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Sapporo Gakuin Women Make 6th-Straight National University Ekiden, Men Qualify for 5th Time

The Hokkaido Region University Ekiden took place Aug. 13 in Moerenuma Park in Sapporo, women running 35.86 km in 6 stages and men 101.06 km in 8 stages. In the women's race, Sapporo Gakuin University won for the 6th year in a row, running 2:15:08 and qualifying for the Oct. 30 National University Women's Ekiden in Sendai. All 6 SGU runners won their stages, definitively beating 2nd-placer Hokkaido University by over 9 minutes. Anchor Hazuki Kurokawa said, "It was my first time to break a tape at the finish line, and I loved it."

SGU's Nei Tsu took the lead 2 km into the first stage, opening a gap of over a minute on 2nd. Rikako Hamada and Yuno Ishikawa handled the next two stages before the tasuki went to captain Akane Yatame on the fourth stage. The only 4th-year on the team, post-race Yatame said, "I had a lot of responsibility out there today. The younger runners really helped out."

Third runner Ishikawa had suffered fractures in her left fibula and a rib on the right side last winter. Other team members had also had injuries, so as a whole SGU came to the race without the kind of solid prep they would have wanted. Head coach Hiroyuki Kudo, 72, commented, "It has been a pretty stressful year, and given everything they did a great job to pull this off." Sena Onishi, the team's star runner who handled the fifth stage, said, "To get ready for Nationals I hope that we can put some energy into building teamwork. I want to help lead the way."

The SGU men won their 5th-straight Hokkaido Region University Ekiden in 5:30:21. First runner Takuji Oyanagi put 40 seconds on 2nd place, winning his stage. Seita Doso University's Muchiri Ndirangu ran a 29:25 CR on the second stage to take the lead, and after retaking it SGU was again overtaken later in the race. But after making another comeback to the top spot anchor and captain Kazuki Kimura brought SGU home in 1st, qualifying for the Nov. 6 National University Men's Ekiden in Nagoya. "I'm honestly really happy," he said. "It was totally worth the 4 years of hard work."

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translated by Brett Larner

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