Reiko Tosa wins the 2006 Tokyo Women’s Marathon in 2:26:15 (© Kazutaka Eguchi/Agence SHOT)
The 26th annual Women’s Corporate Ekiden Championships will be held on Sunday 17 December in Gifu, Japan, the hometown of the 2000 Olympic Marathon champion Naoko Takahashi.
Twenty-seven teams, who qualified through the district championships, will contest the title of the best women’s Ekiden team in the country over a six stage course - 6.6Km, 3.3Km, 10.0Km, 4.1Km, 11.6Km, and 6.595Km - which totals to 42.195Km, the marathon distance. Because of the way the race is divided into six stages, in order to excel teams needs two good runners who can handle hilly 10Kms sections.
The prohibitive favourite is the three-time defending champion Mitsui-Sumitomo, who won the East Japan district championships by more than two-minutes. If their members at their best, it is hard to imagine that any other team can challenge them. They have two big guns: Reiko Tosa and Yoko Shibui. In the district championships, they both recorded stage bests - Shibui recorded 31:38 for the 10Km, while Tosa recorded 35:26 for the 11.1Km, and of course won the Tokyo Women’s Marathon on 19 November.
Suzuki (Motors) won the Awajishima district Ekiden. Their top name is Lucy Wangui (of Kenya), who recorded a huge stage best in Awajishima. In the district Ekiden championships Wangui ran 37:55 for the 11.97Km stage, a new stage record. Wangui, of course, is the Commonwealth Games champion at 10,000m, and bronze medallist at 5000m.
In order for Suzuki to challenge Mitsui-Sumitomo, however, they would need one more name, who could run the 10Km stage under 32 minutes. In the district Ekiden, Yoko Yagi ran the 9.56Km stage in 30:59, but they also have Noriko Matsuoka, who ran 31:49 for the 10,000m in September, and she maybe able to match stride for stride with Tosa.
Kyudenko won the Kyushu district championships in Kumamoto on 29 October, winning by more than a minute, and are a major threat.
Three other teams - Shiseido, who finished second in East JPN district Ekiden, Tenmaya, who finished second in Awajishima ekiden, and Oki Electric, second to Kyudenko in the Kyushu district Ekiden, all have a chance if top teams falter.
Shiseido’s best is 38-year-old Harumi Hiroyama, who recorded the 10,000m best of 31:49.15 this season. Tenmaya’s star is Yurika Nakamura, who finished second at the Japan Corporate team Half Marathon championships with 1:10:03, while Naoko Sakamoto, seventh at the Olympic marathon, is also a member of Tenmaya. Oki Electric, who finished third last year, are coached by Hiromi Taniguchi, the 1991 World Marathon Champion.
Another team, Panasonic may only have finished third in the East JPN district ekiden, but they can count on Kayo Sugihara, second at 5000m in the Asian Games, and Jane Wanjiku, second at Miyazaki Half Marathon with 1:10:03, and could also be a threat.
Best on show
Most of the best distance runners in Japan will be at the Ekiden Championships in Gifu. Kayoko Fukushi, the Asian Games champion at 10,000m will run for the Wacoal track team (fourth at the Awajishima district Ekiden championships). Even with several Kenyans in the Ekiden, Fukushi, who has run 30:57.90 for the 10,000m this season, maybe the best runner in the field.
Mari Ozaki, who was 15th at the marathon in the World Championships, will run for Noritz track team (fourth at the Awajishima district ekiden).
Kenyans a major force
Many of the teams have foreign runners, mostly Kenyan, on their rosters. As well as Lucy Wangui who we have already mentioned, compatriot Ongori Philes, who runs for Hokuren track team (fifth in the district championships), has a 10,000m best of 31:18.85 (30 Sep), and Winfridah Kebaso, who runs for DeoDeo track team (ninth in the district championships), has a 10,000m best of 31:19.92 (30 Sep).
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
