Skip to main content

Twenty Schools Square Off Sunday at National University Ekiden Kanto Region Qualifier



Twenty university teams from around the Tokyo are will square off Sunday at Saitama's Komaba Sports Park Field for the chance to run the Nov. 5 National University Men's Ekiden. Last year the top six-placing teams at the National University Men's Ekiden, winner Aoyama Gakuin University, Waseda University, Yamanashi Gakuin University, Komazawa University, Chuo Gakuin University and Toyo University, were all from the Tokyo-centric Kanto Region, all six earning seeded places at this year's Nationals.

The next twenty teams in Kanto with the fastest average time 10000 m among their top eight men based on certified times in 10000 m track races between Jan. 1, 2016 and June 3, 2017 all earned the right to run Sunday's Kanto Region Qualifier for Nationals. Featuring two strong graduate students eligible to run the National University Men's Ekiden, Tsukuba University is making its first appearance in the field in fourteen years, knocking out last year's participant Tokyo Nogyo University.

Run in four 10000 m heats of forty with two runners from each team, schools are scored on the combined finishing times of all eight of their runners. The teams with the nine fastest aggregate times qualify for November's main event. The twenty schools taking part in this year's Kanto Region Qualifier ranked by the aggregate of the times used to get into the meet:
  1. Nittai University - 3:51:58.44
  2. Tokai University - 3:52:17.98
  3. Kanagawa University - 3:52:22.28
  4. Meiji University - 3:53:30.70
  5. Daito Bunka University - 3:53:49.46
  6. Juntendo University - 3:54:05.34
  7. Chuo University - 3:54:99.02
  8. Koku Gakuin University - 3:54:30.11
  9. Tokyo Kokusai University - 3:54:54.37
  10. Hosei University - 3:55:00.14
  11. Josai University - 3:55:01.53
  12. Teikyo University - 3:55:19.60
  13. Takushoku University - 3:55:37.48
  14. Kokushikan University - 3:55:59.36
  15. Soka University - 3:56:01.74
  16. Nihon University - 3:56:04.61
  17. Senshu University - 3:57:29.34
  18. Jobu University - 3:58:34.05
  19. Tsukuba University - 3:58:48.74
  20. Asia University - 3:58:58.37
The twenty fastest individuals on the entry list by PB:
  1. Patrick Mathenge Wambui (Nihon Univ.) - 27:54.98
  2. Workneh Derese (Takushoku Univ.) - 28:19.16
  3. Muthoni Muiru (Soka Univ.) - 28:19.24
  4. Wataru Tochigi (Juntendo Univ.) - 28:19.89
  5. Titus Mogusu (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 28:28.40
  6. Atsushi Yamato (Kanagawa Univ.) - 28:29.43
  7. Kengo Suzuki (Kanagawa Univ.) - 28:30.16
  8. Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ) - 28:32.85
  9. Kensuke Horio (Chuo Univ.) - 28:34.54
  10. Hiroyuki Sakaguchi (Meiji Univ.) - 28:40.13
  11. Yuta Bando (Hosei Univ.) - 28:44.87
  12. Tomoya Nishi (Takushoku Univ.) - 28:47.53
  13. Hayato Seki (Tokai Univ.) - 28:48.63
  14. Tatsuhiko Ito (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 28:51.20
  15. Kohei Nakajima (Josai Univ.) - 28:51.95
  16. Ryoichi Yoshida (Nittai Univ.) - 28:52.53
  17. Yuki Suzuki (Kanagawa Univ.) - 28:52.99
  18. Kosuke Nii (Chuo Univ.) - 28:56.00
  19. Hideaki Sumiyoshi (Kokushikan Univ.) - 28:57.02
  20. Noriaki Oyama (Soka Univ.) - 28:57.62
source article: 
http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20170604-OHT1T50148.html
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr