Michigan Pro Ekiden

imnothammer

imnothammer

Moderator
I will have to keep an eye out for this. From the article it doesn't seem as if it will be broadcast/streamed, but still really neat to see this style of event popping up - everyone loves the relays!

Also the ganbatte at the end of the article is giving me Tokyo flashbacks...
 
imnothammer

imnothammer

Moderator
Andrew A. said:
It definitely will be streamed, I will post details as I find out more. When were you in Tokyo?
Click to expand...

I ran the Tokyo Marathon in 2019. I was lucky enough to stay with a friend in Kawasaki for a week and then, after the race, spent a week in Kyoto and Hiroshima. Awesome country and (the article has got it right) the people love running!
 
Andrew A.

Andrew A.

Pacer
Kyoto, I'm envious! What a wonderful experience. What did you like best about Kyoto, Tokyo, and Hiroshima? Incidentally, I spent a couple of weeks in Japan a couple of summers ago and definitely agree with your assessment. My wife is from Kyushu and her entire family is there, so I'm hoping we can visit Kyoto as well as Nagano and Okinawa on another trip back over post-COVID.

On a related note, there will be a Michigan Pro Half-marathon a week later for both men and women. Jake Riley, Chris Derrick, Scott Fauble, and Noah Droddy are among the names I saw on the posted entry lists, they have legit domestic fields.
 
imnothammer

imnothammer

Moderator
Andrew A. said:
Kyoto, I'm envious! What a wonderful experience. What did you like best about Kyoto, Tokyo, and Hiroshima?
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Impossible to narrow it down! If I am being honest, the food. If I am being really honest, the convenience store food - hah!

I really love walkable cities and, with light assists from public transport (thanks JR Pass!) we could get absolutely anywhere in the country. The first day we went into Tokyo and walked back and for between Shibuya and Shinjuku. I think close to 16 miles on the first day, all told. We actually didn't have a set plan other than "explore" and we ended up walking through Yoyogi Park, which was a really nice surprise discovery. One minute you're in the insanity of owl cafes and neon lights of Harajuku and the next minute you're in this tranquil park. Reminded me a bit of Central Park in NYC. Kyoto had a similar feel but dialed back a little. We stayed in a really cool machiya style hotel Kyoto and it made for a great experience. We actually stayed on a small island off of Hiroshima, at an incredible ryokan. That was a really neat experience and they treated us like absolute royalty. I like to think we squeezed about as much Japan as we possibly could into those two weeks but we still can't wait to go back.

Back on topic, I will keep an eye out for streaming details!
 
Andrew A.

Andrew A.

Pacer
According to this article on Flotrack, streaming of the races will be via Facebook Live (presumably on the Hansons page). That leaves me out unless the video is embedded elsewhere.

Nice run-down of a memorable trip, you found some really cool spots! Yes, really easy to get around without a car and incredibly clean and orderly. I look forward to visiting outside of summer so I'll actually enjoy running and going to onsen there.
 
R

run_INXS

Runner
Despite the technical difficulties they did a good job of covering the event. Sounds like they lost their on-the-course cameras due to the storm the previous night and it was too windy to fly the drones. Probably nothing beats a camera crew on an electric cart, if they could have done that. And splits from the chips and onto the screen (not from tweets and Instagram posts from those at the event) would have been great. Nonetheless, Ritz and Stephanie Hanson did very well. It was kind of fun to follow and hope we have more such events in the US in the future. And maybe wouldn't mind seeing some NCAA programs (or maybe better yet clubs) branching off to Ekiden, maybe with events during winter in the South and West Coast and spring elsewhere.
 
Andrew A.

Andrew A.

Pacer
Right, hopefully with more lead time they can improve on the technical aspects going forward. I was busy with gainful employment during the live feed, so it wouldn't have mattered even if I still had a FB account. I would hope they consider using Youtube in the future, as it isn't firewalled behind login access like FB is. I would be truly surprised to ever see NCAA teams in an ekiden as the theme for the foreseeable future seems to be a shrinking of NCAA running opportunities. I could see there being interest in a high school level event (a la NXN), especially as the brothers Hanson have been high school coaches, as well.
 
Andrew A.

Andrew A.

Pacer
One more piece looking in at the MPE, by the eminent Liam Boylan-Pett, highlighting two of my favorite people in the sport, Lee Troop and Brett Larner:
If They Build an Ekiden in Michigan, Will Anyone Come?
Incidentally, for anyone interested in reading about running, I highly recommend subscribing to Lope Magazine. Here is a podcast from earlier this year with the founder for anyone with further interest. (Incidentally, for all who are similarly interested, I also recommend subscribing to The Morning Shakeout newsletter and podcast.)
 
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Andrew A.

Andrew A.

Pacer
Michigan Pro Half Marathon is tomorrow, 10/28 at 10a EDT women's start and 10:20a EDT men's start streamed live on Facebook for those who have accounts. Preview c/o NAZElite:
WOMEN'S RACE PREVIEW: The women's race is led on paper by 2018 U.S. Marathon Champ Emma (Bates) Ulmer, who is coming off a seventh-place finish at February's U.S. Olympic Trials and owns a personal best of 1:11:13 at the half marathon distance. But she'll have plenty of competition from up-and-comers like Makena Morley and Paige Stoner, former teammate Elaina Tabb, Canadian Olympian Lanni Marchant, and HOKA NAZ Elite's Julia Kohnen who was tenth at the Olympic Trials.

MEN'S RACE PREVIEW: The men's race features several athletes who fared well in last week's Ekiden Relay including HOKA NAZ Elite's Tyler Day who won the first leg in 28:46 over 10k. His teammates, 2:09:09 marathoner Scott Fauble and 1:01:44 half marathoner Rory Linkletter join Day as some of the pre-race favorites along with Colin Bennie, Shadrack Biwott, Chris Derrick, Matt McDonald, and Reed Fisher (to name just a few). But perhaps the biggest entry to keep an eye on is 2021 Olympian Jake Riley who looked quite good on his 6.1k leg in the Ekiden where he posted the fastest time of the day.

MORE ON HOKA NAZ ELITE: In addition to Day, Fauble, Kohnen, and Linkletter; Scott Smith and Sid Vaughn will also be racing. Both are early on in their preparations for The Marathon Project in December. In fact, all the athletes competing in the Half Marathon will be racing the Marathon Project on December 20 save for Day who will instead be focusing on a 10,000 meter race scheduled for December 5.

COURSE: The race will be two loops around a slightly rolling, bike path--the same course used for the Michigan Pro Ekiden last week.

WEATHER: 40 degrees, 14mph winds.

ENTRY LISTS:

Women:
Breanna Sieracki
Meghan Peyton
Dakotah Lindwurm
Alia Gray
Lexi Zeis
Carrie Verdon
Melissa Dock
Elaina Tabb
Emma Bates
Megan Lacy
Abby McNulty
Lanni Marchant
Bethany Sachtleben
Tristin Van Ord
Janel Blancett
Joanna Stephens
Julia Kohnen
Paige Stoner
Makena Morley
Kiera D’Amato
Dot McMahan

Men:
Kevin Lewis
Joel Reichow
John Raneri
Tyler Jermann
Frank Lara
Austen Dalquist
Ryan Root
Will Cross
Jake Riley
Jonas Hampton
Ryan Forsyth
Chris Derrick
Wilkerson Given
Matt McDonald
Rory Linkletter
Tyler Day
Scott Fauble
Scott Smith
Sid Vaughn
Brendan Gregg
Shadrack Biwott
Colin Bennie
Josh Izewski
Matt McClintock
Morgan Pearson
Sydney Gidabuday
Reed Fischer
Click to expand...
 
R

run_INXS

Runner
The half was entertaining, although I was only able to catch some bits and pieces. They did a great job with the splits, with updates on the top 10 every 5K. The vehicle cam coverage was kind of spotty, but the drones and discussion seemed to go fairly well.
 
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