Skip to main content

Shibui, Kobayashi, Dita and More to Run Final Yokohama International Women's Ekiden

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20090212-OYT1T00998.htm
http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/090213/spg0902130502000-n1.htm
http://www.asahi.com/sports/update/0212/TKY200902120294.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/p-sp-tp0-20090213-460245.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Click photo for a preview video of the 2009 Yokohama International Women's Ekiden (viewing area may be limited).

On Feb. 12 the Yokohama International Women's Ekiden organizing committee held a press conference to announce the lineup of the Japanese national team for this year's 27th and final running scheduled for Feb. 22. Leading the team are Beijing Olympians Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki). Shibui, who will compete in the marathon at this summer's World Championships in Berlin, set a stage record the last time she ran Yokohama in 2002. Kobayashi has run the 1st leg for the last three years, winning the stage in 2008.

Joining Shibui and Kobayashi are a strong squad made up of 2008 Tokyo International Women's Marathon runner-up Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC), #1-ranked university runner Kazue Kojima (Ritsumeikan Univ.) and rising stars Ryoko Kisaki (Team Daihatsu) and Kaori Urata (Team Tenmaya). Kano set a stage record on Yokohama's 5th leg in 2005, and Kojima has extensive successful experience in international ekidens despite her young age. With such an impressive membership the Japanese national team will be hungry for its first win in four years.

Along with the Japanese national team and seven regional Japanese squads, teams from six other countries including Russia, Romania, the U.S.A., Kenya, Finland and China will compete. Among the foreign athletes scheduled to run are Beijing Olympics marathon gold medalist Constantina Dita (Romania) and 10000 m specialists Maria Konovalova and Inga Abitova (Russia). Complete lineups for the other thirteen teams are available here.

The Yokohama International Women's Ekiden covers a six-stage, 42.195 km course beginning and ending at Yokohama's Akarenga arts space. With last year's demise of the Tokyo International Women's Marathon, the ekiden is being replaced with a new Yokohama International Women's Marathon to take place in November. The final edition of the Yokohama International Women's Ekiden will be broadcast live nationwide on NTV beginning at 12:00 noon on Feb. 22. International viewers should be able to watch online for free through one of the sites listed here.

Comments

TokyoRacer said…
Judging from the times given on the entries, it looks like it will be quite a battle between Japan, Kenya and Russia. Deena Kastor said she was coming, but her name is not on the entry list....

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters