Ethiopians in record winning form in Chiba

For the second year in a row, Ethiopian teams won both the men’s and women’s divisions of the Chiba International Ekiden, which was held today, a public holiday, in Japan.

Near record perfection

The two Ethiopian squads took the lead in first stage and never looked back, setting new course records. The men’s team improved their own record from last year, 1:57:56, by nearly two minutes to 1:55:59, while the women’s team improved the course record set by the Japanese in 2001(2:13:33) by over two minutes to 2:11:22.

Both times were also the fastest ever run for a five (men) and six(women) stage marathon distance (42.195Km) Ekiden. The Ethiopian men’s team improved the previous record of 1:57:54 recorded by the Ethiopian team twice, in 1990 and 1992, in Berlin, while the women eclipsed the previous record, 2:11:41, which was recorded by the Chinese team in 1998 at the Beijing Ekiden.

On an individual level records fell too. It was about as close as it comes to perfection for the Ethiopians. While the men’s team recorded stage bests in four out of the five stages, the women’s team established bests in three out of the six stages of their race.

Setting stage records for Ethiopia were for the men, Berhane Dejene  (27:18 for 10Km), G Gabremariam (27:35 for 10Km), Markos Geneti (13:29 for 5Km), and Sileshi Sihine (33:54 for 12.195Km). Berhane Adere (30:12 for 10Km), E Dibaba (15:11 for 5Km), and W Kidane (22:46 for 7.428Km) did so for the women. 

Kenyans second in both races

Finishing second in both the men’s and women’s races were the Kenyan squads which were composed entirely of Japanese resident Kenyans who run for Japanese corporate track teams. Finishing third and fourth in both men’s and women’s teams were Japan and Russia respectively. 

In the men’s race, the competition stayed close during the first and second stages, but was busted open in the 10Km third stage, as Gebremariam run away from the field with the new stage record, 27:35. The Ethiopians continued to increase their lead throughout the race, eventually winning in the record time of 1:55:59. 

Radcliffe has to settle for third fastest time on her stage behind Adere and Wangui

Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, as expected, bettered the stage best for the 10Km first stage covering the downhill stage in 30:42, which bettered the record of 30:55 set by Masako Chiba. However, unexpectedly World 10,000m champion Berhane Adere, and even more surprisingly Lucy Wangui of Kenya, were even faster.

Radcliffe went into the lead only 200m into the race, and passed 400m in 74 seconds. Staying with Radcliffe’s pace were three runners, Adere, Lucy Wangui (a young Kenyan running for Suzuki motors of Japan), and Kayoko Fukushi (JPN), a double Asian Games’ silver medallist at 5000m and 10,000m. The pack passed 1Km in 3:03, and 2Km in 6:04. 

Fukushi was the first casualty of the fast pace, as she dropped off the pace nearing 2Km, and the remaining threesome passed 3Km in 9:07 and 5Km in 15 minutes. 

Then just before the 8km point, Wangui and Adere moved ahead of Radcliffe who tried to stay with the Africans, but to no avail.

Radcliffe was approximately 10 seconds behind the African duo at 9Km. With 500m to go in the 10Km first stage, Adere made her move and Wangui started to drift back. By the end, Adere had recorded 30:12 for the 10Km stage, while Wangui was 6 seconds adrift, with Radcliffe surprisingly 30 seconds behind Adere.  

Thanks to the exceptional run by Wangui, the Kenyan team was only 6 seconds behind Ethiopia after the stage one. However, Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia, the World 5000m champion busted the race open. She put Ethiopia 35 seconds ahead of Kenya at the end of stage two. Like the men’s team, Ethiopia continued to increase their lead throughout the race, eventually winning in a record time of 2:11:22. 

Wangui bio

One year out of high school, Lucy Wangui perhaps will be the new star for Kenya at 10,000m. She attended high school in Japan and competed in prestigious national inter-high school championships. She won the 3000m in her junior year, 2001, and completed 1500m, 3000m double in her senior year, 2002.  Although Wangui finished third at 5000m in the Kenyan World Championships trials, she was not selected for the Paris team, for she lacked the “A” standard time. 

However, since late summer, Wangui has been on a roll, defeating both Tirunesh Dibaba and Werknesh Kidane at the Super Meet in Yokohama. She most likely will be a force to be reckoned with next year, and she does already have the “A” standard at 10,000m, having won the distance at Japan Corporate team Track and Field Championships in 31:06.20. 

Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
with assistance from Akihiro Onishi 

Results:

Men
1)  Ethiopia 1:55:59 Course Record and best Ekiden ever
2)  Kenya 1:58:56
3)  Japan 2:01:53
4)  Russia 2:02:31
5)  Japan Collegiate team 2:03:14

Stage Bests
1 10Km Berhane Dejene  27:18rec (previous 27:19)
2  5Km Hailu Mekonnen 13:43
3  10Km G Gebremariam  27:35rec (previous 28:16)  
4  5Km Markos Geneti 13:29rec (previous 13:42)
5  12.195Km Sileshi Sihine 33:54rec (previous 34:29)

Women
1)  Ethiopia 2:11:22 Course Record and best Ekiden ever   
2)  Kenya 2:15:37
3)  Japan 2:15:40
4)  Russia 2:18:49
5)  Chiba prefecture 2:18:59

Stage Bests
1 10Km Berhane Adere 30:12rec (previous 30:55)
2  5Km Tirunesh Dibaba 15:14
3  10Km Eyerusalem Kuma 32:16
4  5Km Ejigayehu Dibaba 15:11rec (previous 15:15)
5  4.467Km Meseret Defar 15:43
6  7.428Km Werknesh Kidane 22:46rec (previous 23:18)