Sunday's Queens Ekiden is the season-ending national championship race for corporate women's teams, 6 legs totaling 42.195 km through the Sendai countryside. It's a pretty interesting race up front this year. Last year Shiseido shook off revelations of a toxic team culture to win for the first time since 2006, with 2021 winner Sekisui Kagaku 2nd and 2020 champ Japan Post 3rd. Shiseido has had an exodus since then, including head coach Yoshitaka Iwamizu and star runner Tomoka Kimura, who jumped ship to go to Sekisui Kagaku. It still has at least half a quality team, including Olympic marathon trials runner-up Mao Ichiyama, Kenyan Judy Jepngetich, women-only half marathon NR holder Rino Goshima and veteran Yuka Takashima, but the win will be tough.
Sekisui Kagaku has the lineup to win, although that's due more to its budget that head coach Hidenori Noguchi's abilities. Most of its A-team was either poached from other teams, Kimura from Shiseido and Rina Kusu from Japan Post being the most notable, or brought in ready-made, including Hitomi Niiya, Ran Urabe, and this year's star recruit, Yuna Yamamoto from 2022 national university champion Meijo University. Kimura didn't make Sekisui's entry roster this time, but add in Noguchi's few successes like Chikako Mori and Sayaka Sato and you've probably got a winning team.
Japan Post took a bit of a one-two punch this year with Ririka Hironaka losing her 5000 m NR and Ayuko Suzuki missing her shot at making back-to-back Olympic marathon teams, so it'll be keen to end the year on a higher note. Last year's entire roster is back, the so the main questions will be whether Suzuki and Kotona Ota are ready just 6 weeks after the marathon trials, and whether new recruits like Kae Gyu are able to go two better than what last year's lineup did.
Edion and Daihatsu were close behind Japan Post last year, and with both having had people in the Olympic trials they're in the same situation as Japan Post, dependent on how far their marathoners have come in their recovery. One team on the way down is last year's 6th-place Toyota Jidoshokki, like Shiseido having shed talent this year and fielding an entry roster of only 8 athletes. Fronted by marathon trials winner Yuka Suzuki, Daiichi Seimei just made the 8-deep podium last year but should be a good candidate to replace Toyota Jidoshokki in top 6, maybe top 5 if all goes perfectly.
Further down the field of 25 teams things are a little bit different given the stipulation that teams with a marathoner in the trials just had to finish last month's Princess Ekiden qualifier in order to make the big show. That meant that some traditionally stronger teams like Tenmaya and Wacoal didn't finish anywhere near their real ability and are sure to finish a lot higher than their bib numbers would suggest. Senko is a new addition to the scene, making its Queens Ekiden debut led by Nagisa Shimotabira and Kaena Takayama.
TBS will be broadcasting the race live starting at 11:50 a.m. Sunday local time, streaming above and probably viewable overseas with a VPN if it's geoblocked, or on mov3.co. JRN will cover the race live on @JRNLive. Complete entry lists are here, with live results here and here.
Queens Ekiden Team Entry List
National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships
Sendai, Miyagi, 26 Nov. 2023
1. Shiseido
2. Sekisui Kagaku
3. Japan Post
4. Edion
5. Daihatsu
6. Toyota Jidoshokki
7. Panasonic
8. Daiichi Seimei
9. Iwatani Sangyo
10. Route Inn Hotels
11. Otsuka Seiyaku
12. Kyudenko
13. Tenmaya
14. Hitachi
15. Yamada Holdings
16. Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo
17. Uniqlo
18. Nitori
19. Canon
20. Starts
21. Senko
22. Universal Entertainment
23. Kyocera
24. Shimamura
25. Wacoal
© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Comments
I'm gob smacked that Tomoka Kimura hasn't found her way into the starting line up for Sekisui given her outstanding Ekiden pedigree and epic 1st leg run last year (and previous years). She won her leg last year for Shiseido and seems to be in some recent good form. Sayaka Sato had a disappointing run last year when she ran the 1st leg. Perhaps, she will run the longer 3rd leg as she did when they won in 2021 or the 5th leg. Regarding Yuna Yamamoto I've actually been disappointed with her season's results as she hasn't progressed in terms of times as I'd expected. From an outsider, she seems to be a bit of a media darling.
I actually think Shiseido has an excellent chance to go back to back. If Judy Jepngetich can get them in the lead or very close by the 5th leg. It will be interesting as Rino Goshima performed brilliantly in this leg last year. Also if Mao Ichiyama can put in a better performance than her last 2 Queens Ekiden runs then their chances rise considerably.
I can't wait to see the 'Queen of Ekiden' Ririka Hironaka run tomorrow. I believe last year was the first time she ever lost an Ekiden leg since middle school. I could be wrong but I read that in an article recently. And she only lost by one second. This year I expect she will right that wrong. If Ayuko Suzuki can return to some good middle distance form and JP have strengthened their line up then they are surely in with a good chance. But like Meijo University has shown in the University Ekidens you need to be strong in all your legs and can't have a weak link. I'm not sure if JP are there yet. I'm hoping this race gets decided in the final leg and it's a close affair.
However, I'm not expecting an overall course record like Shiseido accomplished last year with 2:12:28 but rather a time 2:13 mid-high or even low 2:14 and if that is the case it will be very close.
Also I am so happy that TBS are broadcasting this live on their YouTube channel. For whatever reason, they geo-blocked the live Princess Ekiden streams to Australia. But it doesn't look like they are doing it for the Queens Ekiden. Also they subsequently uploaded the full Princess Ekiden with commentary on their Youtube channel which I am super appreciative to them.
I can't wait to watch the race and look forward to your post race assessment!