Home Team Japan Triumphs in Chiba Ekiden
JPN won the International Chiba Ekiden
by Ken Nakamura
In the absence of the defending champion Ethiopia, JPN
won the 2009 International Chiba Ekiden on Monday November 23, a national
holiday. Taking the lead in the second stage thanks to a near record run by
Yuriko Kobayashi, JPN never relinquished its lead. In fact, they extended their
lead in each of subsequent stages, except for the final stage. The runners on
the JPN team recorded the stage best in four out of six stages, but the winning
time, 2:05:58, was still 31 seconds behind the record Ethiopia set in 2008,
when they too recorded the stage best in four out of six stages. The Japanese
Collegiate team finished second in 2:07:47, minute and 49 seconds behind JPN,
while the pre-race favorite Kenya finished third in 2:08:34, despite the run by
two World Marathon Champions Abel Kirui and Catherine Ndereba. Kirui won the marathon in Berlin World
Championships, while Ndereba won the world title in 2003 and 2007.
The Beijing Olympic Marathon Champion Constantina Dita
ran the 5Km second stage for Romania, but her time, 16:07, was only sixth
fastest. The Athens Olympic Marathon Champion Stefano Baldini of Italy fared
even worse. His 10Km stage 5 time
was only 30:28, 12th fastest among 15 runners.
How the race unfolded:
Stage 1 5Km (men):
Ryuji Kashiwabara of JPN Collegiate team took off
from the start and covered the first 800m in blazing 2:10. Yuichiro Ueno of JPN tried to stay
close, but the gap of more than 30m opened up by the time the runners left the
stadium for the streets of Chiba.
Ueno, Craig Mottram and Nicholas Kamakya of Kenya worked together to
close the gap on Kashiwabara and caught him by 1.5Km into the race. The leader, Kamakya passed 2.5Km in
6:35, followed by Mottram and Ueno.
At 3.5Km into the first stage, Mottram took the lead and passed 4Km in
10:40. He was the fastest in the end of the 5Km stage; Mottram covered the
distance in 13:23, 9 seconds ahead of Ueno, who in turn was one second ahead of
Kamakya of Kenya. It was my slowest run in Chiba Ekiden, but since I was only
several seconds behind the leader, I think I did my job, said Ueno who also
said, I knew Kashiwabara was going out fast, but I was bit surprised, because
he ran faster than my expectation.
Stage 2 5Km (women):
Three Km into the 5Km second stage, Yuriko Kobayashi
of JPN caught and passed Nikki Chappel of AUS to take the lead. Kobayashi covered the 5Km stage in
15:09, one second short of her record set last year. At the end of the stage
JPN led AUS by 9 seconds. I was
in better shape than last year, so I was disappointed that I could not run
faster, said Kobayashi, medalist at both World Youth and World Junior
Championships.
Stage 3 10Km (men):
The JPN Collegiate team passed AUS to move into
second place 8.7Km into the stage, while with the fastest stage by Kensuke
Takezawa, JPN extended their lead over the second place JPN Collegiate team to
minute and 10 seconds. I felt bit
sluggish but I was able to run as planned start fast and then hold on to the pace,
said Takezawa.
Stage 4 5Km (women):
The team JPN further increased their lead over the
second place with the record tying run by Yukiko Akaba. Akaba covered the first
Km in 3:05, second in 3:05 and third in 3:03 before covering the 5Km stage in
15:34, which tied the stage record. In this stage, KEN finally started to make
their move. With the second
fastest stage by Iness Chenonge, 2002 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, KEN
moved up from sixth to third, but they were still minute and 58 seconds behind
the leader JPN at the end of the stage. I was able to push the pace from the
start, so I felt very good, said Akaba after the race.
Stage 5 10Km (men):
The KEN was supposed to close the gap with Abel
Kirui, the world marathon champion. However, although Kurui passed JPN Collegiate team 5Km into
the stage, Atsushi Sato of JPN, who was sixth at the marathon in Berlin
recorded the faster time, 28:57 for 10Km to 29:10 for Kirui, and KEN fell
further behind JPN in the penultimate stage. With the final stage of 7.195Km left in the race, JPN lead
KEN by two minutes and 11 seconds. The race was essentially over. Since my teammates ran well, I was able to run
comfortably, said Sato who covered the first 5Km in 14:17.
Stage 6 -
7.195Km (women):
Catherine Ndereba ran for KEN, but not only she fell
further behind JPN, but Hikari Yoshimoto of JPN Collegiate team passed Ndereba
1.9Km into the race to move into second.
The team JPN won by minute and 49 seconds. The winning margin was larger than the last year. I like to
thank my teammates, because it was the first time I crossed the finish line
first (in Ekiden), said Yurika Nakamura of JPN team.
Weather: Sunny; temperature: 12C; humidity: 50%;
wind: 0.1m/s NNE
Results:
1)
JPN 2:05:58
2)
JPN Collegiate 2:07:47
3)
KEN 2:08:34
4)
Chiba 2:09:26
5)
USA 2:09:42
6)
RUS 2:11:19
7)
AUS 2:11:35
8)
CAN 2:12:24
9)
ITA 2:13:13
10) ROU 2:14:28
11) CHN 2:14:47
12) BLR 2:15:11
13) POL 2:16:08
14) FIN 2:16:48
SWE DNF
Best Stage
Stage Distance Time Name
1 5Km 13:23 Craig
Mottram (AUS)
13:32 Yuichiro
Ueno (JPN)
13:33 Nicholas
Manza Kamakya (KEN)
13:38 Reid
Coolsaet (CAN)
13:46 Ryuji
Kashiwabara (JPN Collegiate)
13:48 Olle
Wallerang (SWE)
13:50 Grigoriy
Andreev (RUS)
13:53 Jordan
Horn (USA)
13:55 Hideyuki
Anzai (Chiba)
13:58
Lukasz
Parszczynski (POL)
14:06 Yuri
Floriani (ITA)
14:33 Tuomas
Jokinen (FIN)
14:47 Jifu
Ma (CHN)
14:51
Igor
Zhavoronok (BLR)
14:52 Ionut
Florin Enache (ROU)
2 5Km 15:09 Yuriko
Kobayashi (JPN)
15:27
Nikki
Chapple (AUS)
15:48 Kazue
Kojima (JPN Collegiate)
15:54 Mizuho
Nasukawa (Chiba)
16:07 Constantina
Dita (ROU)
16:09 Megan
Metcalfe (CAN)
16:18 Meghan
Armstrong (USA)
16:28 Emma
Quaglia (ITA)
16:37 Fridah
Chepkemoi Domongole (KEN)
16:37 Natalia
Nedvedeva (RUS)
16:46 Sandra
Eriksson (FIN)
16:52 Jing
Yang (CHN)
17:05 Iryna
Padabed (BLR)
17:07 Malin
Liljestedt (SWE)
17:19 Aleksandra
Jakubczak (POL)
3 10Km 29:07 Kensuke
Takezawa (JPN)
29:14 Ian
Burrell (USA)
29:24 Boash
Ongaga Mayaka (KEN)
29:24 You
Yazawa (JPN Collegiate)
29:42 Shota
Yamaguchi (Chiba)
29:47 Evgeny
Rybakov (RUS)
29:59 Richard
Mosley (CAN)
30:02 Cosimo
Caliandro (ITA)
30:15 Timoty
Rowe (AUS)
30:19 Stsiapan
Rahautsou (BLR)
30:29 Marten
Bostrom (FIN)
30:36 Yanmin
Hou (CHN)
31:25 Cristinel
Irimia (ROU)
31:33 Radoslaw
Kleczek (POL)
DNF Joel
Boden (SWE)
4 5Km 15:34 Yukiko
Akaba (JPN)
15:46
Iness
Chenonge (KEN)
16:13 Yuika
Mori (JPN Collegiate)
16:21 Elza
Kireeva (RUS)
16:27 Yukina
Saijyo (Chiba)
16:28 Lindsay
Allen (USA)
16:45 Agnieszka
Ciolek (POL)
16:50 Chantell
Widney (CAN)
16:57 Liping
Qie (CHN)
17:00 Clare
Geraghty (AUS)
17:04 Laila
Soufyane (ITA)
17:21 Volha
Rezkaya (BLR)
17:24 Janica
Makela (FIN)
17:26 Gabriella
Samuelsson (SWE)
17:41 Oana
Andreea Mircea (ROU)
5 10Km 28:57 Atsushi
Sato (JPN)
29:10 Abel
Kirui (KEN)
29:20 Andrew
Carlson (USA)
29:24 Takuya
Ishikawa (JPN Collegiate)
29:42 Anatoly
Rybakov (RUS)
29:47 Shoji
Akutsu (Chiba)
29:51 Marius
Ionescu (ROU)
30:18 Ihar
Tsetserukou (BLR)
30:19 Kane
Wille (AUS)
30:22 Eik
Sjoqvist (SWE)
30:26 Dylan
Wykes (CAN)
30:28 Stefano
Baldini (ITA)
31:06 Hanxiong
Lu (CHN)
31:20 Artur
Kozlowski (POL)
31:49 Miklka
Takala (FIN)
6 23:12 Hikari
Yoshimoto (JPN Collegiate)
23:39 Yurika
Nakamura (JPN)
23:41 Hitomi
Niiya (Chiba)
24:04 Catherine
Ndereba (KEN)
24:29 Xin
Zhang (CHN)
24:29 Jennifer
Donovan (USA)
24:32 Alina
Adriana Istudora (ROU)
24:48 Malin
Eworlof (SWE)
25:02 Maria
Konovalova (RUS)
25:05 Vincenza
Sicari (ITA)
25:11 Lisa
Flint (AUS)
25:13 Katarzyna
Kowalska (POL)
25:17 Volha
Minina (BLR)
25:22 Marilyn
Arsenault (CAN)
25:47 Minna-Maria
Kangas (FIN)
###
|
