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Josai Runs Down DBU in Last Km to Win First Morinomiyako Ekiden National Title Since 2000


Yeah, this was a good one.

Last year's CR-breaking Morinomiyako Ekiden winner and national university women's champion Ritsumeikan University had a lackluster run at the Kansai Region qualifying race at the end of September, finishing only 3rd. That turned out to be a sign of where it is this season and not a peaking issue. Ritsumeikan was in 2nd for the first 2 legs in the 6-stage 38.0 km race with good runs from leading duo Sayuki Ota and Yua Sato but only faded from there, ultimately finishing 5th almost 2 minutes off the win.

Josai University, the 1998 and 2000 national champ, came in hot with its first 3 runners Kyo Honma, Koharu Kaneko and Yuna Onishi replicating their feat at the Kanto Region qualifying race of all breaking the CR on their stages. Ichigo Ishikawa, a replacement for Kanto lineup member Aoi Takahashi, ran big on the 4th leg to give Josai a 20-second lead over last year's 5th-placer Tohoku Fukushi University, 49 seconds on 2018-2024 national champ Meijo University, and 1:15 on perpetual 2nd-placer Daito Bunka University.

That last margin was critical, because the 9.2 km 5th leg DBU had 5000 m and 10000 m national collegiate champ Sarah Wanjiru ready to go. Wanjiru took a serious swing at the 28:00 CR held by 10000 m collegiate record holder Seira Fuwa and came very respectably close, clocking 28:25. That passed everyone ahead of her, including Josai's Mio Motozawa. Motozawa was nowhere near her form at Kanto Regionals, running only the 11th-fastest time on the leg and getting passed by Tohoku Fukushi's Amisa Murayama too.

With only the 7.6 km anchor stage to go, a 48-second lead over Tohoku Fukushi and now 1:17 on Josai, all DBU's anchor Mariya Noda, bronze medalist in the half marathon at this year's World University Games , CR holder on Morinomiyako's 1st leg, and a 15:37.46 runner on the track, had to do was hold, and DBU's curse of 10 runner-up finishes in the last 12 years would be broken and it would take its first-ever national title. But if only it were that easy.

Noda was absent from DBU's massive CR-breaking run at Kanto Regionals at the start of the month, a bit of a question mark. Meanwhile Josai had Kanto Regionals anchor stage winner Hinata Kaneko on anchor again. Kaneko was out hard to try to do the impossible, outrunning Noda by more than 10 seconds a km. But almost right away it was obvious she was closing. With just under a km to go she passed Noda to take the lead, running a 24:35 CR for the anchor stage and bringing Josai home to the win in 2:03:28.

Noda shuffled in for 2nd in 2:03:44, a bit of a lucky break for Josai in that she was only 15th-fastest in the field of 26. Noda did have the consolation of holding off Meijo anchor Miku Muraoka, who was unexpectedly brilliant with a 24:44 that was also under the old CR to put Meijo into 3rd in 2:03:50. But it meant the DBU curse lived on, 11 2nd-place finishes at Morinomiyako in the last 13 years. They just can't win it. None of its lineup graduates this year, the only team in the top 3 that can say that, so, try again next year, I guess.

Tohoku Fukushi was a close 4th in 2:04:02 after anchor Hikari Kobayashi was caught by both Josai's Kaneko and Meijo's Muraoka, an unexpectedly strong performance that saw it build on its 5th-place last year with a 3rd leg CR by Nazuki Sasaki and a 4th leg by Yu Hayasaka that together put Tohoku Fukushi into 2nd for the middle part of the race. And like DBU, none of its lineup graduates at the end of the season. Look for it to be a top 3 threat next year.

Only 34 seconds separated the top 4, but 2024 winner Ritsumeikan was over a minute behind Tohoku Fukushi in 5th in 2:05:13, setting things up for it to try to get back on top in time for the season-ending Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden on Dec. 29.

Osaka Gakuin University was 6th in 2:06:38, with Tsukuba University 7th in 2:07:09 and Fukuoka University rounding out the top 8 in 2:07:16, earning all of them return trips to next year's race. 5 regions were represented in the top 8, showing again how different it is from the university men's ekiden circuit where the Kanto Region dominates with a near 100% success rate over every other region in the country. 7th last year thanks to Fuwa pulling it together one last time, Takushoku University showed what her loss meant as it finished only 14th in 2:08:42.

Morinomiyako Ekiden

National University Women's Ekiden Championships
Sendai, Miyagi, 26 October 2025
26 teams, 6 stages, 38.0 km

Team Results
1. Josai University (Kanto) - 2:03:28
2. Daito Bunka University (Kanto) - 2:03:44
3. Meijo University (Tokai) - 2:03:50
4. Tohoku Fukushi University (Tohoku) - 2:04:02
5. Ritsumeikan University (Kansai) - 2:05:13
6. Osaka Gakuin University (Kansai) - 2:06:38
7. Tsukuba University (Kanto) - 2:07:09
8. Fukuoka University (Kyushu) - 2:07:16
----- top 8 auto-qualify for 2026
9. Juntendo University (Kanto) - 2:07:37
10. Nittai University (Kanto) - 2:08:06
11. Tamagawa University (Kanto) - 2:08:14
12. Teikyo Kagaku University (Kanto) - 2:08:20
13. Kansai University (Kansai) - 2:08:30
14. Takushoku University (Kanto) - 2:08:42
15. Osaka Geijutsu University (Kansai) - 2:09:10
16. Surugadai University (Kanto) - 2:09:41
17. Kansai Gaikokugo University (Kansai) - 2:09:53
18. Chuo University (Kanto) - 2:09:55
19. Toyo University (Kanto) - 2:10:03
20. Kyoto Sangyo University (Kansai) - 2:11:39
21. Niigata Iryo Fukushi University (Hokushinetsu) - 2:13:01
22. Chukyo Gakuin University (Tokai) - 2:14:31
23. Kantaiheiyo University (Chugoku/Shikoku) - 2:14:59
OP - Tohoku Region Select Team (Tohoku) - 2:18:35
24. Sendai University (Tohoku) - 2:23:27
25. Hokkaido University (Hokkaido) - 2:24:47

Top Individual Stage Performances
First Stage (6.6 km)
1. Kyo Honma (1st yr., Josai Univ.) - 20:53 - CR
2. Sayuki Ota (3rd yr., Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 20:55 (CR)
3. Mei Nakano (2nd yr., Tohoku Fukushi Univ.) - 20:58 (CR)

Second Stage (4.0 km)
1. Koharu Kaneko (4th yr., Josai Univ.) - 12:38 - CR
2. Moeka Okawara (4th yr., Meijo Univ.) - 12:50
3. Yua Sato (1st yr., Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 13:03

Third Stage (5.8 km)
1. Nazuki Sasaki (3rd yr., Tohoku Fukushi Univ.) - 18:14 - CR
2. Nanaka Yonezawa (4th yr., Meijo Univ.) - 18:26 (CR)
3. Yuna Onishi (1st yr., Josai Univ.) - 18:33 (CR)

Fourth Stage (4.8 km)
1. Yu Hayasaka (2nd yr., Tohoku Fukushi Univ.) - 15:44
2. Ichigo Ishikawa (3rd yr., Josai Univ.) - 15:52
3. Asuka Ishimatsu (4th yr., Meijo Univ.) - 16:00

Fifth Stage (9.2 km)
1. Sarah Wanjiru (3rd yr., Daito Bunka Univ.) - 28:25
2. Makoto Tsuchiya (4th yr., Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 29:46
3. Airi Tajima (3rd yr., Juntendo Univ.) - 29:51

Sixth Stage (7.6 km)
1. Hinata Kaneko (1st yr., Josai Univ.) - 24:35 - CR
2. Miku Muraoka (3rd yr., Meijo Univ.) - 24:44 (CR)
3. Yuna Furusawa (1st yr., Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 24:51

© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Anonymous said…
This race lived up to expectations in a big way. It was so exciting to watch. First off, congratulations to Josai University for winning. Apart from the 5th stage they were totally dominant and deserving. Whilst watching the 5th stage unfold and seeing Sarah Wanjiru pull away and create a huge gap on the field I was thinking it is going to be a case of how big a margin will DBU win by. How wrong I was! It is exactly as you said regarding Mariya Noda. Everything pointed towards DBU's captain running through the finishing tape as the victor. There must be a back story to this, perhaps an injury, an interrupted training ... something that would make sense of her performance. Regardless, Hinata Kaneko's last leg was pure perfection and joyous. It was glorious and her happiness was etched all over her face (and mine I must say) when she broke the finishing tape.
Other takeaways from this race were:
*Meijo are back and can definitely win at Mt Fuji. Surprisingly Mei Hosomi whom I expected to do so well underwhelmed and her finishing 36 seconds behind Josei's Kyo Honma could be seen as crucial.
*Airi Tajima in the 5th stage ran a remarkable 29:51 finishing 3rd. Isn't this amazing for the 1500m University champion! Her PBs are outstanding and improving quickly, 1500m 4:11.02, 3000m 8:58.79, 5000m 15:47.75 and now this solid 9.2km Ekiden run. I have high hopes. Also I like it when an athlete runs through the finishing line strongly which she did yesterday. Reminds me of Honami Maeda in that regard.
*There were 2 very bad falls yesterday on the wet timing mats that may have resulted in some serious injuries. I was really worried because I thought the back of the head of the athletes could have struck the concrete. Something that needs to be looked at because you just don't want to see that happening.
*The DBU 2nd place curse is strong. I still can't believe they didn't win.
*And lastly, great coverage and commentary yet again. Simply the best in the world as far as I'm concerned.
October 27, 2025 at 6:08 AM
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