Skip to main content

Ekiden Weekend Roundup

http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/News/Tn201301280004.html
http://www.komaspo.com/4210
http://mainichi.jp/area/saitama/news/20130128ddlk11050143000c.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20130127-1077441.html
http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20130127-OHT1T00214.htm

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Three late-season ekidens took place this weekend.  Amid light snow in Yamaguchi, 48 teams took part in the 76th running of the Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden on a 7-stage, 84.4 km course from Ube City Hall to Shunan City Hall.  In the elite division, after an exciting Sixth Stage that saw 2012 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) cover the 15.9 km stage in 46:11 to move his team up into 1st, Team Chugoku Denryoku retook the lead on the anchor stage and claimed its eleventh Chugoku Yamaguchi title and first in two years in a time of 4:06:44.  Saikyo High School's A team won the high school division in 4:18:58 after leading all the way from the Second Stage, also claiming its eleventh win and first in two years.  Defending local division winner Hiroshima T&F Association picked up a second-straight division win in 4:23:18.  The Chugoku Denryoku team received a banner of victory at the award ceremony, with each of the division winners receiving a trophy from sponsor Chugoku Newspaper Co.

At the 59th Atsugi Ekiden, 2013 Hakone Ekiden 3rd-place Komazawa University took its fourth-straight win, just of its own record from last year as it covered the six-stage, 42.195 km course in 2:05:28.  Up to Fourth Stage there was some turnover in the lead, but when Shota Baba took over from Kenya Sonota Komazawa got into its rhythm.  Fifth Stage man Koki Takahashi started well but faded over the second half of his stage to lose ground, leaving it up to anchor Koji Someya to hold on to the overall win.  Despite running conservatively Someya clocked the fastest time on the anchor stage, joining Baba and First Stage runner Yoshihiro Nishizawa in picking up stage wins.

At the 59th Okumusashi Ekiden, Tokai University beat defending champion Chuo University, winning the open division in 1:56:20 for the six-stage, 38.792 km course. Tokyo Nogyo Prep #3 H.S. won the high school division in 1:58:46, putting an end to Saitama Sakae H.S.'s hopes of an eleventh-straight Okumusashi win.  205 teams altogether ran Okumusashi, where the biggest news came via Saitama Prefectural Government team Fourth Stage runner Yuki Kawauchi who clipped 1 second off the existing record to set a new mark of 13:00 for the 4.679 km stage.  It was Kawauchi's fourth race, third win and second-straight ekiden run of 2013.  "Including high schoolers, I passed about twenty people today," said Kawauchi.  He will next race the Feb. 3 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, one of the domestic selection races for August's Moscow World Championships.  "Everything's going smoothly so far," he said.  "I just have to be careful about fatigue and losing my edge."  At the first domestic selection race, December's Fukuoka International Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Asahi Kasei) ran 2:08:24. That time is Kawauchi's target in Beppu-Oita.  "If I run faster than Horibata did then I might not do Lake Biwa in March," he revealed, hoping to get the job done in one take.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

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

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

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr