Skip to main content

Ekiden Season Kicks Off in Kanto and Okukuma


Ekiden season saw two of its first important races happen this weekend. Modeled after January's Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden, Sunday's Okukuma Ekiden in Kumamoto put corporate, collegiate and high school teams together on a marathon-length course with teams of 4 all running double-digit distances and high schoolers with teams of 7 and all but the 10.0 km First Stage split into two parts.

Tosu Kogyo H.S. starting runner Taiyo Iwasa led corporate leaguer Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) by 2 seconds on the First Stage, with Omuta H.S. third runner Yuma Matsuda passing both teams to take the lead. It took until the anchor stage for Hiramatsu Byoin's Yeneblo Biyazen to catch Omuta, crossing the line in 2:06:39 with Omuta anchor Nobuyuki Anai 7 seconds back for 1st in the high school division. Soka University was the only other team to go under 2:07, 3rd overall and 2nd in the college/corporate division in 2:06:57. Rakunan H.S. was next in 2:07:07, with early leader Tosu Kogyo 3rd in the high school division and 5th overall in 2:07:44.


Saturday in Chiba, Kanto-region women's university teams faced off to qualify for the Oct. 27 Morinomiyako Ekiden national championships, 21 teams of 6 racing a total of 34.4 km with the top 7 teams advancing. Things were surprisingly fast, with 5 of the 6 stages seeing new course records, most with multiple people breaking the old CRs. Suzuna Kinoshita (Chuo Univ.) led off with a 13:35 CR on the 4.3 km First Stage, Yura Tanaka (Tsukuba Univ.) taking over the lead on the 3.0 km Second Stage with a 9:24 CR. Favorites Daito Bunka University got off to a slow start in 6th, but Sarah Wanjiru took over the lead on the 8.6 km Third Stage with a 27:46 CR and the rest of the DBU women kept them there, winning in 1:53:01.

The 5.6 km Fourth Stage was the only one not to see a new CR, as Mao Kogure (Juntendo Univ.) ran a 23:59 CR on the 7.3 km Fifth Stage and Yuka Komatsu (Tsukuba Univ.) an 18:14 CR on the 5.6 km anchor stage. Along with DBU, Nittai University, Tsukuba, Josai University, Juntendo and Chuo made the cut. Collegiate 10000 m record holder Seira Fuwa didn't run, but Takushoku University still took the last qualifying spot in 7th in 1:55:44, beating Teikyo Kagaku University by just 8 seconds to get there.

In non-ekiden road action:
  • Hidetoshi Hara of Koku Gakuin University won a competitive Yamagata Marugoto Half Marathon in 1:04:03, just 5 seconds up on teammate Rintaro Motoyama. Haruna Takano (PTC) won the women's race in 1:17:02.
  • Haruku Gyoten of Hosei University won the Takashimadaira Half Marathon in 1:04:42, with Akihiro Kaneko (Comodi Iida) taking the men's 10 km in 28:55 and Kenyan Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) winning the 5 km outright in 15:31. Former elite athlete Yuki Kawauchi was 246th among men and 268th overall in 1:33:38.
  • 2024 Hakone Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University's Seiryu Morishige won the Sapporo Half Marathon, soloing a 1:05:58 that put him over 5 minutes ahead of 2nd. Local Hina Shiozaki (Oligonol) won the women's race in 1:21:13.
  • Overseas, Uniqlo teammates Miku Hirashima and Yumi Yoshikawa were at the Twin Cities Marathon in the U.S. Hirashima took 7th in the marathon in 2:39:35 behind winner Molly Bookmyer's 2:28:52 PB, with Yoshikawa 8th in the 10-mile race in 53:58. Natosha Rogers won in 52:29.
On the track:
  • In Gifu the Chubu Region Corporate Track and Field Championships men's 10000 m saw Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) lead the top 4 under 28 minutes with a quality 27:35.84. Former Chuo star Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) was one of the ones to get under 28 minutes, running a PB 27:58.79 for 4th.
  • At the Kansai Distance Challenge meet in Nara Shogo Hifumi (Osaka Police Dept.) go under 14 minutes with a 13:58.26 for the win in the men's 5000 m A-heat, with Yuri Tasaki (Sysmex) taking the women's 5000 m in 16:01.06.
  • The Tokai University Time Trials meet in Kanagawa had a decent men's 10000 m, with Kenta Sekiguchi (SGH) winning in 28:45.38 by 3 seconds over Chuo's Koichi Shoji.

3rd Okukuma Ekiden

Kumamoto, 6 Oct. 2024
open: 16 teams, 4 stages, 42.195 km
H.S.: 53 teams, 7 stages, 42.195 km

Top Individual Stage Results - High School
First Stage (10.0 km) - Taiyo Iwasa (Tosu Kogyo H.S. A) - 30:08
Second Stage (3.0 km) - Felix Muthiani (Yamanashi Gakuin H.S.) - 8:03
Third Stage (8.25 km) - Yuma Matsuda (Omuta H.S. A) - 24:39
Fourth Stage (7.9 km) - Shu Morimoto (Omuta H.S. A) - 24:15
Fifth Stage (3.0 km) - Ibuki Sugiyama (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 8:26
Sixth Stage (5.2 km) - Raiki Ichinose (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 15:19
Seventh Stage (4.845 km) - Takafumi Okuno (Rakunan H.S.) - 13:47

Top Individual Stage Results - University / Corporate
First Stage (10.0 km) - Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin A) - 30:10
Second Stage (11.25 km) - Yuichiro Ueno (Hiramatsu Byoin A) - 33:57
Third Stage (10.9 km) - Shoki Yamaguchi (Soka Univ. A) - 32:38
Fourth Stage (10.045 km) - Yeneblo Biyazen (Hiramatsu Byoin A) - 29:12

Top Team Results - High School
1. Omuta H.S. A - 2:06:46
2. Rakunan H.S. - 2:07:07
3. Tosu Kogyo H.S. A - 2:07:44
4. Kyushu Gakuin H.S. - 2:08:45
5. Saikyo H.S. - 2:09:21
6. Suma Gakuen H.S. - 2:09:31
7. Shiritsu Funabashi H.S. - 2:10:14
8. Tokyo Nogyo Daini H.S. - 2:10:26
9. Kobayashi H.S. A - 2:11:21
10. Chinzei Gakuin H.S. A - 2:11:27

Top Team Results - University / Corporate
1. Hiramatsu Byoin A - 2:06:39
2. Soka University A - 2:06:57
3. Aoyama Gakuin University A - 2:10:23
4. Soka University B - 2:10:51
5. Chugoku Denryoku - 2:11:13
6. Hiramatsu Byoin B - 2:11:16
7. Rikkyo Univ. - 2:11:33
8. Team Nitro - 2:12:40
9. Hiramatsu Byoin C - 2:14:28
10. Surugadai University - 2:14:40

Morinomiyako Ekiden Kanto Region Qualifier

Chiba, 5 Oct. 2024
21 teams, 6 stages, 34.4 km

Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (4.3 km) - Suzuna Kinoshita (Chuo Univ.) - 13:35 - CR
Second Stage (3.0 km) - Yura Tanaka (Tsukuba Univ.) - 9:24 - CR
Third Stage (8.6 km) - Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 27:46 - CR
Fourth Stage (5.6 km) - Airi Tajima (Juntendo Univ.) - 18:22
Fifth Stage (7.3 km) - Mao Kogure (Juntendo Univ.) - 23:59 - CR
Sixth Stage (5.6 km) - Yuka Komatsu (Tsukuba Univ.) - 18:14 - CR

Top Team Results - top 7 qualify for Morinomiyako Ekiden
1. Daito Bunka University - 1:53:01
2. Nittai University - 1:53:25
3. Tsukuba University - 1:53:45
4. Josai University - 1:54:21
5. Juntendo University - 1:54:47
6. Chuo University - 1:55:07
7. Takushoku University - 1:55:44
-----
8. Teikyo Kagaku University - 1:55:52
9. Tamagawa University - 1:56:29
10. Toyo University - 1:56:38

© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...
3 comments
Read more

Long Time Coming - Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera's Road to the 2022 United Airlines NYC Half

Back in pre-pandemic days Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera  were still in college, Akasaki at Takushoku University and Onodera at Teikyo University . At the 2019 Ageo City Half Marathon they frontran most of the race together, dead set on finishing in the top two Japanese collegiate spots to win invitations to the 2020 United Airlines NYC Half. For Akasaki it had already been a year and a half wait. Inspired by Kenta Murayama 's 1:00:57 5th place in finish in New York in 2017 and Kei Katanishi 's 7th-place in 2018, Akasaki went for it his junior year in his debut at the 2018 Ageo Half . "Coming up to 10 km I was in the lead pack and feeling good, so I knew I had a shot at going to New York and got pretty excited," he said. But right after the 10 km turnaround point he tripped and fell, and by the time he was back up the lead group was out of range. He finished 20th in 1:03:07, over a minute and a half behind top Japanese university man Ken Nakayama . "I was f...
1 comment
Read more

My Training for 1:00:44

Hi, I'm Ayumu Kobayashi . Today I'm going to write about this year's National Corporate Half Marathon and the training I did for it. I hope other runners will find it even a little bit helpful. At the Corporate Half on Feb. 13 I was 10th in 1:00:44. My goal had been to run 61 minutes, so I hit that target. My Training Menu In January I ran a total of 681 km. Key workouts: Jan. 11: 1000 m x 5 at 2:50/km Jan. 12: 22.5 km Jan. 15: 9 km variable pace Jan. 17: 25 km Jan. 24: 1000 m x 8 at 2:52/km Jan. 27: 1 km + 4 km + 2 km Jan. 30: 16 km at 3:18/km avg. In January I was tired from the New Year Ekiden and had some knee pain after it, so I just jogged for 10 days until I started doing workouts again on the 11th. That's why I only ran 681 km for the month. But even on the jog days I was aware that I had the Corporate Half coming up, so I was doing around 30 km. It's pretty meat and potatoes, but I think it was really important. February (training for the 10 days before...
2 comments
Read more