Denso and Chikushi Joshi Gakuen Win Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden

One of the only races to resist the pressure to cancel as Japan's COVID numbers break new ground, the Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden took place Sunday in northern Fukuoka with top high school, college, club and corporate teams racing a short 27.2 km course through cold rain.

Only 21 of the 40 teams on the entry list started, but among them was defending open division champ Denso. Denso took the lead on the 3.8 km Second Stage with another course record run from CR holder Husan Zeyituna and held on through midway on the 10.4 km Fifth Stage, when anchor Yuka Matsumoto was caught by Nozomi Tanaka of the non-scoring Meijo/Toyota Select Team. The Meijo/Toyota hybrid crossed the line first in 1:28:05, Denso 51 seconds back to score 1st in the open division and claim a 2nd-straight win. But they were actually 3rd across the line.

The local Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S. team led the high school division from the start, falling back a bit on the Second Stage but clocking the fastest high school times on three of the remaining stages to move up through the field. With the open divison's anchor leg split into two shorter stages of 5.9 km and 4.5 km Chikushi's closing duo of Azumi Nagira and Mako Nakasai turned in two of the best performances of the day, Nagira breaking her stage's CR by 6 seconds in 18:56 and Nakasai overtaking Denso anchor Yuka Matsumoto with 600 m to go. Nakasai crossed the finish line 2nd, 5 seconds up on Matsumoto and winning the high school division by 46 seconds over Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.

With today's National Men's Ekiden canceled Kitakyushu marked the end of championship ekiden season. Few races remain on the calendar, but expect to see some of the athletes who ran today at next weekend's Osaka International Women's Ekiden and next month at the National Corporate 10 km and Half Marathon.

33rd Kitayushu Women's Invitational Ekiden

Fukuoka, 23 Jan. 2022

open division: 10 teams, 5 stages, 27.2 km

high school division: 11 teams, 6 stages, 27.2 km

Top Individual Stage Results

First Stage (5.3 km) - Hibiki Onishi (Univ. Ent.) - 17:02

Second Stage (3.8 km) - Jackline Chepwogon Rotich (Toto) - 11:22 - CR

Third Stage (3.9 km) - Asuka Ishimatsu (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 12:36

Fourth Stage (3.8 km) - Yuna Wada (Meijo/Toyota) - 11:48

Open Fifth Stage (10.4 km) - Nozomi Tanaka (Meijo/Toyota) - 33:57

H.S. Fifth Stage (5.9 km) - Azumi Nagira (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 18:56 - CR

H.S. Sixth Stage (4.5 km) - Mako Nakasai (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 14:48

Top Open Division Team Results

OP - Meijo/Toyota Select Team - 1:28:05

1. Denso - 1:28:56

2. Universal Entertainment - 1:29:40

3. Kyudenko - 1:29:42

4. Kyocera - 1:30:42

5. Toto - 1:31:08

Top High School Division Team Results

1. Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S. - 1:28:51

2. Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. - 1:29:37

3. Suma Gakuen H.S. - 1:31:09

4. Chiharadai H.S. - 1:31:16

5. Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. - 1:31:30

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...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

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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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