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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


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