The Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden is the only major championship ekiden that doesn't give podium placers auto-qualification for the next year, forcing corporate men's teams to run the regional qualifiers every November and impacting runners' ability to do a fall marathon. The Olympic marathon trials 3 weeks ago impacted the dynamic this time, as any team that had had someone at the Trials and finished its regional qualifier would make the New Year Ekiden regardless of whether it finished in the bracket.
That didn't really come into play much at the Kyushu Region Corporate Ekiden in Fukuoka, where 7 of the 9 teams in contention for 8 qualifying spots had people at the Trials. Kurosaki Harima led start to finish, its lead duo Yusuke Tamura and Sitonik Kiprono both winning their stages to give the team a 31 second lead. Traditional power Asahi Kasei came on strong in the middle of the race with stage wins from Takashi Ichida and Ryo Saito and an excellent new CR of 31:18 for 10.9 km from Shuho Dairokuno, a late scratch from the Olympic trials with injury, to close to within 3 seconds of Kurosaki Harima. But Kurosaki anchor Sota Fukutani got the job done, dropping Asahi Kasei's Takahito Imai over the 16.0 km final leg for the win by 43 seconds.
3rd placer Toyota Kyushu was 2 minutes behind. Top non-trials team Hiramatsu Byoin spent most of the race near the cutoff line, but a great stage-winning run from anchor Wataru Tochigi saw him overtake Nishitetsu anchor Keita Shitara to put Hiramatsu into 7th. But with 9th-placer Togami Denki over 3 and a half minutes behind, Nishitetsu was still safe for a trip to the national championships.
12 qualifying spots were there for the taking at the highly competitive Tokyo-area East Japan Region Corporate Ekiden. Fujitsu scored the overall course record in its 4th-straight win there after 4th man Kazuya Shiojiri put them into the lead, 5th runner Ken Yokote extended it to 51 seconds, and last two Tatsuya Iyoda and Shura Shiino took it to 1:34 by the end of the race. 2-time New Year Ekiden champ Honda was 2nd, with 3rd-placer Logisteed only 8 seconds behind with an almost all-rookie lineup.
Some of the 3rd-tier teams came on strong, supermarket rivals Sunbelx and Comodi Iida taking 6th and 8th and Press Kogyo taking 9th thanks in part to a CR-breaking run from 3rd man Ryuichi Hashimoto. But the race down around 10th-12th was the highlight of the day. 3 teams that had marathoners in the trials, Konica-Minolta, JR Higashi Nihon and GMO, essentially ran JV teams without their top people since they were guaranteed to qualify just by finishing. That opened the door for minor teams to get into the top 12, and it was a great battle between them.
SID Group sneaked into 10th, its first time making the New Year Ekiden two years in a row. ND Software and first-timers Fujisan no Meisui spent most of the race going back and forth with each other, JR Higashi Nihon, and Komori Corporation. Running 13th, Fujisan anchor Kaede Shinohara overtook ND's Daichi Atsuura mid-stage, and when Atsuura picked it up to latch on it looked like they might be on for a brutal track sprint finish for the final qualifying spot. But unexpectedly, they flew past Komori anchor Ryo Osaki, a 2:08 marathoner who was clearly in trouble, and found themselves both in the fold.
Konica Minolta anchor Noriaki Oyama also overtook Osaki for 13th, but with two marathoners in the Olympic trials Konica still qualified. Komori was the unlucky top team outside the qualifying bracket without a trials participant, Osaki staggering in to 14th. "I couldn't get my peaking right, and I'm really disappointed in myself," he told JRN post-race. "I need to look at everything and start over from the basics."
JR Higashi Nihon was 15th, with GMO jogging it in to finish 17th behind the SDF Academy team. If Konica Minolta, JR and GMO had had their marathoners it's almost guaranteed that SID Group, Fujisan no Meisui and ND Software would have been out of luck, but having new teams in the big races always makes them more interesting. New Year Ekiden qualifying continues next weekend with the Kansai, Chugoku, Chubu and Hokuriku regional races.
60th Kyushu Region Corporate Ekiden
Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, 3 Nov. 2023
20 teams, 7 stages, 80.2 km
top 8 qualify for New Year Ekiden
Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (12.9 km) - Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 36:51
Second Stage (7.0 km) - Sitonik Kiprono (Kurosaki Harima) - 19:04
Third Stage (10.9 km) - Kyuma Yokota (Toyota Kyushu) - 31:22
Fourth Stage (9.5 km) - Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 27:16
Fifth Stage (13.0 km) - Ryo Saito (Asahi Kasei) - 38:13
Sixth Stage (10.9 km) - Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) - 31:18 - CR
Seventh Stage (16.0 km) - Wataru Tochigi (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 46:45
Top Team Results
1. Kurosaki Harima - 3:53:11
2. Asahi Kasei A - 3:53:54
3. Toyota Kyushu - 3:55:49
4. Kyudenko - 3:56:03
5. Yasukawa Denki - 3:56:15
6. Mitsubishi Juko - 3:56:47
7. Hiramatsu Byoin - 3:59:02
OP - Asahi Kasei B - 3:59:31
8. Nishitetsu - 4:01:53
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OP - Jitsugyodan Select Team - 4:02:46
9. Togami Denki - 4:05:36
10. Oita Select Team - 4:13:18
64th East Japan Region Corporate Ekiden
Kumagaya, Saitama, 3 Nov. 2023
36 teams, 7 stages, 76.9 km
top 12 qualify for New Year Ekiden
Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (11.6 km) - Naoki Ota (Yakult) - 33:31
Second Stage (8.0 km) - Benson Kiplangat (Subaru) - 21:39
Third Stage (16.5 km) - Tamaki Fujimoto (Logisteed) - 47:33 - CR
Fourth Stage (9.5 km) - Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) - 27:09 - CR tie
Fifth Stage (7.8 km) - Ken Yokote (Fujitsu) - 22:14
Sixth Stage (10.6 km) - Tatsuya Iyoda (Fujitsu) - 30:02
Seventh Stage (12.9 km) - Ken Nakayama (Honda) - 37:28
Top Team Results
1. Fujitsu - 3:41:06 - CR
2. Honda - 3:42:40
3. Logisteed - 3:42:48
4. Subaru - 3:43:05
5. Yakult - 3:43:54
6. Sunbelx - 3:44:46
7. Kao - 3:45:01
8. Comodi Iida A - 3:45:53
9. Press Kogyo - 3:46:05
10. SID Group - 3:47:13
11. Fujisan no Meisui - 3:47:31
12. ND Software - 3:47:59
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13. Konica Minolta - 3:48:26*
14. Komori Corporation - 3:48:48
15. JR Higashi Nihon - 3:49:22*
16. SDF Academy - 3:49:58
17. GMO - 3:50:36*
18. Tokyo Police Department - 3:53:27
19. Shindengen Kogyo - 3:54:05
20. Akizuna RC - 3:56:36
© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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