A low-key start to the new year sees events in Japan and British success in Australia

Tokyo, Japan, January 1, 2022

Men: 20kmW:
1 Subaru Ishida 1:20:22
2 Hiroto Jusho 1:21:09
3 Motofumi Suwa 1:21:12
4 Haruki Manju 1:21:29
5 Yutaro Murayama 1:22:53

Women: 10kmW:
1 Nami Kumagai 45:35
2 Maika Yagi 45:38
3 Jessica Ching Siu Nga HKG 45:54

New Year Ekiden 7-Stage 100km Ekiden , Maebashi, Japan, January 1

Honda won the Ekiden over 100km in a fast 4:51:04.

There were some fast individual legs including 2:06:35 marathoner Kyohei Hosoya covering 22.4km – 1300m longer than a half-marathon in a record 63:43 though his team only ended up sixth.

TEAM:
1 Honda  4:51:04
2 Subaru  4:52:09
3 Asahi Kasei 4:52:47
4 Mitsubishi Heavy Industry  4:52:49
5 Toyota 4:54:08
6 Kurosaki Harima 4:54:50
7 SG Holdings 4:54:52
8 Toyota Kyushu 4:54:53

Fastest stages:
1 12.3km 34:41 Shoma Funatsu  (Kyudenko)
2 8.3km 22:03 Benson Kiplagat  (Subaru)
3 13.6km 37:09 Akira Aizawa (stage record) (Asahi Kasei)
4 22.4km 63:43 Kyohei Hosoya (stage record) (Kurosaki Harima)
5 15.8km 47:46 Chihiro Ono (Asahi Kasei)
6 12.1km 36:27 Ken Nakayama (Honda)
7 15.5km 46:36 Hidekazu Hijikata (Honda)

Melbourne, Australia, January 1

British athletes dominated this low-key event with Charlotte Purdue winning the women’s race in 16:05 from fellow Brit Deborah Niccol while Nick Earl was first man.

Men: 5km:
1 Nick Earl GBR 15:33

Women: 5km:
1 Charlotte Purdue GBR 16:05
2 Deborah Niccol GBR 18:43