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News16 Jan 2002


Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden in Kyoto

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Photo by Akio Ishii

Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden in Kyoto
K. Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
16 January 2002 - The 20th annual Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden, a race among 47 prefectures in Japan, was contested in Kyoto on January 13.  Elite runners of different age groups contest the nine-stage 42.195Km ekiden.  Two of the stages - stage 3 and stage 8 - both 3Km, are reserved for junior high school students.  Of the remaining seven stages, three must be run by high school students, which means four runners on the team may be the runners who run for either a college or corporate team.  However, corporate teams and college teams are concentrated only in several prefectures.  So in order to level the playing field as much as possible, teams are allowed to invite up to two runners who are originally from the prefecture.  Only requirement is that she has attended either high school or junior high school in that prefecture. 

Because young runners in junior high and high school have opportunities to mingle with older runners some of whom have run in the Olympics and World Championships, they can learn from the best runners in the nation.  However, the learning processes are mutual, as Yuko Kawakami has elaborated, “I learn from the younger team members too”.  

Going into the race, Kyoto were the favourites, not only because they have the home course advantage, but also because they have three sub 32:00 10,000m runners - Mari Ozaki, Yumiko Hara, and Kayoko Fukushi - running for the team. 

Because the first stage sets the tone for the entire race, some teams have their best runner run in the first stage.  Other teams may have their best runner run in the 10Km ninth stage, for the ninth stage is nearly a quarter of the race. This is where the different strategies in ekiden come into play. 

The race started from the Nishi-Kyogoku Track & Field stadium, where the footprints of Olympic Marathon Medallists Yuko Arimori and Naoko Takahashi were consecrated to commemorate the 20th running of the Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden.  Both have run this ekiden many times in the past.  By 3Km into the first stage, the lead group of three runners - Miwako Yamanaka, Yuko Kawakami and Yoko Shibui - was formed.  One kilometre later, Kawakami, two-time Olympian at the 10,000m and national 10,000m record holder was losing contact.  This was only her second race after a nine-month break from competition due to injury.  Next, Miwako Yamanaka who recently ran a 1:08:54 half marathon shook off Yoko Shibui who recorded a marathon debut record a year ago in Osaka.  Yamanaka of Nara prefecture covered the 6Km first stage in 19:03, while Shibui of Tochigi prefecture followed 9 seconds behind and Kawakami of Kumamoto prefecture was another one second behind. 

However, Nara’s place in front was short lived. 700m into the second stage, Miwa Kirihara of Kumamoto took over the lead.  Kumamoto kept the lead after the third and fourth stage.  Mari Ozaki who was 19th at the 10,000m in Edmonton was the lead off runner for Kyoto.  Kyoto prefecture team was fifth after the first stage.  They moved up to third after the second stage, but dropped to seventh after the third stage. 

The fourth stage is considered as a crucial stage, for historically the winning team have done well in this stage.  Emi Ikeda, national inter-high school champion at the 1500m was a disappointing 20th in the first stage of December’s High school ekiden championships.  To redeem herself in her last ekiden race of her high school career, she volunteered to run the crucial fourth stage.  She did not disappoint the team, for Kyoto moved up to the third place after the fourth stage. 

In the fifth stage, Yumiko Hara moved her team, Kyoto, into the lead.  Kyoto never relinquished their lead again, for Ayumi Kanazashi and Noriko Higuchi recorded the fastest stages in the sixth and seventh stage respectively.  Although Kyoto’s lead decreased to 34 seconds after the 8th stage (from 40 seconds after the 7th stage), their anchor, Kayoko Fukushi, national junior record holder at 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m, ran the final 10Km in 31:24, and sealed the victory for Kyoto.  In the ninth and the final stage, Fukushi was seen smiling while further increasing Kyoto’s lead.  Kyoto finished in 2:15:55, the second fastest time in the history of the race, only 36 seconds behind the record run of 2:15:19 by Kumamoto team in 1997.  For Kyoto, it was their eighth victory in the 20-year history of the ekiden. 

Nagasaki prefecture moved up to second in the fifth stage thanks to a best stage run by Akane Otsuka.  They dropped to third after eighth stage, but their anchor Yoshiko Fujinaga, who was third at the 1997 World Cross-Country Championships (junior division) moved her team back to second place 2.5Km into the anchor stage. 

Weather:  temperature 13.5C, humidity 68%, wind South 1.2m/s 

1)         Kyoto  2:15:55
2)         Nagasaki  2:17:28
3)         Fukuoka  2:18:15
4)         Chiba  2:18:51
5)         Saitama  2:18:53
6)         Aichi  2:18:58
7)         Kumamoto  2:19:11
8)         Hyogo 2:19:48
9)         Osaka 2:19:58
10)       Hiroshima 2:20:04  

Best Stages
Stage            Distance          Time            Name 
1          6Km                 19:03            Miwako Yamanaka
2          4Km                 12:38            Minori Hayakawa
3          3Km                 9:24            Nami Hirata
4          4Km                 12:53            Naoko Sakamoto
5            4.1095km         13:00            Akane Otsuka
6            4.0875km         13:01            Ayumi Kanazashi
7          4Km                 12:38            Noriko Higuchi
8          3Km                 9:53            Asuka Arai
9          10Km                31:24            Kayoko Fukushi

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