With a fantastic run by the Kyuma sisters, Kyoto prefecture won a fifth straight title in the Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden, which took place over the marathon distance in Kyoto on Sunday 11 January.
It was Kyoto’s thirteenth victory in the 27 editions of the annual ekiden, which means they have won almost 50% of the time. The nine stage Ekiden is contested over the marathon distance and many of the best distance runners from junior high school to professionals contest this ekiden.
Kyoto was always near the front before taking over the lead for good in the eighth stage. After finishing the first stage step behind the leader, they dropped to fourth in the second stage. However, with the stage best by Haruka Kyuma Kyoto almost caught the leader Okayama in the closing stage of 3Km third stage. Kyoto kept close in the next four stages.
Then in the crucial eighth stage, with a huge stage record, Moe Kyuma gave commanding lead to her team. “I was concentrating on my race, so I was not thinking too much about the stage record. I was so close to the leader so I just wanted to take over the lead as soon as I can,” said Moe.
Finishing second was Okayama, who is coached by Eri Yamaguchi, seventh at the marathon in the 2000 Olympics. It was their best finish in this nine stage ekiden, having matched their second place finish of 2007. After Yuriko Kobayashi, a World Junior as well as World Youth medallist, moved her team up from 32nd to third in the 4Km second stage, Hyogo always stayed close to the leader and finished third.
How the race unfolded:
Stage 1 - 6Km
Yurika Nakamura of Okayama, who was 13th at the marathon in the Beijing Olympic Games, pushed the pace initially, but soon after the runners left the stadium, Aya Nagata of Miyazaki, who is coached by Yoshio Koide, took over the lead. The first Km was passed in 3:11 and 3Km in 9:30. After passing 4Km, Yurika Nakamura started to push the pace again, reducing the lead pack to three runners with 500m to go. In the last 300m the race came down to Yurika Nakamura and Ryoko Kizaki of Kyoto. At the end, Nakamura of Okayama was one step ahead of Kyoto.
Stage 2 - 4Km
Yuriko Kobayashi of Hyogo started the stage in 32nd place, 48 seconds behind the leader Kyoto, and started to pass runners in front of her immediately. She passed the 2Km check point in 6:12. In front, Minori Hayakari of Kyoto, 3000m Steeplechase national record holder, Shoko Miyazaki of Yamaguchi and Rei Ohara of Okayama were running together. Half way into the stage, Hayakari fell behind the other two. With 1200m to go in the second stage, Rei Ohara, a high school student surged away from her competition and at the end Okayama led the race followed by Yamaguchi. Recording new stage best of 12:07, Kobayashi passed 29 runners to move her team Hyogo prefecture up to third.
“My previous stage best was recorded when I was in high school (in 2006). Because I was not able to improve it since then, I was really aware of the record,” said Kobayashi after her record run.
Stage 3 - 3Km (stage reserved for junior high school students)
Mao Watanabe of Hyogo took over the lead 1400m into the third stage. Behind them Haruka Kyuma of Kyoto passed 2Km in around 6:10 and moved up to second with 850m to go. She caught Hyogo with 300m to go. But Watanabe fought back and did not let Kyuma pass her. Watanabe finished the stage step ahead of Kyuma. Kyuma has the 3000m best of 9:12. Naoko Takahashi, the 2000 Olympic marathon champion who was commentating for the television said, “My 3000m best is only 9:13, so she is already faster than me.”
Stage 4 - 4Km
During the early part of stage four, Akane Yabushita of Hyogo prefecture, a high school student, led Mari Ozaki of Hyogo, who twice ran the marathon at the World Championships. Risa Shigetomo of Okayama was running third. Then at 2.8Km into the stage Ozaki took over the lead. But 200m later Shigetomo took control. At the end, the order was Okayama followed by Kyoto and Hyogo.
Stage 5 - 4.1075Km
Running together Kyoto and Hyogo slowly ate away at Okayama’s lead. After half way into the stage, Kyoto broke away from Hyogo and started to chase Kaori Urata of Okayama. At the end Okayama led Kyoto by nine second followed by Hyogo and Miyazaki.
Stage 6 - 4.0875Km
Ai Kuboki extended the Okayama’s lead over Kondo of Kyoto during the early part of stage six, but in the last half Kondo cut away Okayama’s lead. However, at the end, their gap was still 14 seconds.
Stage 7 - 4Km
In the early part of the stage 7, Aimi Tsutsumi of Okayama started to extend the lead over Aya Ito of Kyoto. But in the last half, Ito slowly cut away Okayama’s lead and was only four seconds behind at the end of the stage. Behind them Aichi prefecture took over the third place from Hyogo.
Stage 8 - 3Km (reserved for junior high school students)
Moe Kyuma of Kyoto started with a blazing pace and took over the lead only 250m into the stage. She covered the first Km in 2:58, 1.5Km in 4:38, 2Km in 6:20 and completely broke away from Okayama. She covered the uphill 3Km in 9:41. Second place Okayama was 52 seconds behind at the end of the stage. Hyogo took over third from Aichi.
Stage 9 - 10Km
Kojima of Kyoto ran alone comfortably in front. She extended her lead over the second place Okayama to a minute and twenty-four seconds. Hyogo finished third but two minutes behind Kyoto.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
Results:
1. Kyoto 2:15:39
2. Okayama 2:17:03
3. Hyogo 2:17:42
4. Kumamoto 2:19:09
5. Fukuoka 2:19:18
6. Saitama 2:19:22
7. Miyazaki 2:19:23
8. Nagano 2:19:28
9. Nagasaki 2:19:33
10. Aichi 2:19:56
After stage 1
Okayama 19:14
Kyoto 19:14
After stage 2
Okayama 31:53
Yamaguchi 32:07
Hyogo 32:09
Kyoto 32:17
After stage 3
Hyogo 41:37
Kyoto 41:38
Okayama 41:50
After stage 4
Okayama 54:40
Kyoto 54:50
Hyogo 54:50
After stage 5
Okayama 1:07:52
Kyoto 1:08:01
Hyogo 1:08:24
After stage 6
Okayama 1:20:46
Kyoto 1:21:00
After stage 7
Okayama 1:33:22
Kyoto 1:33:26
Aichi 1:34:58
After stage 8
Kyoto 1:43:07
Okayama 1:43:59
Hyogo 1:45:02
Stage times
Stage 1 (6 km):
19:14 Yurika Nakamura, Okayama
19:14 Ryoko Kizaki, Kyoto
19:21 Natsuko Goto, Saitama
19:21 Maya Iino, Yamanashi
19:23 Maki Arai, Yamaguchi
19:28 Aya Manome, Fukushima
19:30 Yoshie Kurisu, Hiroshima
19:37 Kayo Sugihara, Shimane
Stage 2 (4 km):
12:07 Yuriko Kobayashi, Hyogo
12:35 Hiroko Yoshitomi, Saga
12:39 Rei Obara, Okayama
12:39 Yuko Aoki, Fukuoka
12:42 Hikari Yoshimoto, Kumamoto
12:43 Nami Tani, Shizuoka
12:44 Shoko Miyazaki, Yamaguchi
12:45 Takami Nishiyama, Kagawa
Stage 3 (3 km/High School Students):
9:21 Haruka Kyuma, Kyoto
9:28 Mao Watanabe, Hyogo
9:33 Sakiko Naito, Chiba
Stage 4 (4 km):
12:50 Risa Shigetomo, Okayama
13:00 Nanaka Izawa, Aichi
13:02 Yukako Eto, Kumamoto
13:02 Mariko Nakao, Miyazaki
13:06 Kazuyo Okuyama, Yamagata
13:09 Kaori Takariki, Tottori
13:12 Mari Ozaki, Kyoto
Stage 5 (4.1075 km):
13:11 Ikumi Natsuhara, Kyoto
13:12 Kaori Urata, Okayama
13:19 Asami Kato, Aichi
13:21 Yoko Nishimi, Nagasaki
Section 6 (4.0875 km):
12:54 Ai Kuboki, Okayama
12:59 Konomi Kondo, Kyoto
13:05 Mayumi Fujita, Nagasaki
13:09 Hiromi Nakajyo, Aichi
13:13 Yuki Hidaka, Fukuoka
13:14 Ayako Jinnai, Saga
Stage 7 (4 km):
12:26 Aya Ito, Kyoto
12:36 Aika Tsutsumi, Okayama
12:52 Waka Shimomura, Aichi
12:53 Nana Yokozawa, Gunma
Stage 8 (3 km/Junior High School Students):
9:41 Moe Kyuma, Kyoto
9:55 Yoshie Fukutani, Yamaguchi
9:57 Yume Tanaka, Shizuoka
9:58 Miwa Yokoyama, Niigata
Stage 9 (10 km):
32:31 Hitomi Niiya, Chiba
32:32 Kazue Kojima, Kyoto
32:40 Yuri Kano, Hyogo
32:41 Yuko Shimizu, Gifu
32:41 Maki Suzawa, Nagano
32:47 Yoshiko Fujinaga, Nagasaki
32:47 Mizuho Nasukawa, Iwate
33:00 Hiroko Miyauchi, Miyazaki
33:04 Yuka Izumi, Okayama
33:08 Seika Nishikawa, Kumamoto
33:10 Ikuyo Yamashita, Ehime
33:14 Kazuka Watatsuki, Fukuoka
33:17 Hitomi Nakamura, Kanagawa
33:17 Shoko Mori, Yamagata
33:24 Yukina Saijyo, Shiga
33:34 Kiyoko Shimahara, Yamaguchi
...
33:57 Aki Fujikawa, Akita
33:58 Eri Sato, Niigata
...
34:03 Takako Yamada (formerly Kotorid), Hiroshima