Kyoto Wins Nationwide Ladies’s Ekiden for nineteenth Time in 43 Years

Kyoto’s lead runner Kokoro Nakachi was solely 3 seconds behind First Stage winner Erika Tanoura of Chiba, and it did not take a lot for its subsequent runner Yua Sato to maneuver into the highest spot by 3 seconds. That lead grew to 50 seconds on the finish of the Fifth Stage earlier than a stage-winning run from Nagano‘s Nami Kawakami on the Sixth Stage minimize it again to 33 seconds. However pushed by stage wins from seventh runner Momoka Onishi and anchor Kaede Kawamura, from there to the tip Kyoto pulled away to its closing margin of victory of two:26.

Nagano and Osaka have been locked in a duel for 2nd for a lot of the means, however with solely 3 km to go on the ten.0 km anchor stage Fukuoka and early chief Chiba caught as much as make it a four-way race. Nagano’s Yuna Wada fell off because the tempo picked up after they have been caught, and it got here all the way down to a 3-way battle over the monitor. Chiba’s Nanaka Izawa made the primary transfer, however a counter from Fukuoka’s Miyaka Sugata shut her down. Sugata regarded like she might grasp on to 2nd, however within the residence straight Osaka’s Natsuki Omori glided by to take 2nd in 2:17:52, Fukuoka third in 2:17:53 and Chiba 4th in 2:17:57.

Nagano, Hiroshima, Okayama and Aichi rounded out the 8-deep podium. Former 5000 m NR holder Ririka Hironaka of Nagasaki ran down fast-starting present 5000 m NR holder Nozomi Tanaka of Hyogo midway by way of the anchor stage however got here 14 seconds in need of making the rostrum, taking ninth in 2:19:03 with Hyogo 13 seconds behind in tenth.

forty third Nationwide Ladies’s Ekiden

Kyoto, 12 Jan. 2024

47 groups, 9 levels, 42.195 km

High Particular person Stage Outcomes

First Stage (6.0 km) – Erika Tanoura (Chiba) – 19:17

Second Stage (4.0 km) – Mona Utsunomiya (Hokkaido) – 12:33

Third Stage (3.0 km) – Koko Fujisawa (Gunma) – 9:30

Fourth Stage (4.0 km) – Yumi Yamamoto (Kyoto) – 12:49

Fifth Stage (4.1075 km) – Nodoka Ashida (Kyoto) – 12:58

Sixth Stage (4.0875 km) – Nami Kawakami (Nagano) – 12:51

Seventh Stage (4.0 km) – Momoka Onishi (Kyoto) – 12:42

Eighth Stage (3.0 km) – Ema Gendai (Ehime) – 9:46

Ninth Stage (10.0 km) – Kaede Kawamura (Kyoto) – 31:48

High Crew Outcomes

1. Kyoto – 2:15:26

2. Osaka – 2:17:52

3. Fukuoka – 2:17:53

4. Chiba – 2:17:57

5. Nagano – 2:18:13

6. Hiroshima – 2:18:42

7. Okayama – 2:18:45

8. Aichi – 2:18:49

9. Nagasaki – 2:19:03

10. Hyogo – 2:19:16

© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved