For the second year in a row and the fourth time since 2000, the team from Mitsui-Sumitomo won the Women’s corporate team Ekiden Championships in Gifu, Japan, today.

For the second successive year a course record accompanied their success, as the team won in 2:13:17, improving on their previous course record – set last year - of 2:13:38 for this six-stage marathon distance relay.

However, there was competitive excitement as during the final stage Kiyomi Ogawa of the Kyocera team caught Mitsui’s anchor woman Miki Oyama, only for the latter to dig in once more and prevail at the end. 

Stage One

The race started slowly, passing 1Km in 3:26 with Miki Ohira of Mitsui-Sumitomo in the lead. However, soon Yumi Sato of Shiseido took over the lead and increased the tempo. The second Km was covered in 3:02.  With Sato pushing the pace, by 5.5Km only four runners – Yumi Sato, Rie Ueno (1999 World University Games’ champion at 5000m), Noriko Matsuoka and Miki Ohira – were left in the lead pack.  Sato continued to push the pace and by 6Km she was running alone.  Sato covered 6.6Km course in 20:25, two seconds ahead of Rie Ueno.  After the first stage, the two favourites for the team title, Mitsui-Sumitomo and Kyocera were fourth and sixth respectively, with Mitsui ahead by 11 seconds. 

Stage Two

In the 3.3Km second stage Ishiyama of Mitsui-Sumitomo passed three runners at 1.7Km into second stage to take the lead for her team.  Akemi Ozaki of Shiseido, had been the previous leader until that point. Ishiyama covered the 3.3Km stage in a record 10:04 (previous record 10:10 by Azumi Miyazaki). 

Stage Three

Yoko Shibui, Japan’s 10,000m and marathon record holder, running for Mitsui-Sumitomo kept her team in the lead throughout the 10Km third stage.  At the end of the third stage, nearly half way into the race, Mitsui-Sumitomo was 29 seconds ahead of Kyocera.

Stage Four

In the next stage, Chiaki Iwamoto, a World Junior bronze medallist, covered the 4.1Km in 12:41, three seconds short of the record, and in the process increased Mitsui-Sumitomo’s lead to 52 seconds. The race seemed to be almost over.

Stage Five

However, in the 11.6Km fifth stage, the longest stage in the race, Yumiko Hara of Kyocera was superb.  Hara started to cut Mitsui-Sumitomo’s lead immediately, and by 5Km Hara had reduced it by 14 seconds on a leg when the leaders were being represented by Reiko Tosa, fifth in the Olympic Marathon. Yet that was only the beginning of Hara’s push, as by 8Km Tosa’s lead had been reduced to just 20 seconds, and another two kilometres later, Tosa was only 15 seconds ahead.  At the end of the fifth stage, Kyocera was almost back in the race.  They were only 13 seconds behind with 6.595Km left to run in the race. 

Stage Six

The irony is that the same two runners – Miki Oyama of Mitsui-Sumitomo and Kiyomi Ogawa of Kyocera - who battled out last year in the anchor leg were left to battle it out again in the final stage.  Last year, Miki Oyama caught Kiyomi Ogawa at 1.5Km and surged away at 3.5Km.  This year, it was Ogawa who had to chase Oyama. Ogawa caught Oyama 3.5Km into the stage and they ran together for the next 1.5Km.  Then on the incline on the Kinkazan Bridge, Oyama surged away from Ogawa.  Both Oyama and Ogawa covered the 6.595Km course in 20:26, a new course record (previous record 20:37 by Akiko Kawashima).  At the end Mitsui-Sumitomo won by 13 seconds to claim the title in a record time.  

Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
with assistance from Akihiro Onishi

Weather:  Cloudy, temperature 13.3C, humidity 40%, wind 0.7m/s from north east.

Results:
1)  Mitsui-Sumitomo 2:13:17
(M Ohira, S Ishiyama, Y Shibui, C Iwamoto, R Tosa, M Oyama)
2)  Kyocera  2:13:30
3)  Shiseido  2:14:12
4)  Wacoal  2:15:20
5)  Suzuki  2:15:30
6)  Tenmaya  2:16:02
7)  UFJ Bank  2:16:04
8)  Panasonic Mobile 2:16:33
9)  Daihatsu  2:16:42
10) Dai-ichi Life 2:17:01

Best Stages
Stage 1  6.6Km
1) Yumi Sato (Shiseido)  20:25
2) Rie Ueno (Sekisui)  20:27
3) Noriko Matsuoka (Suzuki)  20:33

Stage 2  3.3Km
1) Shiori Ishiyama (Mitsui-Sumitomo) 10:04
2) Ikumi Watanabe (UFJ Bank) 10:11
3) Akiko Yoshida  (Hitachi) 10:16
4) Miho Sugimori (Kyocera)  10:22

Stage 3  10Km
1)  Ruth Wanjiru (Hitachi & Kenya) 31:32
2) Jane Wanjiku (Panasonic & Kenya) 31:33
3) Naoko Sakamoto (Tenmaya)  31:41
4) Yoko Shibui (Mitsui-Sumitomo) 31:50

Stage 4  4.1Km
1) Chiaki Iwamoto (Mitsui-Sumitomo) 12:41
2) Miho Notagashira (Wacoal)  12:47
3) Kiyoko Shimahara (Shiseido)  12:53

Stage 5  11.6Km
1) Yumiko Hara (Kyocera) 37:02
2) Kazueo Ogoshi (Daihatsu) 37:07
3)  Yuri Kano (Shiseido)  37:38
4) Reiko Tosa (Mitsui-Sumitomo) 37:41
5) Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) 37:59

Stage 6  6.595Km
1) Miki Oyama (Mitsui-Sumitomo) 20:26
2) Kiyomi Ogawa (Kyocera)  20:26
3) Yoshiko Fujinaga (Shiseido)  20:50