Skip to main content

Miyazaki Leads Fukuoka Six Days Into Final Grand Tour Kyushu

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/ekiden/2013/all/kiji/20131101/20131101_0004.shtml

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Running on home ground on Nov. 1 the Miyazaki Prefecture team won the sixth day of the 62nd running of the Grand Tour Kyushu ekiden.  Showing the hometown crowd its fire, Miyazaki lead over the six legs and 86.7 km from the Miyazaki Prefectural Government building to Nobeoka City Hall to claim its third individual day win so far in the eight-day ekiden.  Fukuoka Prefecture was close behind in 2nd, with Nagasaki Prefecture a distant 3rd.

Aiming to return to the top for the overall win in the Grand Tour Kyuhsu's final running, Miyazaki overtook Fukuoka early in the day to take over the top position.  Miyazaki runners won the first five of the day's stages, building a commanding lead of over seven minutes by the start of the Sixth Stage.  After his teammates struggled throughout the day, Fukuoka anchor Ryuji Watanabe (Team Toyota Kyushu) ran with guts and determination, closing the gap by more than two minutes to finish 4:49 behind Miyazaki, his third individual stage win in three starts at this year's Tour.

Behind 3rd-place Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Yamaguchi, Saga, Kumamoto and Oita remain in close contention for a podium finish with Okinawa a distant 9th.  Day seven of the Grand Tour Kyushu, at eight stages and 127.3 km the longest of the race, kicks off at the Oita Prefectural Government offices at 9:00 a.m. on Nov. 2 and finishes later in the day in front of Kita-Kyushu City Hall.

Comments

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

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

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