Records of Ekiden and Famous Teams

              Today, I talk about records of ekiden and famous teams. Many different kinds of records of ekiden exist. I am going to talk about record of international ekiden.

              First, I talk about what is international ekiden. It is the only international competition. It has begun since 1988. Both men’s ekiden and women’s ekiden are held till 2006. Men and women’s ekiden have been held since 2007. The first runner, the third runner and the fifth runner are men. The second runner, the fourth runner and the sixth runner are women. They run 42.195 kilometers in total. Second, I want to introduce record of international ekiden. Meet record of it is 2 hours 5 minutes 6 seconds. This record is world record too. Team of Kenya set this record in 2012. By the way, world record of marathon (42.195 kilometers) is 2 hours 3 minutes 38 seconds. Ekiden is later than marathon. I think ekiden is faster than marathon before long because marathon is one people but ekiden is six people. If ekiden is more active, record of ekiden is faster. Incidentally, Japan is second and record is 2 hours 5 minutes 16 seconds in 2012.

              Next, I talk about famous teams. Today, I introduce three teams, Waseda University, Toyo University and Asahikasei. Waseda University is one of the strongest universities. Its tasuki is dark red. They took part in the first Hakone ekiden. And they won the Hakone ekiden 13 times. Moreover, they won the Japanese university ekiden in four consecutive seasons. This is the biggest number of record of consecutive championship. And they won the big three men’s university ekiden the most times. Big three men’s ekiden are Izumo ekiden, Japanese university ekiden and Hakone ekiden. Now, a Waseda University superintendent is Yasuyuki Watanabe. He was a graduate of Waseda University and he was an ace of it. Many great runners were a graduate of Waseda University. Some of them become leader of JAAF and a movie director.

Toyo University is a regular team of Hakone ekiden. But they have not won till 2008. They won Hakone ekiden in 2009. This is the latest champion of Hakone ekiden. They are weak team since 2008, but now, it is one of the strongest universities. Why did Toyo University become strong? Because Ryuji Kashiwabada entered a university, I think. He was not great runner when he was high school student. But he grew up to be great runner in university. He was not defeated when he run a sloping road. I think that his effort had a good influence on members of Toyo University. He was a graduate of there but good descended handed down from him to them.

Asahikasei is business organization. There are many famous runners in this team. Ekiden is not main event to business organization. But ekiden is held several times a year. New Year ekiden is one of them. Asahikasei won the ekiden the most times. I expect business organization to win not only ekiden but also marathon. I want them to win marathon in the Olympic.

Regulation of Ekiden

Today, I talk about regulation of ekiden. First, I want to talk about what kind of sport ekiden is simply. Ekiden is team sports and this is track and field event like a relay race. Relay runners hold a baton in their hand and they pass the baton to next runner. On the other hand, ekiden runners sling a tasuki over their shoulder and they pass the tasuki to next runner. Tasuki is cloth in the shape of ring. Furthermore, relay runners run short distance. For example, they run 100 meters and 400 meters. But ekiden runners run long distance. When elementary students take part in ekiden, they run about 1 kilometer. But in most cases, ekiden runners run more than 3 kilometers. In case of Hakone ekiden, they run about 20 kilometers. Briefly, ekiden runners run long distance and they pass the tasuki to next runner and they run toward the finish line.

Second, I want to talk about regulation of ekiden decided by JAAF. JAAF is short for Japan Association of Athletics Federations. This association established in 1925 and it accepts Japanese record of track and field. It also decides regulation. According to its regulation, first, if runners run a crossing, they must keep left. If they can run right side, they can run a shorter way. Second, if runners can’t run, director or the persons concerned must carry them the left side of the road because they may disturb others. They run about 20 kilometers an hour. So, if they collide with people, both of people probably injure. Third, if runners can’t run, the records of their team are invalid. Ekiden is team sport. So, not carrying tasuki to goal is the same as DNF (Did Not Finish). Fourth, if runners arrived at relay station too late, they must start without waiting before runners. I think this regulation is convenience of the host organization.  The first place team sometime has a lead of 30 minutes. So, the host organization has difficulty in the management each of relay stations. And spectator may feel boring to see not changing standing. Not passing the tasuki to next runner is really humiliating. If runner starts without waiting before runner, the record of the relay exists. But they didn’t carry tasuki to goal. I think it is kind of a stop. Maybe most of people think too. So, runners make effort not to stop the race. Fifth, the persons concerned must not touch their team’s runner even if they help runner who can’t run normally. This is very difficult problem. Runners are sometime dehydrated. They want to run and pass the tasuki to next runner. But the persons concerned want not runner to run because runner may collapse. They also want runner to pass the tasuki to next runner. They are faced with a dilemma. They must get their ideas in shape.

These are part of the regulation. Other regulations are more detail. If you watch ekiden, I recommend you to look ekiden other point of view. For example, runner start without waiting before runner.

The Origin of Ekiden

              My name is Kosuke Namiki. I am in the depatment of chemistry at Tsukuba Univerese. And I belong to track and field circle.

Ekiden is long distance relay. Players run long distance with tasuki and they pass tasuki next player. Today, I want to tell about the origin of ekiden.

Ekiden was made by Tiyosaburo Takeda. He was a vice-president of Japanese physical education association. He got the idea from Tokaido 53 tugi. Tokaido 53 tugi is Japanese road and 53 inns in the Edo period. And the word “ekiden” come from “station” and “transmit”. “Station” means transfer point between a capital and country. Tokaido 53 tugi have a lot of stations. Stations have horses and inns. If people arrive at station and they want to go to next station, they ride another horse. This system was called “Tenma.” He thinks people run between stations and they pass the baton to their successor at station. And they carry “tasuki” to next runner. Tasuki is a cloth shaped a loop. People tie back their sleeves with a sash. In this way, ekiden completed. This is idea of ekiden. Well, what kind of event the first ekiden was? The first ekiden was held April 27, 1917. This event was held by Zenmaro Toki. He was head of the Yomiuri Shinbun’s social affairs department. And this event’s name was “Tokaido 53 tugi ekiden race”. This race’s start was Sanjo Ohasi Bridge in Kyoto, and goal was Shinobazunoike Pond in Tokyo. People run about 508 kilometers a team of 23 members. They started April 27 at 14:00 and they goaled April 29 at 11:34.they are running for two days. This race was competed by east Japan team and west Japan team. East Japan members were Daiichi high school, Tokyo high school and Waseda University students. West Japan members were Aichi Daiichi junior high school people who were 15 years old students, 52 years old principal and so on. From the above, this race was held between high school students or university students and junior high school students. So, East Japan won by a huge margin. On the other side, few people cheered runner the first day. But as time passed, people were interested in this race. The last runner was welcomed a lot of people. They waved their handkerchiefs and hats and so on. In that way this race succeeded.

             

            Ekiden is famous in Japan but it isn’t famous all over the world. International ekiden is held in Japan at present. But this competition isn’t famous all over the world. About 16 countries took part in this competition before but about 10 countries took part in it now. Moreover Japan enter in it three team. These are team for participating teams. In that way, ekiden doesn’t spread all over the world. A relay is famous all over the world for example, 400-meter relay race of track and field and 400-meter medley relay of swimming. Ekiden is also relay. People all over the world are sure to be interested in ekiden. So, I want to tell about what ekiden is. And I want people all over the world to be interested in ekiden.

reference materials

http://www.mars.dti.ne.jp/~takefuku/e_memo/m_back.html

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A7%85%E4%BC%9D%E7%AB%B6%E8%B5%B0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekiden

http://www.inter-chibaekiden.jp/