Madalina Florea (adidas) and Cristiana Frumuz (adidas) both placed 7th in their respective sections of today’s 2012 Chiba International Ekiden in Japan, helping Romania place 10th among the 15 invited international teams. In cold, rainy, and very unpleasant race conditions, 19 year-old Madalina ran 16:21 for the 5km second leg of the race, temporarily moving Team Romania into 9th place. Anchoring the race with the 7.195 km final 6th leg, Cristiana ran a very solid 24:32, passing runners from Australia and Norway to carry Romania from 12th to 10th at the finish line in 2:13:41 for the 42.195 km distance. It was the second-fastest result ever for Romania since the Chiba organizers switched the ekiden format to a mix of three men and three women per team, just two seconds slower than their 2011 result of 2:13:39, despite today’s rough weather.

Madalina and Cristiana are both part of the adidas Romania Development Program managed by Boulder Wave.

The Japan Running News blogspot carries a very thorough article on the race today.