The International Chiba Ekiden was an annual team road running competition held in Chiba, Japan in late November. The marathon relay race, or ekiden as it is known in Japan, is one of the prominent annual races of its kind. The competition is split into six legs which combine to make up the marathon distance of 42.195 km. The Chiba Ekiden was first held in 1988 and featured separate competitions for both men and women.^[1] Since 2007, each competing country selects three men and three women for their team. The legs are divided as follows: 5 km (men), 5 km (women), 10 km (men), 5 km (women), 10 km (men), and 7.195 km (women).^[2]

The men's world record for the event was set at the competition in 2005 as the Kenyan team of Josephat Ndambiri, Martin Mathathi, Daniel Mwangi, Mekubo Mogusu, Onesmus Nyerere and John Kariuki completed the course in a time of 1:57:06. In the same race the Japanese team ran an Asian record, the United States men ran a North American record and the fourth-placed Russian team broke the European record.^[3]

Winners

Key: Stage winner

Men's and women's era

Year	Men	Women
1988	Ethiopia	New Zealand
1990	Japan	Romania
1991	Australia	Kenya
1992	Australia	Japan
1993	Morocco	Japan
1994	Ethiopia	Japan
1995	Australia	Japan
1996	South Africa	Japan
1997	Kenya	Japan
1998	Japan	Japan
1999	Japan	Japan
2000	Japan	Japan
2001	South Africa	Japan
2002	Ethiopia	Ethiopia
2003	Ethiopia	Ethiopia
2004	Ethiopia	Ethiopia
2005	Kenya Josephat Ndambiri, Martin Mathathi Daniel Mwangi, Mekubo Mogusu Onesmus Nyerere and John Kariuki	Kenya Philes Ongori, Evelyn Wambui  ?, Catherine Ndereba  ?, ?
2006[4]	Kenya Martin Mathathi, Gideon Ngatuny Josephat Ndambiri, Sammy Korir Mekubo Mogusu, Cyrus Njui	Kenya Philes Ongori, Evelyne Kemunto Kimwei Sally Kaptich Chepyego, Catherine Ndereba Jane Wanjiku, Lucy Wangui

Mixed era

Year	Winner	Time	Athletes (stage winners)
2007	Japan	2:05:56	Yuichiro Ueno, Kayoko Fukushi, Kenji Noguchi, Megumi Kinukawa, Kensuke Takezawa, Yukiko Akaba[5]
2008	Ethiopia	2:05:27	Ali Abdosh, Sule Utura, Dejen Gebremeskel, Belaynesh Fekadu, Hunegnaw Mesfin, Tsega Gelaw[6]
2009	Japan	2:05:58	Yuichiro Ueno, Yuriko Kobayashi, Kensuke Takezawa, Yukiko Akaba, Atsushi Sato, Yurika Nakamura[7]
2010	Japan Collegiate	2:07:52	Taku Fujimoto, Risa Takenaka, Yo Yazawa, Kasumi Nishihara, Shota Hiraga, Hanae Tanaka[8]
2011	Kenya	2:04:40	Thomas Longosiwa, Lidia Mathathi, Patrick Mutunga Mwikya, Pauline Kahenya, Edwin Mokua, Pamela Lisoreng[9]
2012	Kenya	2:05:06[10]	Thomas Longosiwa, Gladys Cherono, Edwin Soi, Priscah Jeptoo, Philip Mosima, Joyce Chepkurui