Japanese
Women win tenth straight Chiba Ekiden
K.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
25 November 2001 - For the tenth year in
a row, a Japanese women's team won the
Chiba Ekiden.
Although an argument can be made that some countries are not sending their "A" team to the Chiba ekiden, it is still quite a remarkable achievement for the team to win the ekiden every year for the last ten years. Since the ekiden is a relay event, a single sub-par performance can turn into disaster very easily.
The Japanese are intrigued by world record holders. So naturally, the centre of attention at this year's Chiba ekiden was Catherine Ndereba, who broke the world marathon best briefly held by Japan's own Naoko Takahashi. Ndereba has been in Japan before, most recently in the spring of 2000. Although Ndereba was already a Boston marathon champion then, she was all but ignored except by track & field magazines. It was different this time. She was in demand. While in Japan she was interviewed on TV, and everyone wanted her autographs and photos. Perhaps the most significant event of them all was the meeting of Ndereba with Naoko Takahashi. Although Takahashi did not run in the ekiden, she was at the ekiden as a television guest, and they met by request from Ndereba.
Ndereba ran the 10Km first stage. In the ekiden, the first stage is considered quite important, because it sets the tone for the subsequent stages. The team who lags behind in the first stage often ends up not performing up to their true potential, perhaps because of its psychological effect. Knowing that it was important to stay close to Ndereba, the Japanese coach selected a teenage sensation of the year, Kayoko Fukushi for the first stage. Fukushi is on a roll this year, having set national junior records at 3000m, 5000m and 10000m.
Not only did Fukushi stay close to Ndereba throughout the race as required, she led Ndereba for a while in mid-race. Eventually four runners - Ndereba, Fukushi, Leila Aman of Ethiopia and Mihaela Botezan of Romania - broke away from the lead pack. They all finished within two seconds of each other with Ndereba winning the stage with 31:35. In the second stage while the Kenyan team fell out of contention, the race turned into a duel between Japan and Ethiopia. In fact, they dueled for the next three stages.
In the 5Km second stage, Akiko Kawashima whose 5000m personal best is only 15:22.70 stayed close to Worknesh Kidane of Ethiopia whose 5000m personal best is 14:47.40. They tied for the fastest second stage with 15:24. After the race, Kawashima told Tatsuo Terada, "My thoughts was on that tenth straight win. I was not even thinking about my opposition." The duel continued in the third stage between Teyiba Erkesso of Ethiopia and Yasuyo Iwamoto of Japan who was ninth in the recent World Half Marathon Championships. Although Erkesso lead initially, Iwamoto worked her way back and at the end of the 10Km third stage, Iwamoto was only one second behind Erkesso who completed the course in 32:03.
In the 5Km fourth stage Yoko Shibui, a marathon debut record holder, run for Japan. Shibui had a left leg injury and did not feel comfortable running a 10Km stage, which she should have been running, for she is after all a marathon runner. Merima Denboba who was running for Ethiopia
started fast, and Shibui like her teammate Iwamoto had to work her way back. But by 1.5Km into the fourth stage, not only did Shibui caught Denboba, she moved ahead and gave Japan a commanding lead by the end of the stage four.
Shibui covered the 5Km in 15:15, far faster than her track 5000m personal best which stands at 15:35.79. After the race, Shibui said, "I did not know that Denboba is a 15:06 5000m runner. I was expecting to run 15:30 or 15:35, so I am surprised with my performance." Her goal of running sub 31 minutes 10000m next year may be a realistic goal.
On the next stage, Haruko Okamoto, a double national champion at both 5000m and 10000m, maintained the lead for Japan. Okamoto covered 4.767Km, which finishes uphill in 15:21 while Ethiopian Defar took 15:39 for the distance. In the 7.428Km final stage, Ethiopian Tufa covered the distance in 23:45 while the Japanese anchor Megumi Tanaka took 23:52, but it was little too
late. The Japanese finished in 2:13:33 which is a new record, eclipsing the old record of 2:13:50 set by the dream team of 1996 which included five Olympians from the same year.
The Japanese men were looking for their fourth straight victory, but their trouble began early. Their lead off runner Takayuki Matsumiya was only eleventh in the first stage. Even if he was eleventh, it would have been OK had he been only several seconds behind the leader. However, he was 54 seconds behind the leader, Jackson Gachiwiri of Kenya who ran the 10Km stage
in 28:21. Brazil was second while South Africa, was third. Kenya stayed in the lead in the second stage as Linus Maiyo was only one second behind the stage leader John Mayock of Great Britain. Japan continued to struggle, as their second stage runner, Toshihiro Iwasa was only tenth in the second stage, 24 seconds behind Mayock.
While Joseph Kimani (28:38 for the 10Km third stage) and Koech Cheruiyot (14:02 for the 5Km fourth stage) kept Kenya in the lead, Japan steadily move up in place in subsequent stages. In each of the four stages, Kenyan runners were either fastest or second fastest. For Japan, a 3000mSC specialist, Yoshitaka Iwamizu moved the team up to the seventh after the third stage. Atsushi Fujita, national marathon record holder, ran the fastest 5Km fourth stage (14:01) and the Japanese was in fifth.
Many lead changes took place in the final 12.195Km, which is the toughest part of the course. At the start of the fifth and final stage, Kenya led the second place Brazil by 52 seconds, while both South Africa and Japan were another 37 and 38 seconds behind respectively. At 7Km into the final stage, Kenyan Otwori relinquished the lead to Brazil. However, that was only the beginning. Two Km later Shigeru Aburaya, fifth at the marathon in the 2001 World Championships, took over the lead from Brazil. However, 300m later, he in turn gave up the lead to George Mofokeng of South Africa. Aburaya tucked in behind him for about 1Km, but less than 2Km from the
finish, he could no longer able to keep up with Mofokeng. After the race Aburaya told Terada, "While chasing top two teams with South African runner, I thought he was more dangerous than those in front. The tactics I used to dispose of the Kenyan and Brazilian (surge on the uphill) did not work with the South African." South Africa team won in 2:01:56, while Japan finished second, twelve seconds behind.
Men
1)
RSA 2:01:56
2)
JPN 2:02:08
3)
BRA
2:0:2:14
4)
RUS 2:02:18
5)
KEN 2:02:32
6)
AUS 2:02:54
7)
USA 2:03:36
8)
CAN 2:03:48
Best Stage
1 10Km
28:21 Jackson Gachwiri (KEN)
2 5Km
14:00 John Mayok (GBR)
3 10Km
28:38 Joseph Kimani (KEN)
4 5Km
14:01 Atsushi Fujita (JPN)
5 12.195Km
35:22 Dmitri Maximov (RUS)
Women
1) JPN
2:13:33
2) ETH 2:14:26
3) RUS 2:17:00
4) ROM 2:17:45
5) Chiba Prefecture 2:21:22
6) KEN 2:21:39
7) NOR 2:23:00
8) UKR 2:23:50
Best Stage
1
10Km 31:35
CatherineNdereba (KEN) ,
2 5Km
15:24 Akiko Kawashima (JPN)
Worknesh Kidane (ETH)
3 10Km
32:03 Teyiba Erkesso (ETH)
4 5Km
15:15 Yoko Shibui (JPN)
New stage Rec
5 4.767Km
15:21 Haruko Okamoto (JPN)
Tie Stage Rec
Lyudmila Petrova
(RUS)
6 7.428Km
23:23 Anastasiya Zobova (RUS)
23:23
