Fresh off a sub-31 PB at last month's 10000 m National Championships, Haruka Kokai ran down Kotona Ota of longtime leader Hyogo on the anchor stage to give the Miyagi prefecture team its first National Women's Ekiden title in 29 years. Women-only half marathon NR holder Rino Goshima went out hard to put earthquake and tsunami-hit Ishikawa in the lead by 35 seconds on the 6.0 km First Stage, but a Second Stage win by 1500 m and 5000 m NR holder Nozomi Tanaka put Hyogo into a lead it held until midway through the final stage. Shizuoka and Chiba both spent time in 2nd and at times closed on Hyogo only to get dropped again. The 4.1075 km Fifth Stage was especially good, with sub-32 collegian Risa Yamazaki of Chiba running down high school 1st-year Kairi Ikeno for the lead only to get retaken by Ikeno, with both breaking the 1995-era CR for the stage. Behind them, Miyagi was working its way up through the field, improving its position every stage except the Third until Y...
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