Fujitsu takes narrow one second victory in New Year Ekiden

 Ryoji  Matsushita of Fujitsu outkicked Yuzo Onishi of Nissin Foods and  Tomoya Adachi of Asahi Kasei in the seventh and final stage to bring victory to his team in the Japan Corporate Team Men’s Ekiden Championships, also known as the New Year Ekiden. 

The race will be long remembered, for it was the closest contested New Year ekiden ever in its 53 year history; three teams finished within a second after seven stages  totaling 100Km.  Previously, the closest New Year ekiden race ever was in 1996, when Kanji Moriso of Kanebo outkicked Nozomi Saho of Asahi Kasei by one second. Thirty-seven teams who qualified through the district qualification races took part in the Ekiden Championships which started and finished at the front of the Gunma prefectural government building in Maebashi.  

It was second victory for Fujitsu, who won their first ekiden championship nine years ago on New Year’s day 2000. “I thought the race may be close, but I did not expect the race to come down to the final meters,” said Tadashi Fukushima, who coaches the Fujitsu track team.  Nine years ago Fukushima ran the fourth stage for the winning Fujitsu team, while Atsushi Fujita, who ran the fourth stage this year, was the team’s anchor.  Fujita, a former national Marathon record (2:06:51 in 2000 Fukuoka Marathon) holder brought his team to the lead pack nearing the end of22.3Km fourth and longest stage.  

Before the start of the final stage, Fukushima told Matsushita, “Don’t run the race you might come to regret later. I trusted Matsushita will do it for the team,” continued Fukushima.  Matsushita, the anchor for Fujitsu, said, “I still cannot believe I finished first.” He surged once with 3Km to go, and started his kick with 300m to go.  “That was my plan,” Matsushita told Toshihiko Seko, the former marathoner who is now a TV commentator.

 The defending champion Konica Minolta, who won six times in the last eight year, was a distant fourth.  Two-time champion (won twice in last five years) Chugoku Electric Power fared even worse, finishing seventh. 

How the race unfolded:

Stage 1 - 12.3Km -
Without Kenyans in stage one, the race started with a mediocre pace.  Just before 6Km (covered in 18 minutes) Ryuji Ohno of Asahi Kasei, a 2004 Olympian at 10,000m, surged to break the lead pack. “I was planning to break away in the mid-part of the race, but the wind was quite strong so I could not completely break away from everyone,” said Ohno.  As he passed 7Km in 20:41, only Satoru Kitamura of Nissin Foods was with Ohno.  However, after 8Km, Takayuki Matsuyama of Konica Minolta, the world 30Km road record holder, started to push the pace in the chase pack. By 9Km, the lead pack consisted of five runners – Ohno, Kitaumura, Matsumiya, Hideyuki Anzai of JAL and Naosato Yoshimura of Toyota - formed in front.  Five ran together until Matsumiya surged at 11.3Km into the race. Ohno was able to stay with Matsumiya, and 500m later Ohno outkicked Matsumiya.

Stage 2 - 8.3Km -
Starting this year, a new rule went into effect. Foreign runners can only run this (shortest) stage.  Gideon Ngatuny, who runs for Nissin Foods, took over the lead immediately, and covered the first Km in 2:36.  Josphat Ndambiri of Komori Corporation and Yacob Jarso of Honda covered the first Km even faster – 2:33.  They came as close as 10 seconds to Ngatuny in the middle of the stage, but at the end, Nissin Foods was 12 seconds ahead of Komori Corporation, who in turn was four seconds ahead of Honda.  Ndambiri (fifth at 10,000m in the 2007 World Championships) recorded the stage best.

Stage 3 - 13.7Km -
Suehiro Ishikawa of Honda overtook Kazuyoshi Tokumoto of Nissin Foods 7.8Km into the stage.   Tokumoto tried to stay with Ishikawa, but was successful for only a Km. At the end of the stage, Honda was in the lead with Nissin Foods five seconds behind. Yuki Iwai of Asahi Kasei recorded the stage best, while Makoto Fukui of Fujitsu was second fastest in the stage. They move their team back into contention.  Asahi Kasei moved up to fifth, one place behind Fujitsu. 
 
Stage 4 - 22.3Km -
Kosaku Hoshina of Nissin Foods caught Honda 2Km into the stage.  Takashi Horiguchi of Honda tried to stay with him, but after 5.8Km into the stage, Hoshina was alone in front until Keita Akiba and Atsushi Fujita caught and passed Hoshina .  “I wanted to take over the lead in my stage,” Fujita said. But Akiba was just too fast during the final sprint.

Stage 5 - 15.9Km -
Satoru Sasaki of Asahi Kasei caught Bene Zama of Nissin Foods, Takayuki Ohta of Fujitsu, and Tsuyoshi Kato of Komori Corporation at 5Km.  Kato was the first to lose contact at 6.5Km, thus leaving three in the front.  In the closing section of the stage, Ohta outkicked Zama and Sasaki. 

Stage 6 - 11.8Km -
Shoji Akutsu of Fujitsu, Shuichi Fujii of Nissin Foods and Tadayuki Ojima of Asahi Kasei continued to battle it out at the front. 

Stage 7 - 15.7Km -
Ryoji Matsushta of Fujitsu, Yuzo Onishi of Nissin foods and Tomoya Adachi of Asahi Kasei took turns in surging, but the wind was too strong and thus no one was able to break away until the final metres.  Matsushita started his kick with 300m to go and won by one second. 

Ken Nakamura assisted by Akihiro Onishi for the IAAF

Results -
Weather:  Sunny; temperature 2.7C; humidity  52%; wind 2.3m/s West North West
 1. Fujitsu    4:51:55 
 2. Nissin Foods  4:51:56
 3. Asahi Kasei  4:51:56 
 4. Konica Minolta  4:53:34 
 5. Toyota  4:53:45
 6. Toyota Boshoku  4:54:15
 7. Chugoku Electric Power  4:54:29
 8. Honda  4:54:31
 9. Yakult  4:56:17
10. Komori Corporation  4:56:17

Stage, Distance, Time, Athlete, Team

1 - 12.3Km  -  35:39 - Ryuji Ohno - Asahi Kasei 
  -  35:41 - Takayuki Matsumiya - Konica Minolta 
  -  35:42 - Satoru Kitamura - Nissin Foods

2 - 8.3Km  -  21:54 - Josephat Ndambiri - Komori  Corporation
  -  22:02 - Gedion Ngatuy - Nissin Foods
  -  22:02 - Yacob Jarso - Honda

3 - 13.7Km  -  38:14 - Yuki Iwai - Asahi Kasei
  -  38:46 - Makoto Fukui - Fujitsu
  -  38:50 - Takashi Ohta - Konica Minolta

4 - 22.3Km  -  1:03:04 - Keita Akiba - Komori  Corporation
  -  1:03:16 - Yusei Nakao - Toyota Boshoku
  -  1:03:26 - Atsushi Fujita - Fujitsu
  -  1:03:45 - Tomoyuki Sato - Asahi Kasei

5 - 15.9Km  -  47:26 - Satoru Sasaki - Asahi Kasei
  -  47:33 - Bene Zama - Nissin foods
  -  47:42 - Takayuki Ota - Fujitsu

6 - 11.8Km  -  34:37 - Tomoo Tsubota - Konica Minolta
  -  35:16 - Shoji Akutsu - Fujitsu
  -  35:17 - Shuichi Fujii - Nissin Foods
  -  35:19 - Tadayuki Ojima - Asahi Kasei 

7 - 15.7Km  -  47:26 - Seigo Ikegami - Honda
  -  47:42 - Tomoya Adachi - Asahi kasei
  -  47:48 - Yuzo Onishi - Nissin Foods
  -  47:48 - Ryoji Matsushita - Fujitsu

After Stage 1 - 12.3Km
  Asahi Kasei  35:39
  Konica Minolta  35:41
  Nissin Foods  35:42

After Stage 2 - 20.6Km
  Nissin Foods    57:44
  Komori Corporation  57:56 
  Honda   58:00

After Stage 3 - 34.3Km
  Honda  1:37:00
  Nissin Foods  1:37:05
  Konica Minolta  1:37:42 

After Stage 4 - 56.6Km
  Komori Corporation  2:41:08
  Fujitsu   2:41:09
  Nissin Foods  2:41:18
  Asahi Kasei  2:41:29 

After Stage 5 - 72.5Km 
  Fujitsu  3:28:51 
  Nissin Foods 3:28:51 
  Asahi Kasei  3:28:55
  Toyota Boshoku  3:30:20

After Stage 6 - 84.3Km
  Fujitsu   4:04:07
  Nissin Foods  4:04:08
  Asahi Kasei  4:04:14