Skip to main content

Kawauchi Outruns 103 Teams to Win Yashio Isshu Ekiden



2017 London World Championships marathon 9th-placer Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) gave local club and high school runners something to remember when he ran Sunday's Yashio Shinai Isshu Ekiden solo against 103 six-runner teams. Kawauchi spent most of the 20.0 km race in 2nd, briefly taking the lead at the end of the 3.9 km Second Stage before falling behind after a Third Stage course record run by Kotaro Minowa (Matsudo T&F Assoc.).

Down 13 seconds, Kawauchi came back to split a time 14 seconds faster for the 2.7 km Fifth Stage than its fastest ekiden runner, Yusei Otsuki (Kasukabe H.S. A). Now ahead of Matsudo and out front alone, Kawauchi saved his biggest running for last, dropping a 2:40 final km to split 14 seconds under the 12:34 course record for the 4.0 km anchor stage. Desperate to catch him, Matsudo anchor Shunsuke Matsui went 6 seconds under the old record to become its official new holder but couldn't match Kawauchi's closing speed.

Kawauchi's final time of 1:01:03 was just 35 seconds off the overall ekiden course record, a solid performance kicking off three straight weeks of ekiden action ahead of his runs for the Saitama Prefectural Government at next weekend's Okumusashi Ekiden and the Saitama Ekiden a week later.

53rd Yashio Shinai Isshu Ekiden

Yashio, Saitama, 1/21/18
103 teams + 1 solo runner, 6 stages, 20.0 km
click here for complete results

Top Overall Results
1. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:01:03
2. Matsudo Track and Field Association - 1:01:24
3. Kasukabe H.S. A - 1:01:55

Top Individual Stage Performances
First Stage - 4.3 km
1. Tomohiro Ono (Yashio ST) - 12:40 - CR
2. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 12:46
3. Takashi Mino (Matsudo T&F Assoc.) - 12:48

Second Stage - 3.8 km
1. Kohei Uchigi (Kasukabe H.S. A) - 11:37
2. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 11:46
3. Satoshi Ikezawa (Matsudo T&F Assoc.) - 11:52

Third Stage - 2.9 km
1. Kotaro Minowa (Matsudo T&F Assoc.) - 8:40 - CR
2. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 9:01
3. Ryosuke Kaneda (Senshu Prep Matsudo H.S.) - 9:03

Fourth Stage - 2.3 km
1. Junichiro Hayashida (Senshu Prep Matsudo H.S.) - 7:04
2. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 7:09
3. Koji Someya (Matsudo T&F Assoc.) - 7:12

Fifth Stage - 2.7 km
1. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 8:01
2. Yusei Otsuki (Kasukabe H.S. A) - 8:15
3. Masatatsu Chikyu (Matsudo T&F Assoc.) - 8:24

Sixth Stage - 4.0 km
1. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 12:20 (CR)
2. Shunsuke Matsui (Matsudo T&F Assoc.) - 12:28 - CR
3. Hyogo Kojima (Kasukabe H.S. A) - 12:33

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis
Post a Comment
Read more

Saturday at Kanaguri and Nittai

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet , Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back from a DNF at last month's The TEN to take the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 13:24.57. The B-heat was also decently quick, Shadrack Rono (Subaru) winning in 13:21.55 and Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) running a 10-second PB to get under 13:30 for the first time in 13:29.29 for 6th. Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was 9th in 13:30.62. South Sudan's Abraham Guem (Ami AC) also set a meet record in the men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:38.94. 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura made his debut with the Subaru corporate team, running 3:39.78 for 2n
1 comment
Read more

93-Year-Old Masters Track and Field WR Holder Hiroo Tanaka: "Everyone has Unexplored Intrinsic Abilities"

  In the midst of a lot of talk about how to keep the aging population young, there are people with long lives who are showing extraordinary physical abilities. One of them is Hiroo Tanaka , 93, a multiple world champion in masters track and field. Tanaka began running when he was 60, before which he'd never competed in his adult life. "He's so fast he's world-class." "His running form is so beautiful. It's like he's flying." Tanaka trains at an indoor track in Aomori five days a week. Asked about him, that's the kind of thing the people there say. Tanaka holds multiple masters track and field world records, where age is divided into five-year groups. Last year at the World Masters Track and Field Championships in Poland he set a new world record of 38.79 for 200 m in the M90 class (men's 90-94 age group). People around the world were amazed at the time, which was almost unbelievable for a 92-year-old. After retiring from his job as an el
Post a Comment
Read more