National Men’s Ekiden Preview – by Brett Larner – Japan Running News

The partner event to last weekend's National Women's Ekiden, the final men's championship ekiden of the season takes place this Sunday with the 18th National Men's Ekiden in Hiroshima.  Like the women's event, the National Men's Ekiden features 47 teams from each of Japan's prefectures made up of top junior high school, high school, university and corporate-league runners.  

Although there is less cross-division competition than in the National Women's Ekiden, the three high school stages and two junior high school stages in the National Men's Ekiden have often been the site of the first national appearance of future stars while the 8.5 km Third Stage and 13.0 km anchor stage always feature the rare sight of the top New Year Ekiden pros and Hakone Ekiden collegiate runners going head to head.

 The National Men's Ekiden is broadcast live nationwide and commercial-free on NHK starting at 12:15 p.m. and should be viewable via Keyhole TV, particularly the premium edition.  JRN will also cover the race live via Twitter @JRNLive.  Follow the event's official Japanese-language Twitter feed here.

The interprefectural ekidens' entry lists are notoriously fluid, but based on the lineups currently publicly available Aichi comes to the 2013 edition of the race as the favorite, six of its seven runners making the top grade on their stages.  With a fast start by 5th-ranked high schooler Tatsuya Hayashi (Ishin H.S.), solid support on the Third Stage from 2013 Hakone Ekiden Fourth Stage winner Hideyuki Tanaka (Juntendo Univ.), 13:55.64 high schooler Kazuma Taira (Toyokawa Kogyo H.S.) on the Fifth Stage and 2013 New Year Ekiden First Stage winner Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) on anchor Aichi looks unstoppable.

Its toughest competition is defending champion Hyogo.  Despite missing ace Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) who anchored both Hyogo's 2010 and 2012 national titles, Hyogo comes in ranked #2, its runners set to outperform Aichi through much of the first two-thirds of the race.  Critical to the team's chances will be the success of anchor Satoru Kitamura (Team Nissin Shokuhin), a talented track athlete who has had trouble coming back from injury.  At the New Year Ekiden earlier this month Kitamura finished far down in the field on the First Stage behind Miyawaki, so barring a major comeback it will be hard for him to deliver the win this time without a major lead. Alternate Kazuto Nishiike (Hosei Univ.), 3rd on Hakone's First Stage, may be a more successful choice.

Tokyo and hosts Hiroshima are a short distance back and could overtake Hyogo if Kitamura runs into trouble.  Tokyo will start off strong with 13:59.90 high schooler Yusuke Uchikoshi (Kokugakuin Prep Kugayama H.S.) in what may be his final race before setting sail for American shores and should be up front for the first half of the race, fading before a strong anchor-stage comeback from similarly U.S.A.-bound Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.).  Hiroshima should have a slower start but come to the front on the Third Stage via local Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku).  Look for them to fade again before a strong anchor run from first-year pro Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei), fully recovered from the injuries that kept him out of the Olympics after a senior year 27:44.30 while at Meiji University.

2011 national champion Tochigi and darkhorses Mie and Yamaguchi have reasonably strong lineups and should be in play for finishes on the eight-deep podium.  Tochigi leads off with #1-ranked high schooler Soma Ishikawa (Sano Nihon Prep H.S.), whose 13:53.95 best for 5000 m should be enough to put him comfortably ahead.  Mie should also start strong, but with a poor performance from anchor Yusuke Takabayashi (Team Toyota) at the New Year Ekiden it may fade over the final kilometers and be run down by teams from the next tier.  Yamaguchi's strengths lie mostly with its junior high runners and it should spend much of the race mid-field, but look for London Olympics marathon 6th-placer Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) to make up ground on the anchor stage.  Nakamoto's Olympic teammate Ryo Yamamoto (Kyoto/Team Sagawa Express) is also slated to run anchor, setting up a potential showdown ahead of Nakamoto's shot at the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon win two weeks later.

In terms of individual action, the most exciting racing should come on the First, Third and Seventh Stages. Ishikawa, Uchikoshi and Hyogo's Keisuke Nakatani (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) should be battling through at least the first 5 km, but there is often a surprise on this stage from a little-known runner looking to make a statement before heading off the college in April. Alongside Okamoto on the Third Stage are past 5000 m national champions Yuki Matsuoka (Kyoto/Team Otsuka Seiyaku) and Yuichiro Ueno (Tokyo/Team S&B), 2011 national university 5000 m champion Kenta Murayama (Miyagi/Komazawa Univ.) and 2013 Hakone Ekiden stage winners Shota Hattori (Saitama/Nittai Univ.) and Tanaka of Aichi. The anchor stage features eight men with sub-28 10000 m bests including two of its all-time top ten, Yu Mitsuya (Fukuoka/Team Toyota Kyushu) and Yoroizaka, plus Komazawa University aces Hiromitsu Kakuage (Fukushima) and Shinobu Kubota (Fukui), Olympians Nakamoto and Yamamoto, 2012 national university half marathon champion Toshikatsu Ebina (Aomori/Teikyo Univ.), 2013 New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage winner Ryotaro Nitta (Miyagi/Team Konica Minolta) and, in the final major race of his collegiate career, Aoyama Gakuin University captain Takehiro Deki (Nagasaki). Look for dramatic racing all the way to the end of the race in front of Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park.

National Men's Ekiden Entry List Highlights
Hiroshima, 1/20/13
47 teams, 7 stages, 48.0 km
click here for complete entry list

First Stage – 7.0 km
Soma Ishikawa (Tochigi/Sano Nihon Prep H.S.) – 13:53.95
Yusuke Uchikoshi (Tokyo/Kokugakuin Prep Kugayama H.S.) – 13:59.90
Keisuke Nakatani (Hyogo/Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) – 14:02.55
Yusuke Nishiyama (Mie/Iga Hakuo H.S.) – 14:03.12
Tatsuya Hayashi (Aichi/Ishin H.S.) – 14:05.90

Second Stage – 3.0 km
Chikashi Ikeda (Hyogo/Kakogawa Yamate J.H.S.) – 8:21.22
Tomoki Ota (Shizuoka/Hamana J.H.S.) – 8:22.92
Takuya Hanyu (Chiba/Inzai J.H.S.) – 8:25.18
Shiki Shinsako (Hiroshima/Shiwa J.H.S.) – 8:25.65
Masahiro Fukumoto (Yamaguchi/Asae Higashi J.H.S.) – 8:33.89

Third Stage – 8.5 km
Suguru Osako (Tokyo/Waseda Univ.) – 27:56.94
Yuki Matsuoka (Kyoto/Team Otsuka Seiyaku) – 27:59.78
Ikuto Yufu (Oita/Komazawa Univ.) – 28:02.46
Hiromitsu Kakuage (Fukushima/Komazawa Univ.) – 28:03.27
Naoki Okamoto (Hiroshima/Team Chugoku Denryoku) – 28:05.84
Hiroyuki Ono (Gunma/Team Nissin Shokuhin) – 28:06.35
Kenta Murayama (Miyagi/Komazawa Univ.) – 28:14.27
Yusuke Mita (Aichi/Juntendo Univ.) – 28:15.02
Toshikatsu Ebina (Aomori/Teikyo Univ.) – 28:42.90
Masaya Taguchi (Miyazaki/Toyo Univ.) – 1:03:39 (half)

Fourth Stage – 5.0 km
Shuhei Kondo (Oita/Oita Tomei H.S.) – 14:04.05
Yuhi Akiyama (Hyogo/Suma Gakuen H.S.) – 14:07.15
Jinnosuke Matsumura (Yamaguchi/Saikyo H.S.) – 14:07.28
Shunya Kuroyanagi (Mie/Iga Hakuo H.S.) – 14:14.86
Yuya Ando (Aichi/Toyokawa Kogyo H.S.) – 14:14.98

Fifth Stage – 8.5 km
Kazuma Taira (Aichi/Toyokawa Kogyo H.S.) – 13:55.64
Shuhei Otsuka (Oita/Oita Tomei H.S.) – 14:06.91
Yuki Hirota (Hyogo/Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) – 14:07.85
Junya Uemura (Tochigi/Hakuho Prep Ashikaga H.S.) – 14:07.69
Rintaro Takeda (Tokyo/Waseda Jitsugyo H.S.) – 14:11.23

Sixth Stage – 3.0 km
Haruki Nishimura (Hyogo/Miki J.H.S.) – 8:31.30
Kentaro Harada (Yamaguchi/Takagawa Gakuen J.H.S.) – 8:41.52
Yuya Yoshida (Hiroshima/Takaya J.H.S.) – 8:43.82
Kazuya Nishiyama (Gunma/Isesaki District 1 J.H.S.) – 8:44.0
Masahide Saito (Saitama/Otone J.H.S.) – 8:44.13

Seventh Stage – 13.0 km
Yu Mitsuya (Fukuoka/Team Toyota Kyushu) – 27:41.10
Chihiro Miyawaki (Aichi/Team Toyota) – 27:41.57
Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Hiroshima/Team Asahi Kasei) – 27:44.30
Yusei Nakao (Shizuoka/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) – 27:48.71
Tomoya Onishi (Gifu/Team Asahi Kasei) – 27:50.72
Ryuji Ono (Miyazaki/Team Asahi Kasei) – 27:53.19
Takeshi Makabe (Okayama/Team Kurosaki Harima) – 27:53.58
Yusuke Takabayashi (Mie/Team Toyota) – 27:56.46
Satoru Kitamura (Hyogo/Team Nissin Shokuhin) – 28:00.22
Yuichiro Ueno (Tokyo/Team S&B) – 28:12.37
Keita Shitara (Saitama/Toyo Univ.) – 28:15.90
Ryo Yamamoto (Kyoto/Team Sagawa Express) – 28:22.84
Ryotaro Nitta (Miyagi/Team Konica Minolta) – 28:44.33
Kentaro Nakamoto (Yamaguchi/Team Yasukawa Denki) – 28:54.59
Kazuma Kubota (Kumamoto/Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) – 59:28 (20 km)

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

by Brett Larner – Japan Running News