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All-Japan Interprefectural Ekiden Championships

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The All-Japan Interprefectural Ekiden Championships are two annual ekiden (road running relay) competitions between the 47 Prefectures of Japan. The championships are both held in January and are divided by gender. The Empress Cup - Interprefectural Women's Ekiden is held in Kyoto on the third Sunday in January.[1] The Interprefectural Men's Ekiden is held in Hiroshima in recent years on the fourth Sunday of January.[2]

Women's Championship

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The Empress Cup - Interprefectural Women's Ekiden Championship is held in Kyoto on the third Sunday in January. The 2012 running marks the 30th annual event. Forty seven teams from the 47 prefectures of Japan compete. The course is the same as the course for the high school boys national ekiden race held on the third Sunday of December,[3] except that the women's relay has 9 stages (rather than 7) over the 42.195 kilometers. The stages are 6k 4k 3k 4k 4.0175k 4.0875k 4k 3k and 10k. The two 3k stages are reserved for junior high athletes and generally high school athletes run the 5 stages that are 4k or just over 4k. Collegiate and open runners take the 6k and 10k stages. The mixed-age squads maintain a rapid pace. In 2009 the first 10 team teams finished under 2 hours and 20 minutes, and 12 teams broke 2:20 in 2012. In 2009, the team from Kyoto took its 13th championship, and as of that year, in the ekiden's 20 years Kyoto has only twice placed outside the top 6.[4][5][6][7][8][9] Okayama took its first ever title in 2010, Kyoto reclaimed it in 2011, and in 2012 Kyoto finished second, a minute back from the winning team from neighboring Osaka.

Women's ekiden top three
Edition First Place Second Place Third Place
2009
27th Cup
Kyoto
2:15:39
5th_consecutive
Okayama
2:17:03
Hyogo
2:17:42
2010
28th Cup
Okayama
2:16:24
first-ever title
Chiba
2:16:39
Kyoto
2:17:12
2011
29th Cup
Kyoto
2:17:16
Okayama
2:18:07
Fukuoka
2:19:00
2012
30th Cup
Osaka
2:16:37
Kyoto
2:17:33
Chiba
2:17:49
  • Note: Jr.HS = Junior High School, H.S.= High School
Top stage performers
Edition 1st (6 km Open) 2nd (4 km HS/Open) 3rd (3 km Jr.HS) 4th (4 km HS/Open) 5th (4.1075 km HS/Open) 6th (4.0875 km HS/Open) 7th (4 km HS) 8th (3 km Jr.HS) 9th (10 km Open)
2009 Yurika Nakamura & Ryoko Kisaki
Okayama & Kyoto
- 19:14
Yuriko Kobayashi
Hyogo - 12:07
new stage record
Haruka Kyuma
Kyoto - 9:21
Risa Shigetomo
Okayama - 12:50
Ikumi Natsuhara
Kyoto -13:11
Ai Kuboki
Okayama - 12:54
Aya Ito
Kyoto - 12:26
Moe Kyuma
Kyoto - 9:41 >
new stage record
Hitomi Niiya
Chiba - 32:31
January 17, 2010 Kasumi Nishihara
Kyoto - 19:11
Kaori Urata
Okayama - 12:31
Tomoka Kimura
Shizuoka - 9:22
Ryoko Kisaki
Osaka - 12:50
Katsuki Suga
Okayama - 13:02
Mahiro Akamatsu
Okayama - 12:42
new stage record
Minami Nakaarai
Hyogo - 12:24
Yume Tanaka
Shizuoka - 9:46
Kayoko Fukushi
Aomori - 31:03
January 16, 2011 Hanae Tanaka
Fukuoka
Ritsumeikan Univ. - 19:41
Tomoka Kimura
Fukuoka
Chikushi Jyogakuen H.S. - 12:22
Hanami Sekine
Tokyo
Kanai Jr.H.S. - 9:21
Yuriko Kobayashi
Hyogo
Team Toyota Jidoshoki - 12:41
new stage record
Mutsumi Ikeda & Erina Maki
Hyogo & Kyoto
Suma Gakuen H.S. & Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. - 13:26
Nanako Kanno
Kyoto
Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. - 12:39
new stage record
Ayano Ikeuchi
Kyoto
Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. - 12:35
Ayaka Nakagawa
Saitama
Asaka Dai-San Jr.H.S. - 10:02
Kayoko Fukushi
Kyoto
Team Wacoal - 31:53
January 15, 2012 Ryoko Kizaki
Osaka
Team Daihatsu - 19:21
Yuka Ando
Aichi
Toyokawa H.S. - 12:26
Ayaka Nakagawa
Saitama
Asaka #3 Jr. H.S. - 9:17
Risa Takenaka
Shiga
Ritsumeikan Univ. - 12:48
Nanami Aoki
Kyoto
Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. - 12:57
Mika Kobayashi
Hyogo
Suma Gakuen H.S. - 12:58
Risa Yokoe
Hyogo
Suma Gakuen H.S. - 12:33
Kokoro Sawairi
Shizuoka
Fujioka Jr. H.S. - 9:53
Hitomi Niiya
Chiba
Sakura A.C. - 32:06

Men's Championship

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Runners in 2007 meeting 7th Leg.

In the men's All-Japan Interprefectural Ekiden Championship, 7 runners run 48 kilometers in stages of 7k 3k 8.5k 5k 8.5k 3k and 13k.[10] In both races, each team is composed of runners selected to represent one prefecture, a total of 47 teams in each race. The majority of the team members are high school and junior high school elite runners. Junior high runners are assigned to the two 3k stages and high school runners are assigned to the 7k, the 5k and 8.5k stages. Open runners are placed in the remaining 8.5k stage and the 13k stage.[11] Despite the youth, the first 7 men's teams in 2009 finished under 2 hours and 21 minutes (48k), the equivalent of 14:40 5k pace or 8:48 3k pace. In 2009 the team from Nagano took its 5th title in 6 years.[12][13][14][15]

Men's ekiden top three
Edition 1st 2nd 3rd
2009
14th Annual
Nagano - 2:18:43
Course Record
5th title in 6 years
Hyogo - 2:20:03 Miyazaki - 2:20:07
2010
15th Annual
Hyogo - 2:20:02 Fukushima - 2:20:05 Saitama - 2:20:20
2011
16th Annual
Tochigi - 2:19:31
First ever Title
Nagano - 2:20:02 Hiroshima - 2:20:37
2012
17th Annual
2013
18th
Hyogo - 2:19:51 Tokyo - 2:19:56 Aichi - 2:20:35
  • Note: Jr HS = Junior High School, HS= High School
Men's Top stage performers
Edition 1st (7 km HS) 2nd (3 km Jr HS) 3rd (8.5 km Open) 4th (5 km HS) 5th (8.5 km HS) 6th (3 km Jr HS) 7th (13 km Open)
2009 Shodai Hattori
Saitama - 20:10
Yuta Katsumata
Shizuoka - 8:30
new stage record
Yu Mitsuya
Fukuoka - 23:49
Shota Hiraga
Nagano - 14:28
Akinobu Murasawa
Nagano - 23:55
new stage record
Hideshi Ikegami
Kyoto - 8:51
Naoki Okamoto
Hiroshima - 37:55
January 24, 2010 Shota Hattori
Saitama - 20:12
Koki Maeda
Fukuoka - 8:39
Tomoya Onishi
Gifu - 24:16
Hirotaka Tamura
Aomori - 14:10
new stage record
Keita Shitara
Saitama - 24:38
Taiga Machizawa
Chiba - 8:31
new stage record
Yuki Sato
Nagano - 37:12
January 23, 2011 Genki Yagisawa
Tochigi/Nasu Takuyo H.S. - 20:07
Kengo Takamori
Chiba/Abiko Jr.H.S. - 8:31
Akinobu Murasawa
Nagano/Tokai Univ. - 23:48
Keita Shioya
Tochigi/Nasu Takuyo H.S. - 14:25
Kenta Murayama
Miyagi/Meisei H.S. - 24:33
Yuichi Yasui
Chiba/Tokiwadaira Jr.H.S. - 8:40
Yusuke Takabayashi
Mie/Team Toyota - 37:25
January 22, 2012
2013 Keisuke Nakatani (Hyogo) 19:56 Shiki Shinsako (Hiroshima) 8:29 Suguru Osako (Tokyo) 23:39 Yuhi Akiyama (Hyogo) 14:07 Rintaro Takeda (Tokyo) 24:50 Mashide Saito (Saitama) 8:52 Keigo Yano (Nagano) 37:54

References

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  1. ^ (course map)
  2. ^ (course map Archived 2012-01-24 at the Wayback Machine)
  3. ^ map in Japanese
  4. ^ All Japan Interprefectural Women's Ekiden. Track and Field Monthly (Japanese), March 2009 vol 43 # 4, pages 94-97, 108-111, 156-157.
  5. ^ Larner, Brett. Moe Kyuma Surprise Star of Kyoto's 5th-Straight National Interprefectural Women's Ekiden Win. January 11, 2009 Japanrunningnews.blogspot. accessed Feb 19, 2009.
  6. ^ Nakamura, Ken. Kyoto Prefecture Wins fifth straight Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden title. January 11, 2009, International Association of Athletics Federations. iaaf.org/news. accessed Feb 19, 2009.
  7. ^ Nakamura, Ken. Kyoto Dominates Inter-Prefectural Women's Ekiden. January 13, 2008, International Association of Athletics Federations. iaaf.org/news. accessed Feb 19, 2009.
  8. ^ Nakamura, Ken. Kyoto Three-peat in Women’s Ekiden. 14 January 2007, International Association of Athletics Federations. iaaf.org/news. accessed Feb 19, 2009.
  9. ^ Nakamura, Ken. Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden in Kyoto. 16 January 2002, International Association of Athletics Federations. iaaf.org/news. accessed Feb 19, 2009.
  10. ^ (Hiroshima course map Archived 2012-01-24 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ Larner, Brett. Entry Lists for National Interprefectural Women's Ekiden Released. December 26, 2008 japanrunningnews.blogspot. accessed Feb. 18, 2009.
  12. ^ Nagano Men 2 Successive Titles; Kyoto Women 5 Successive Titles. Track and Field Magazine (Japanese), March 2009, vol 55 #5, pages 22-25, 58-77.
  13. ^ All Japan Interprefectural Men's Ekiden. Track and Field Monthly (Japanese), March 2009, vol 43 #4, pages 91-93, 100-102, 154-155.
  14. ^ Nakamura, Ken. Nagano Prefecture Wins Inter-Prefectural Men’s EkidenJanuary 18, 2009, International Association of Athletics Federations. iaaf.org. accessed Feb 19, 2009.
  15. ^ Larner, Brett. Nagano Breaks National Interprefectural Ekiden Course Record. January 18, 2009 Japanrunningnews.blogspot. accessed Feb 19, 2009.
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Women's results and discussion
Men's results and discussion