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Iwatani Sangyo Wins Princess Ekiden


The main sponsor of the Princess Ekiden, the official qualifying event for next month's Queens Ekiden national corporate women's championship race, the Iwatani Sangyo women won Sunday's 6-stage 42.195 km race for the first time. Out strong in 2nd with good runs from first two runners Kaede Kawamura and Rino Maeda, Iwatani Sangyo went into 1st on the 10.7 km Third Stage thanks to Rio Wakai and stayed there the rest of the way, ultimately winning by 45 seconds over Route Inn Hotels. 5th runner Madoka Nakano even scored a stage win, playing a big part in the team's runaway victory.

With the Olympic marathon trials having happened only a week earlier, a rule was in place this time that any team that had had someone qualify for the trials only had to finish the Princess Ekiden to make Nationals regardless of whether they made the qualifying bracket of the top 16 places. That changed the dynamic of the race a bit, with historically higher-tier teams like Tenmaya and Universal Entertainment laying back a bit without their stronger talent, giving teams like Iwatani Sangyo and Route Inn Hotels the chance to shine. All 8 teams with a marathon trials qualifier still made the top 8, though, with Otsuka Seiyaku the top placer among them at 3rd in 2:19:40.

4 women who ran in the trials actually doubled back to run the Princess Ekiden, 9th-placer Yuka Ando (Wacoal) winning the 3.6 km Second Stage in 11:21, 15th-placer Rie Kawauchi (Otsuka Seiyaku) 6th on the same stage in 11:40, 5th-placer Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) 11th on the 3.8 km Fourth Stage in 12:10, and Ikumi Fukura (Otsuka Seiyaku), a DNF at the trials, 16th behind Matsushita in 12:35.

Down the field a bit, the Senko women qualified for Nationals for the first time with a 13th-place finish in 2:21:42. Kyocera, a DNF last year when anchor Mei Shirai suffered a stress fracture, made the grade this time at 15th in 2:22:03 thanks in large part to a new CR of 11:19 on the Fourth Stage by Agnes Mwikali. On the dividing line for qualification, Shimamura outran last year's 5th-placer Daiso by 4 seconds to take 16th in 2:22:18, effectively meaning that the only change in the field for Nationals was newcomer Senko replacing Daiso.

Just finishing may seem like a low bar to clear, but as Kyocera showed last year it does happen. And it happened again, as Higo Ginko's lead runner, 22-year-old Mayu Tsukamoto, was unable to finish the 7.0 km First Stage. That knocked Higo Ginko out of the team standings, but its remaining runners were allowed to start with a white sash. 3rd runner Miku Sakai made the most of it, winning the 10.7 km Third Stage, the race's longest, in 35:22.

The Queens Ekiden national corporate women's championships happen Nov. 26 in Sendai. The top 16 teams from the Princess Ekiden will join last year's national champion Shiseido, which has seen an exodus of talent this season, Sekisui Kagaku, Japan Post, Edion, Daihatsu, Toyota Jidoshokki, Panasonic and Daiichi Seimei in the field of 24.

Princess Ekiden

National Corporate Women's Championships Qualifier
Munakata, Fukuoka, 22 Oct. 2023
31 teams, 6 stages, 42.195 km
top 16 qualify for Nationals

Top Individual Stage Performances
First Stage (7.0 km) - Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 22:39
Second Stage (3.6 km) - Yuka Ando (Wacoal) - 11:21
Third Stage (10.7 km) - Miku Sakai (Higo Ginko) - 35:22
Fourth Stage (3.8 km) - Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) - 11:19 - CR
Fifth Stage (10.4 km) - Madoka Nakano (Iwatani Sangyo) - 34:16
Sixth Stage (6.695 km) - Mizuki Nishimura (Tenmaya) - 21:31

Team Performances
1. Iwatani Sangyo - 2:18:46
2. Route Inn Hotels - 2:19:31
3. Otsuka Seiyaku - 2:19:40
4. Kyudenko - 2:19:52
5. Tenmaya - 2:20:23
6. Hitachi - 2:20:28
7. Yamada Holdings - 2:20:37
8. Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo - 2:20:55
9. Uniqlo - 2:21:03
10. Nitori - 2:21:06
11. Canon - 2:21:22
12. Starts - 2:21:40
13. Senko - 2:21:42
14. Universal Entertainment - 2:21:50
15. Kyocera - 2:22:03
16. Shimamura - 2:22:18
-----
17. Daiso - 2:22:22
18. Sysmex - 2:22:54
19. Ehime Ginko - 2:23:12
20. Bears - 2:23:41
21. 18 Ginko - 2:24:02
22. Kagoshima Ginko - 2:24:08
23. SID Group - 2:25:02
24. Tokyo Metro - 2:25:32
25. Wacoal - 2:25:41
26. North - 2:26:22
27. Memolead - 2:26:39
28. Toto - 2:27:15
29. Aichi Denki - 2:28:57
30. Comodi Iida - 2:30:29
-----
DNF - Higo Ginko

© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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