Saku Chosei H.S. Makes It 2 In a Row - National High School Ekiden Boys' Race

While the girls' race was a blowout by 2022 champ Nagano Higashi H.S., the boys' race at Sunday's National High School Ekiden was a tense battle of turnover that saw all of the final top four teams take a stab at leading.

2023 3rd-placer Yachiyo Shoin H.S. handled the first 2 of the 7 stages in the 42.195 km race, with lead runner Rui Suzuki delivering a bold run on the 10.0 km First Stage that produced the fastest-ever time by a Japanese runner on the stage, 28:43, and put Yachiyo Shoin 29 seconds out front. Last year's Fifth Stage CR breaker Tetsu Suzuki ran Yachiyo Shoin down to put 2023 champ Saku Chosei H.S. into 1st on the 8.1075 km Third Stage, but Genta Sugano of last year's 8th-placer Sendai Ikuei H.S. had other plans and took the lead on the 8.0875 km Fourth Stage.

Smiling and fist pumping to the crowd almost the entire way, Taketo Tsukada of last year's 6th-placer Omuta H.S. moved up from 3rd to 1st by 2 seconds over Saku Chosei on the 3.0 km Fifth Stage, and teammate Shu Morimoto held that lead on the 5.0 km Sixth Stage. It came down to an anchor stage duel between Saku Chosei's Koki Ishikawa, 13:59 for 5000 m, and Omuta's Junsei Murakami, 14:11 on the track. To his credit Murakami held on well and even threw in a few surges, but on the uphill half of an underpass with 1.5 km to go Ishikawa pulled away.

Unchallenged from there, he brought Saku Chosei to a 2nd-straight national title in 2:01:33, only 33 seconds off its CR from last year. Along with the Nagano Higashi girls' victory, it made it a double win for teams from Nagano. Omuta was 2nd in 2:01:57, anything under 2:02 being a stellar time at this race, especially for all-Japanese teams like Saku Chosei and Omuta. Sendai Ikuei was 3rd in 2:02:39, with early leader Yachiyo Shoin slipping over a minute behind but hanging on to 4th in 2:03:49.

Like in the girls' race, non-Japanese athletes were restricted to one of the two 3.0 km stages, greatly reducing the advantage of teams that have Kenyan runners. Up to last year they could run one of the two 8 km stages, but although Felix Muthiani of Yamanashi Gakuin H.S. turned in the only individual new stage CR this year, 7:46 for the 3.0 km Second Stage, with the massive limitation on their use this time only two teams in the top 10, 3rd placer Sendai Ikuei and 10th-place Kurashiki H.S., had non-Japanese athletes. In Kurashiki's case it meant the end of a decade-long streak of top-8 finishes. Saku Chosei head coach Masaru Takamizawa published a thoughtful look at the implications, good and bad, of the decision to eliminate almost any advantage to having non-Japanese athletes earlier this year, and how that decision plays out remains to be seen.

75th National High School Boys Ekiden

Kyoto, 22 Dec. 2024

58 teams, 7 legs, 42.195 km

complete results

Top Individual Stage Results

First Stage (10.0 km) - Rui Suzuki (Yachiyo Shoin) - 28:43

Second Stage (3.0 km) - Felix Muthiani (Yamanashi Gakuin) - 7:46 - CR

Third Stage (8.1075 km) - Tetsu Sasaki (Saku Chosei) - 23:38

Fourth Stage (8.0875 km) - Kenshin Noda (Omuta) - 22:57

Fifth Stage (3.0 km) - Taketo Tsukada (Omuta) - 8:28

Sixth Stage (5.0 km) - Yuto Kishibata (Saku Chosei) / Shu Morimoto (Omuta) - 14:20

Seventh Stage (5.0 km) - Koki Ishikawa (Saku Chosei) - 14:05

Top Team Results

1. Saku Chosei H.S. - 2:01:33

2. Omuta H.S. - 2:01:57

3. Sendai Ikuei H.S. - 2:02:39

4. Yachiyo Shoin H.S. - 2:03:49

5. Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. - 2:04:28

6. Kyushu Gakuin H.S. - 2:04:47

7. Tosu Kogyo H.S. - 2:04:55

8. Kobayashi H.S. - 2:04:58

9. Rakunan H.S. - 2:04:59

10. Kurashiki H.S. - 2:05:26

Updates on Transfers

April 1 is the start of Japan's new academic and fiscal year, and there's always a wave of transfer announcements to go with it. Some notable ones yesterday: 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo skipped university to go straight to 2023 Queens Ekiden national champion Sekisui Kagaku after her graduation from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. Multiple NR holder Nozomi Tanaka rejoined the Toyota Jidoshokki women's team after having left it to pursue a solo pro career as a New Balance athlete. Already on the team for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games in the 10000 m, Ririka Hironaka announced a switch from her longtime home at Japan Post to the Uniqlo women's team. Collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda joined the 2026 national champion GMO corporate team after graduating from 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University last week. Hakone Ekdien First Stage CR holder Rui Aoki joins the Sumitomo Denko corporate team after running his final race for 2025 Izumo Ekiden w...

Chien Breaks TPE NR, Iwata Betters ID-Class WR - Weekend Track Roundup

The last weekend of the academic and fiscal year saw at least 5 meets with good results domestically and abroad. Kicking things off Friday was the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, where Tomohiro Shinno and Naoto Hasegawa took 1st and 3rd in the men's high jump, both of them only clearing 2.18 m along with 2nd-placer Roman Anastasios . 12 other Japanese athletes were in action on the second day of the meet on Saturday, where 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura ran 3:42.84 for 6th in the men's 1500 m. Nagiya Mori had a better one in the men's 3000 m with a 7:45.40 for 4th. Both Yota Mashiko and Rui Suzuki cleared 8:00 too, Mashiko's 7:53.84 the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese-born high schooler. Abigail Fuka Ido and Nagisa Takahashi both placed 3rd in their events, Ido going 23.85 (-0.9) in the women's 200 m and Takahashi clearing 1.82 m in the women's high jump. 8 Japanese men were at The TEN in California to run 10000 m. In the B-heat won by Edward Marks in ...

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

japan running news

Search This Blog