Kanto Region University Women to Qualify for National Ekiden On the Track

Following the cancelation of the Kanto Region University Women's Ekiden, on Aug. 18 the Inter-University Athletic Union of Kanto announced that the teams it will send to the Oct. 25 National University Women's Ekiden will instead be chosen based on the results at a series of 5000 m track races to be held Sept. 26 at Juntendo University in Inzai, Chiba.

Each team vying for Nationals will field six runners, with the four schools with the lowest combined times for their six women earning places. Due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the meet will be held without spectators. The top eight teams at last year's Nationals have already qualified for the return trip this year, among them the Kanto region programs Daito Bunka University, Nittai University and Josai University.

Translator's note: This news follows the Hokkaido region holding its usual qualifying ekiden this past Saturday, the first elite-level road race in Japan since March 8. The qualifying method is modeled after the way Kanto chooses its teams for the National University Men's Ekiden, where the combined times of each school's eight runners in a series of four track 10000 m races determines who goes. The good news here is that it sounds like the Oct. 25 Morinomiyako Ekiden, the usual name for the National University Women's Ekiden, is likely to go ahead. The university men's Izumo Ekiden earlier the same month has already been canceled.

source article:
https://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20200818/ath20081817120001-n1.html
translated and edited by Brett Larner