Fuwa Not On Starting List For National Women's Ekiden - Coach Says "Now's Not the Time to Overdo It"
The 9-stage, 42.195 km National Women's Ekiden takes place Jan. 15 in Kyoto starting and finishing at Takebishi Stadium. Absent from the stage entry list published Jan. 14 was the Gunma prefecture team's Seira Fuwa, 19, the collegiate 10000 m national record holder and a 2nd-year at Takushoku University. Her high school coach Hatsuo Kitada is serving as the Gunma team's coach this year. "We're looking toward her future," he said. "Now's not the time to overdo it."
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At last year's National Women's Ekiden Fuwa passed 13 people on the 4.0 km 4th leg, breaking its course record. Following that performance she sustained an Achilles tendon injury that kept her out of competition for most of 2022. In October she won her stage at the Morinomiyako Ekiden, but in order to ensure her continued recovery she did not run in December's Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national championships.
Wakana Kabasawa of 2022 National Corporate Women's Ekiden champion Shiseido is entered to run the 10.0 km anchor stage, the race's longest, for Gunma.
translated and edited by Brett Larner
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