyota Boshoku, YKK, SGH and Chudenko Win Final New Year Ekiden Qualifying Races

Qualification for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships wrapped up Sunday with the last four regional corporate ekidens. In the highly competitive Chubu Region race, Toyota, the winner the last 7 years, struggled when Bedan Karoki finished only 8th on the Second Stage. Despite Toyota's fourth runner Tomoki Ota making up a lot of the ground with a sensational 43:48 CR on his 15.5 km stage, almost a minute under the old record and 45:18 pace for 10 miles, Toyota faced pressure throughout the race from Toyota Boshoku. A 34:07 course record for the 11.8 km Seventh Stage by anchor Yuji Onoda was enough to seal the win for Toyota Boshoku, finishing the 80.5 km race 39 seconds up on Toyota in 3:54:15.

Aichi Seiko was the top team to miss the qualifying cutoff, almost two minutes behind the last qualifier, Chuo Hatsujo, in 3:59:13. Held simultaneously with the Chubu Region race, the Hokuriku Region saw an even closer margin of victory, with perpetual Hokuriku leader YKK holding off Sekino Kosan by just 26 seconds in 3:59:10.

In the Kansai Region race, SGH runners won four of the seven stages including a 26:41 CR on the 9.5 km Fourth Stage by Naoki Chiba. That was enough to give SGH the overall win in a course record 3:55:00 for 80.45 km. The Osaka Police outran Osaka Gas by 30 seconds for the final qualifying spot in 3:58:48, thanks in part to a win on the opening leg by officer Akihito Eishin.

In the Chugoku Region, Chudenko had a strong overall team performance to win in 4:01:43 for 80.8 km, only one of its runners, Amos Kurgat, winning his stage but all but one of the rest finishing in the top 3. The minor Hoshizaki team gave Takeda Yakuhin a scare in the race for the final qualifying spot, but ultimately Takeda emerged the stronger, finishing 5th in 4:19:46 by just over 2 minutes over Hoshizaki.

With the field now set for the New Year Ekiden the attention turns to the major tuneup events. For many that will be the Nov. 27 Hachioji Long Distance meet focusing on 10000 m. The Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler, originally scheduled for Dec. 5, would normally be another major tuneup, but this year it's again among the events canceled due to pandemic fears. Some will line up in the final Fukuoka International Marathon on Dec. 5, attempting a quick turnaround in time for the New Year just under four weeks later.

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview

The Nagoya Women's Marathon , the world's largest women-only marathon and the last race in the selection cycle for September's Tokyo World Championships, happens Sunday. Weather conditions are looking better than what they had in Tokyo and Osaka the last two weekends, 7˚ at the start and rising to 12˚ with sunny skies. The wind looks a bit stronger than ideal, but it could be worse. Fuji TV has the live broadcast starting at 9:00 a.m. Sunday local time, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch the TVer streaming . One option for a leaderboard is here , and another here . We'll have some coverage on @JRNLive . Just like last time around there are three Ethiopian and Kenyan-born athletes at the top list, this time it being sub-2:20 women Sheila Chepkirui , winner in NYC last year, and Ruti Aga , winner in Xiamen in January, and last year's Nagoya runner-up Eunice Chebichii Chumba . But last year Yuka Ando still pulled off the win, so there's a c...

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...

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