Elevated to the winner's circle after last year's national champion Universal Entertainment was disqualified, Panasonic did it for real this year with a wire-to-wire lead for the 2018 National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships title. Last year's First Stage winner Kaori Morita did it again this year, putting Panasonic 5 seconds ahead at the first exchange. Second runner Sakiko Naito fought off multiple attacks from Nana Kuraoka of 2013-2015 national champion Denso to keep a 2-second lead at the next exchange, where 19-year-old Nanami Watanabe took the tasuki for the longest stage of the day, the 10.9 km Third Stage. The relatively unknown Watanabe was a revelation, obliterating 2:21~2:23 marathon trio Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal), Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) and Honami Maeda (Tenmaya), track star Ayuko Suzuki (Japan Post), stage record holder Yuka Takashima (Shiseido) and more top-level talent to open Panasonic's lead to 57 seconds with a 34:31 stage...
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