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2009 Chiba International Ekiden: By Len Johnson
By Len Johnson.
Craig Mottram took a strong first step back into international competition, running fastest time for the 5k opening leg of the Chiba International Ekiden Relay on Monday.
Mottram took control just past the 3000 metres point to run away from Japanese 1500 and 5000 metres champion Yuichiro Ueno and Kenyan 60:09 half-marathoner Nicholas Kamakya and hand the lead over to second-leg runner Nikki Chapple.
After a low-key interclub track 5000 metres earlier in the month, Mottram has now had two races back after a long rehabilitation of both achilles tendons. If he pulls up well from Chiba, he will continue on his racing program.
Chapple was overtaken by Japan’s Yuriko Kobayashi early in the second 5km leg but held on to second place. The strong Japanese team dominated from that point on, winning the six-leg, marathon-length relay in 2:05:58, almost two minutes ahead of a combined Japan Universities Team. Kenya was third, with Australia seventh out of the 14 teams in 2:11:35.
The Japan Universities team made its intent plain at either end of the race. Ryuji Kashiwabara led on the track and out of Chiba stadium before first Kamakya and then Mottram took control. Then, on the final leg back to the stadium, Takuya Ishikawa became the only runner besides Mottram to take time out of the national team when she was fastest for the 7.195km closing leg.
Ishikawa came from five seconds behind Catherine Ndereba to blast into second place and then proceeded to cut 27 seconds off the deficit to the leaders. It was never going to be enough, however.
Mottram’s time was just one second short of the opening leg record set by Kenya’s Moses Masai in 2007. The revised, mixed-sex format has only been in operation for three years, but two outstanding runners have run the first leg _ Masai, the world championships 10,000 bronze medallist, and Ali Abdosh of Ethiopia, sixth in the 5000 metres final in Berlin this year.
Television coverage of this year’s Ekiden started off auspiciously for Australia, with footage of Brad Camp running away from Japanese marathon star Toshihiko Seko on the final leg of the 1992 race. But this year’s inexperienced team was front-end loaded, falling away after Mottram and Chapple on the first two legs.
Tim Rowe was ninth-fastest on the 10km third leg in 30:15, Clare Geraghty was 10th-fastest on the 5km fourth leg in 17:00, Kane Wille ninth on the 10km fifth leg in his international debut in 30:19, and Melbourne marathon winner Lisa Flint 11th-fastest on the final leg in 25:11.
Original selections Sarah Jamieson and Lara Tamsett were forced to pull out of the team, while Eloise Wellings was unavailable as a replacement. The positive is that Geraghty, Wille and Flint have made their Australian senior debuts.
But not even the big names could make an impression on the loaded Japanese team. World championships 5000 metres sixth placegetter Ines Chenonge and world marathon champion Abel Kirui ran the fourth and fifth legs for the Kenyan team, but each lost ground to the winners. Athens Olympic marathon champion Stefano Baldini, who is heading for Melbourne for the Great Australian Run, was 12th-fastet on one of the 10km legs.
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4 comments to "2009 Chiba International Ekiden: By Len Johnson"
So proud to see him back.
Hi, one correction: the Japanese Univ team anchor woman who took the stage best was Hikari Yoshimoto. Takuya Ishikawa was the guy who ran against Kirui on the 5th Stage.
dude looking lean
Oi galera, gostaria de uma ajuda, eu adquirir um pacote de TV HD no PC no site http://www.tvhd.com.br tenho acesso a vários canais através de um painel de controle que eu visualizo no próprio navegador, como eu faço para gravar os programas e série de TV no meu PC, lembrando que não tem nem um programa instalado no meu PC é todo pelo próprio navegador.
Quem tiver uma luz por favor me ajude meu e-mail:
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