Next up in championship ekiden season is the Dec. 30 Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden, the national title race for Japan's collegiate women and the start of 4 days of top-tier ekiden action over the course of 5 days. Fuji TV has the live broadcast starting at 9:55 a.m. local time on the 30th, with free streaming on TVer if you're in Japan or have a VPN.
October's Morinomiyako Ekiden saw a shift in the balance of power, with the Kanto Region's Josai University and Daito Bunka University going 1-2 over Tokai region powerhouse Meijo University, the Tohoku region's Tohoku Fukushi University 4th, and 2024 national champion Ritsumeikan University from Kansai only 5th. Josai, DBU, Meijo and TFU were only 34 seconds apart over the 6-stage, 38.0 km course, so in a longer and more technical race like Mt. Fuji, 7 stages totaling 43.4 km with some serious hills punctuated by a 169 m ascent on the 8.3 km anchor stage, it's too close to call.
The big question for Josai is whether it has the one more runner it needs to put together a winning team. Last year Rinka Okita had a good debut at Mt. Fuji as a 1st-year, finishing 4th on the 3.3 km 3rd leg, but she has barely raced in 2025 and wasn't part of Josai's starting roster at either October's Kanto Region University Women's Ekiden or Morinomiyako. 4th-year Aoi Takahashi ran 4th on the opening stage in Kanto but not at Morinomiyako, so she may be a more likely addition to the final lineup.
DBU has been 2nd at Morinomiyako 11 times in the last 13 years and at Mt. Fuji 5 times in the last 7 years. 3rd-year Mariya Noda, 2nd on her stage at Mt. Fuji last year, was still coming back from injury at Morinimoyako this season and was only 15th on her stage, setting up Josai anchor Hinata Kaneko to run her down for the win. On paper DBU has the best team, powered by collegiate 5000 m and 10000 m champ Sarah Wanjiru, but there just seems to be a curse it can't break to get through to the top spot.
Meijo was the most recent dynasty in Japanese women's collegiate racing, with 7-straight Morinomiyako wins and 6 in a row at Mt. Fuji until Ritsumeikan took both last year. 1st-years Mei Hosomi and Wakana Hashimoto weren't quite there yet at Morinomiyako, finishing 8th and 5th on their stages, but with Hosomi having run a 9:10.47 PB for 3000 m and Hashimoto 15:45.54 and 32:28.46 PBs since then Meijo's chances are looking pretty good.
TFU is the wildcard here, coming up through the ranks the last few years, only 9th at Mt. Fuji in 2024 but a close 4th at Morinomiyako this season with stage wins from 3rd-year Nazuki Sasaki and 2nd-year Yu Hayasaka. It was only 34 seconds behind winner Josai even with 2nd runner Karen Murakami finishing 11th on her leg, 42 seconds slower than Josai's stage winner Koharu Kaneko. Like Josai and other programs it needs one more top-tier runner to really be in it for the win, but if Murakami turns in a better run here then top 3 seems totally realistic.
Ritsumeikan has been having a rough season despite returning most of last year's national champion roster, taking 3rd at the Kansai Region University Women's Ekiden and only 5th at Morinomiyako. A lot of that was due to 4th runner Momoka Moriyasu nor anchor Chiseno Ikeda making the top 12 on their stages. Ritsumeikan has more to iron out than the top 4-ranked teams, so while a repeat national title seems out of reach a good team performance could put it into the top 3.
Last year's 3rd-placer Nittai University was only 10th at Morinomiyako, and 4th-placer Takushoku University's era has passed with the graduation of collegiate 10000 m record holder Seira Fuwa. It's down to the next tier of programs, Osaka Gakuin University, Tsukuba University, Fukuoka University, and Juntendo University, to go for the 3 spots behind the favorites on the 8-deep podium.
The complete 2025 Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden field with regions and bib numbers:
1. Josai University (Kanto)
2. Daito Bunka University (Kanto)
3. Meijo University (Tokai)
4. Tohoku Fukushi University (Tohoku)
5. Ritsumeikan University (Kansai)
6. Osaka Gakuin University (Kansai)
7. Tsukuba University (Kanto)
8. Fukuoka University (Kyushu)
9. Juntendo University (Kanto)
10. Nittai University (Kanto)
11. Tamagawa University (Kanto)
12. Teikyo Kagaku University (Kanto)
13. Takushoku University (Kanto)
14. Toyo University (Kanto)
15. Osaka Geijutsu University (Kansai)
16. Chuo University (Kanto)
17. Kyoto Sangyo University (Kansai)
18. Surugadai University (Kanto)
19. Tokyo Nogyo University (Kanto)
20. Kansai University (Kansai)
21. Kobe Gakuin University (Kansai)
22. Kansai Gaikokugo University (Kansai)
23. National University Select Team
24. Shizuoka Prefecture Select Team
© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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