Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijyo won the All Japan
Women’s Corporate Team Ekiden
Championships
K. Ken Nakamura
for the IAAF
9 December 2001 - Led by Naomi Sakashita and Yoko Shibui, Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijyo won the All Japan Women’s Corporate Team Ekiden Championships for the second consecutive year. Mitsui won the six stages 42.195Km ekiden in 2:15:45, ahead of Tokai Bank, two-time champion and Tenmaya.
Because this is an annual ekiden championships for all the corporate ekiden teams in Japan, all the top women’s distance runners in Japan compete, unless they are injured. The team rosters look like the who’s who of Japanese distance running. Almost all the Olympic and World Championships medallists - Yuko Arimori (2nd and 3rd in 1992 and 1996 Olympics respectively), Sachiko Yamashita (2nd in 1991 Worlds), Junko Asari (1993 World Champion), Hiromi Suzuki (1997 World Champion), Masako Chiba (3rd at 10000m 1997 Worlds), and Naoko Takahashi (2000 Olympic Champion) - have run this ekiden in the past. Only exception is Ari Ichihashi (2nd in 1999 Worlds) who does not run for a corporate team.
Going into the ekiden championships, Mitsui was the favourite on the strength of two super stars - Yoko Shibui and Reiko Tosa. Naturally, being marathon runners, they were scheduled to run two longest stages, the 10Km third stage and the 11.6Km fifth stage. It was thought that no other teams can match these two runners in the aforementioned two crucial stages, and thus Mitsui was the favourite. However, Reiko Tosa, an Edmonton marathon silver medallist, who was scheduled to run the fifth stage for Mitsui team, injured her right heel in mid-November. She was replaced by Naomi Sakashita who came a disappointing ninth in the recent Tokyo Ladies marathon. After the marathon, Sakashita vowed that she would be back to redeem herself in the corporate ekiden championships, which is exactly what she did.
This was the 21st annual Women’s corporate team ekiden championships, which has been held in Gifu, the home town of Naoko Takahashi since 1983 (first two editions were held in Ise). Unfortunately, the reigning Olympic marathon champion, Naoko Takahashi pulled out at the last minute because of illness.
In its early history when the women’s ekiden teams lacked their current depth, the ekiden championships were contested at the distance of 16.3Km, 24.5Km and then 30.0Km. It was only in 1992 that the current format a six stage 42.195Km ekiden was established.
The first stage of the ekiden is just like other road races. The lead pack often breaks up at some point, and a mad dash may be seen if several runners are together near the end. In Sunday’s race, the lead pack broke up when Megumi Kobayashi of Denso team surged nearing the 5Km point. However, she could not get away from the other runners, and it was Makiko Kawashima of Tokai Bank team who attacked with 600m to go in the first stage. However, she too could not run away. Eventually Yasuko Hashimoto of Nihon Life team outkicked everyone else. Hashimoto covered the 6.6Km first stage in 20:34, 27 seconds short of the record held by Mingxia Wang. In the short second stage (3.3Km), Yukiko Fujiwara of the Globally team took over the lead after 500m. Kei Satomura of Denso team soon joined her, and they ran together for most of the stage. At the end, Satomura took over the lead (31:11 at the end of stage two). The 10Km third stage, one of the crucial stages, began with Ikumi Nagayama of Denso in the lead, with the World Half Marathon medallist (1999 Silver medallist) Mizuki Noguchi of Globally in second. The Mitsui team was seven seconds behind the leader when Yoko Shibui took over. Shibui is the marathon debut record holder (2:23:11) and was fourth at the marathon in Edmonton. As expected, Shibui put her team in the lead. First at 2.8Km into the third stage, Shibui took over the second place from Nagayama. One kilometre later, Shibui also caught Noguchi who was in the lead.
Meanwhile, Kayoko Fukushi, a triple national junior record holder (3000m/5000m/10000m), who started in 21st place, was moving up fast. She covered the first half of the 10Km third stage in 15:09. By then, Fukushi was already in the ninth place. She passed the total of 16 runners, as she covered the 10Km in 31:36. This is not quite a record, however. In 1998, Esther Wanjiru of Kenya (fourth in the 2000 Olympic Marathon) who was running for the Hitachi team recorded the fastest third stage, when she ran 31:10. In the process she passed 20 runners.
Shibui covered the 10Km third stage in 32:01, two seconds faster than she did last year. Mitsui now leads Globally team by 13 seconds (1:03:19). Although Mitsui kept their lead after the 4.1Km fourth stage, Globally worked their way back and were trailing by only three seconds. Thus began another crucial stage, the 11.6Km fifth stage. For Mitsui, Reiko Tosa was the obvious choice to run this stage, and for that reason, Mitsui was the favourite going into the race. Although not as famous as her team mate Reiko Tosa, for she has yet to excel in the marathon, Naomi Sakashita is an accomplished runner in her own right. Throughout the 11.6Km fifth stage, Sakashita, who has run 31:53.40 in the 10,000m, kept on extending the lead. With the 6.595Km final stage left, Mitsui led by 59 seconds (1:53:56), which all but sealed their second consecutive victory. Although two-time champion Tokai Bank passed Globally to move into the second place in the final stage, they never threatened leader Mitsui, who won comfortably in 2:15:45.
Results:
1)
Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijyo 2:15:45
2) Tokai Bank 2:16:23
3) Tenmaya 2:16:32
4) Shiseido 2:16:46
5) Globally 2:16:49
6) Sunix 2:18:14
7) Suzuki 2:18:28
8) Asahi Bank 2:18:30
9) Fuji Bank 2:18:34
10) Denso 2:18:40
Best Stages
1 6.6Km Yasuko Hashimoto (Dai-ichi
Life) 20:34
2 3.3Km Mizuho Nasukawa
(Sekisui Chemical) 10:23
3 10.0Km Kayoko Fukushi
(Wacoal) 31:36
4 4.1Km Chieko Yamazaki (Tenmaya)
& Mayumi Hara (Sunix) 12:53
5 11.6Km Naomi Sakashita (Mitsui
Sumitomo Kaijyo) 37:21
6 6.595Km Yumiko Kitayama (Tenmaya)
21:23
