Runner's & Triathlete's Web (RRW) Athletics: Convincing Win For Ethiopia At Chiba Ekiden

The Ethiopian squad got a convincing win at today's Hanji Aoki Cup/2008 Chiba Ekiden in Japan. Their team of three men and three women covered the six section, 42.195 km course in 2:05:27, averaging less than 2:59 per kilometer, breaking the event record established by Japan in 2007, the first year the race used a co-ed format.

Japan was second in 2:06:39 and Russia was third in 2:08:04.

Ali Abdosh put Ethiopia in the lead on the first 5 km leg, clocking 13:34. However, Japanese 1500m star Yuriko Kobayashi regained the lead for her team in the second leg by running a section record 15:08 for 5 km. The Japanese now had a two-second lead. But in the third leg, Ethiopia's Dejen Gebremeskel ran a section record 28:20 for 10 km, putting Ethiopia in the lead for good.

Top Team Results (detailed section results in today's Race Results Weekly):

TEAMS - 
 1. Ethiopia, 2:05:27
 2. Japan, 2:06:39
 3. Russia, 2:08:04
 4. JUT, 2:08:47
 5. Australia, 2:09:36
 6. Chiba, 2:10:00
 7. Great Britain, 2:10:12
 8. United States, 2:11:54
 9. Canada, 2:11:56
10. China, 2:10:11
[13 teams total]