Skip to main content

National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships - Preview - Watch Live Online

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/joshi-ekiden/2009/news/f-sp-tp0-20091209-574251.html

translated by Brett Larner

The 2009 National Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden Championships take place this Sunday, Dec. 13 in Gifu. The top 27 teams from across the country will face off over the 6-stage, 42.195 km course.

Last year Team Toyota Jidoshoki took its first-ever national title with a surprise win. This year the team returns a step ahead of the pack as the clear favorite. Its pair of 21 year old aces Hitomi Niiya and Akane Wakita led Toyota Jidoshoki to victory with stage best titles at the East Japan Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden and will again be a major factor in its 2009 Nationals run.

East Japan runner-up Team Hokuren also looks strong, with World Championships marathoner Yukiko Akaba and national jitsugyodan 5000 and 10000 m double champion Philes Ongori leading the way.

Last year's national runner-up Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo's chances largely depend on whether the team's star Yoko Shibui has recovered from the stress fracture that kept her out of the World Championships marathon. Without her the team finished 4th in East Japan, breaking its 10-year winning streak. Can Mitsui and Shibui make a comeback?

Other strong contenders include East Japan 3rd placer Team Universal Entertainment, formerly Team Aruze, and from west Japan Team Daihatsu. World Championships marathon silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) and 10000 m 7th place finisher Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) are also on the entry list with their teams.

Beginning this year, foreign runners will be restricted to the National Ekiden's shortest leg, the 3.3 km Second Stage. How will this affect the outcome?

The 2009 National Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden Championships will be broadcast live on TBS from 11:50 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Japan time on Dec. 13. Overseas viewers should be able to watch live online for free using the Keyhole TV software available here.

Translator's note: Unfortunately no JRNLive commentary this week either as I am running a XC race that morning.

Comments

Unknown said…
Team Universal Entertainment finished in 19th place! What in the world went wrong?!?!

Most-Read This Week

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

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

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