Skip to main content

Saitama Wins Final East Japan Women's Ekiden With Dramatic Anchor Stage Turnaround by Yamanouchi


The final edition of the East Japan Women's Ekiden was held Nov. 10 in Fukushima, with teams of 9 athletes ranging from junior high school students to corporate leaguers representing the 18 prefectures in eastern and northern Japan competing over 42.195 km. For the first time in 18 years Saitama took the win, running 2:19:07 to score its fourth title in the event's 39-year history despite not taking a single individual stage title. Gunma was 2nd, with Tokyo placing 3rd.

Saitama's lead runner Wakana Fukuyama, a 2nd-year at Saitama Sakae H.S., started them off in 8th after the 6.0 km 1st leg. Over the next three legs Saitama moved up as high as 3rd, fluctuating a few spots over the stages of that but advancing to 2nd thanks to a great run from Tamai J.H.S. 3rd- year Momoka Ono on the second-to-last stage. That put Saitama's anchor Minami Yamanouchi from the Shimamura corporate team 30 seconds back from the leader, and with 10.0 km to work with and a strong run she was able to close it down and take the win.

39th East Japan Women's Ekiden

Fukushima, 10 Nov. 2024
18 teams, 9 stages, 42.195 km

Top Individual Stage Performances
First Stage (6.0 km) - Ayami Yoshida (Hokkaido) - 19:01
Second Stage (4.0 km) - Nami Kawakami (Nagano) - 12:52
Third Stage (3.0 km) - Yui Onotora (Miyagi) - 9:49
Fourth Stage (3.0 km) - Koko Fujisawa (Gunma) - 9:26
Fifth Stage (5.0875 km) - Aoi Hosokawa (Miyagi) - 16:33
Sixth Stage (4.1075 km) - Rena Imai (Nagano) - 12:51
Seventh Stage (4.0 km) - Koto Watanabe (Miyagi) - 13:09
Eighth Stage (3.0 km ) - Yuna Baba (Shizuoka) - 9:34
Ninth Stage (10.0 km ) - Kana Kobayashi (Gunma) - 31:55

Team Results
1. Saitama - 2:19:07
2. Gunma - 2:19:35
3. Tokyo - 2:19:52
4. Nagano - 2:19:58
5. Shizuoka - 2:20:11
6. Miyagi - 2:20:25
7. Fukushima - 2:20:37
8. Hokkaido - 2:22:03
9. Niigata - 2:22:12
10. Chiba - 2:22:38
11. Yamanashi - 2:22:46
12. Iwate - 2:23:18
13. Tochigi - 2:23:30
14. Ibaraki - 2:23:48
15. Kanagawa - 2:24:44
16. Akita - 2:25:51
17. Yamagata - 2:26:31
18. Aomori - 2:28:00


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more

Japan's Team Performance at World U20 Championships

There wasn't much surprise in the events where Japan did well at the Oregon World U20 Championships , with medals in the men's 110 mH, 400 mH and 3000 m, and top 5 finishes in the women's and men's 5000 m race walks, men's 4x100 m relay, men's pole vault and long jump, men's 200 m, women's 800 m and 3000 m, and women's javelin throw. Jeremy Koga ran a 12.95 (+0.3) Asian U20 AR in the men's 110 mH semifinals, then came back in the final with a 12.97 (+0.7) in the final to take silver behind a brilliant 12.72 U20 WR by American Le'Ezra Brown . Taiju Goto was expected to medal in the men's 400 mH, but after leading the semifinals the best he could do was silver in 49.23, gold going to the Czech Republic's Michal Rada with a 48.59 European U20 AR. Expected to do better in the 1500 m, Ojiro Honda ran a 7:48.49 U20 NR in the men's 3000 m final to score bronze, only to come in near the back of the field in the 1500 m final at 14th in...
2 comments
Read more

Some Mid-Season Women's Corporate Team Roster Changes

The Daiichi Life women's corporate team announced last week on its official site that Paris Olympics 10000 m runner Haruka Kokai and teammate Yuka Masubuchi left the organization as of July 31. Kokai was born in 2003. Kokai rose to the national level while at Sendai Ikuei H.S. , winning the first leg at the National High School Ekiden her 2nd year to lead them to the overall national title. After graduating she joined Daiichi Life, then called Daiichi Seimei, in 2021. In March, 2023 she was the gold medalist in the women's 10000 m at the Asian Championships, and in December the same year she took 3rd in the National Championships 10000 m in an all-time Japanese #7 30:57.67 to score a place on the Paris Olympics team. In Paris she placed 19th. In a statement released by Daiichi Life Kokai said, "I want to thank the team, who always put the athletes first as they shared this journey, and all my teammates for so many good times together. There were times I got really disco...
1 comment
Read more