Chiba goes unisex

[AS]

Interesting to see that this year the Chiba Ekiden is a "mixed" race with three men and three women per team. Pretty good lineups from Jpan, Kenya and Russia too:

http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=2/newsId=42447.html

The host nation’s team includes four runners from the 2007 World Championships marathon team – Tsuyoshi Ogata, Kayoko Fukushi, Megumi Kinukawa and Kensuke Takezawa...

The Kenyan team includes Catherine Ndereba, Emily Chebet, and Moses Ndiema Masai.

The Russian team includes Liliya Shobukhova, a former World Indoor record (8:27.86) holder at 3000m and Yelena Zadorozhnaya, bronze medallist at 3000m in the 2001 World Indoor Championships.

[EPelle]

Results:
http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=2/newsId=42462.html

Bauhs surprises with excellent 10km leg

[AS]

It's cool how the mixed teams' times more closely resemble men's marathon results:

FINAL STANDINGS: 1. Japan (2:05:56) 2. Kenya (2:07:06) 3. Russia (2:08:00) 4. USA (2:09:05) 5. Japan University Team (2:09:22) 6. Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2:10:11) 7. Australia (2:11:56) 8. Chiba (2:11:57) 9. Romania (2:12:17) 10. China (2:13:59) 11. Belarus (2:14:32) 12. Poland (2:15:10) 13. Sweden (2:17:14) 14. Italy (2:17:30) 15. Korea (2:23:26)

More on race here: http://www.athletics.com.au/fanzone/380 ... den_review