The 26th National Junior High School Ekiden took place Dec. 16 in Shiga's Hikarigaoka Bunka Park. Kyoto's Katsura J.H.S. girls ran 41:34 to win the five-stage, 12.0 km girls' race, becoming the first team ever to win the national title five years in a row. The Katsura J.H.S. boys ran a 56:33 course record to win the six-stage, 18.0 km boys' race, becoming the first team from Kyoto to win the boys' title and making Katsura the first school in event history to take both the boys' and girls' titles. The champion teams from each of Japan's 47 prefectures took part, with hosts Shiga fielding two teams to make in a field of 48 teams in both the boys' and girls' races.
In the girls' race Katsura's Koko Kamada took the lead late on the First Stage, and after that the team held that position until the Fifth Stage. The Shizuoka J.H.S. team nearly caught anchor Momoka Sano, but Sano was able to fight them off to win by a margin of just 3 seconds.
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In the girls' race Katsura's Koko Kamada took the lead late on the First Stage, and after that the team held that position until the Fifth Stage. The Shizuoka J.H.S. team nearly caught anchor Momoka Sano, but Sano was able to fight them off to win by a margin of just 3 seconds.
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