Japan Post Holds Off Sekisui Kagaku to Win Queens Ekiden National Title

Japan Post was back on top at the Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championships Sunday in Sendai, holding off last year's winner Sekisui Kagaku over the second half of a race that came as close as 1 second to take 1st with a final margin of victory of 27 seconds.

Sekisui Kagaku was out fast with a win on the 7.0 km opening leg by Erika Tanoura and a new CR for the 12:56 second leg by Yuma Yamamoto, 17 seconds better than her own CR from last year. Last year's 4th-placer Shiseido briefly led on the 10.6 km third leg with an excellent 33:17 stage win from Rino Goshima, but behind her Japan Post's Ririka Hironaka returned from her latest injury problems to pass Sekisui Kagaku's Sayaka Sato and hand off 6 seconds ahead.

New recruit Caroline Kariba ran Shiseido down on the 3.6 km fourth leg and put Japan Post 22 seconds ahead of Sekisui Kagaku, but a duel of marathoners between JP's Ayuko Suzuki and Sekisui's Hitomi Niiya on the 10.0 km fifth leg cut the difference down to only 1 second at the final exchange, Niiya at one point going ahead but Suzuki coming back to retake 1st. It all came down to Japan Post anchor Kotona Ota, who turned in a stage-winning 21:02 for the 6.795 km anchor leg, outrunning Sekisui's Chikako Mori by 26 seconds to put Japan Post in 1st in 2:13:54 to Sekisui Kagaku's 2:14:21.

18th last year, Shimamura was a surprise 3rd in 2:15:26 with especially good runs from last two runners Anna Suzuki and Yuna Takahashi. Last year's 3rd-placer Panasonic was 4th in 2:15:40, with Edion, Iwatani Sangyo and Daiichi Seimei taking the next three spots. Shiseido fell to 8th over the second half of the race, taking the final podium spot by only 9 seconds over Uniqlo, 2:17:00 to 2:17:09.

5th and 7th last year, Daihatsu and Tenmaya were off the podium this time, Tenmaya 10th in 2:17:38 and Daihatsu 11th in 2:18:05. The two debuting teams in the field, Tokyo Metro and Bears, were 20th in 2:21:19 and 23rd in 2:23:40. Still hurting from the transfer of star runner Mao Uesugi to Tokyo Metro, Starts was last in 2:23:54, 14 seconds behind Bears.

Queens Ekiden

44th Corporate Women's National Championships

Sendai, Miyagi, 24 Nov. 2024

24 teams, 6 stages, 42.195 km

complete results

Team Results

1. Japan Post - 2:13:54

2. Sekisui Kagaku - 2:14:21

3. Shimamura - 2:15:26

4. Panasonic - 2:15:40

5. Edion - 2:15:50

6. Iwatani Sangyo - 2:16:55

7. Daiichi Seimei - 2:16:57

8. Shiseido - 2:17:00

----- top 8 auto-qualify for 2025

9. Uniqlo 2:17:09

10. Tenmaya - 2:17:38

11. Daihatsu - 2:18:05

12. Toyota Jidoshokki - 2:18:15

13. Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo - 2:19:11

14. Sysmex - 2:19:31

15. Higo Ginko - 2:19:38

16. Otsuka Seiyaku - 2:19:42

17. Route Inn Hotels - 2:20:27

18. Hitachi - 2:20:32

19. Kyocera - 2:20:37

20. Tokyo Metro - 2:21:19 - debut

21. Denso - 2:22:31

22. Nitori - 2:23:25

23. Bears - 2:23:40 - debut

24. Starts - 2:23:54

Individual Stage Results

First Stage (7.0 km)

1. Erika Tanoura (Sekisui Kagaku) - 21:46

2. Shiori Yoshizono (Tenmaya) - 21:46

3. Miyaka Sugata (Japan Post) - 21:51

Second Stage (4.2 km)

1. Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) - 12:56 - CR

2. Kae Gyu (Japan Post) - 13:08 (CR)

3. Ayano Ide (Shiseido) - 13:09 (CR)

Third Stage (10.6 km)

1. Rino Goshima (Shiseido) - 33:17

2. Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 33:33

3. Nanami Watanabe (Panasonic) - 33:36

Fourth Stage (3.6 km)

1. Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 10:59

2. Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) - 11:09

3. Caroline Kariba (Japan Post) - 11:13

Fifth Stage (10.0 km)

1. Ai Hosoda (Edion) - 32:29

2. Anna Suzuki (Shimamura) - 32:42

3. Hitomi Niiya (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:46

Sixth Stage (6.795 km)

1. Kotona Ota (Japan Post) - 21:02

2. Kazuna Kanetomo (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 21:21

3. Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) - 21:26

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

Queens Ekiden Streaming and Preview

Sunday is the first big race of championship ekiden season, the Queens Ekiden in Sendai, the season-ending national championship for corporate women. 24 teams race 42.195 km in 6 legs, with the top 8 scoring places for 2025. TBS' live nationwide broadcast starts at 11:50, with multi-camera streaming on Youtube above. Last year Sekisui Kagaku won by almost a minute and a half, and with Paris Olympian Yuma Yamamoto , 2023 World Championships marathoner Sayaka Sato on its entry list and collegiate 1500 m record holder Mizuki Michishita having come on board this season it looks like a contender for another win. But last year's runner-up Japan Post got a big boost this season with the addition of its first non-Japanese member, two-time double 1500 m and 3000 m high school champion Caroline Kariba . The Queens Ekiden limits non-Japanese athletes to a 3.8 km leg, so it'd be tough for Kariba to bridge a 1:25 gap by herself with that little ground to work with. But what she can

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

japan running news

Search This Blog