Meijo University Breaks Own CR to Win 3rd-Straight Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden National Title

Meijo University ran up to expectations, breaking its own course record to win a third-straight Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden national title. Head coach Katsuro Yoneda had confidently predicted a perfect win, Meijo runners taking all seven stage titles and the overall win for the hilly 43.4 km course, but on the very first stage Karin Akahori (Nittai Univ.) shot that down, beating Meijo's Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu by 6 seconds to win the stage. But the setback didn't last long, as second runner Yuna Wada tied her stage's record to put Meijo out front.

From there Meijo stretched its lead out to 1:26 by the start of the 10.5 km Fifth Stage, the longest of the day. There Yuka Suzuki (Daito Bunka Univ.), the 2019 World University Games half marathon gold medalist, gave Meijo's Rika Kaseda, the silver medalist in the same race, a scare as she cut Meijo's lead down by 42 seconds. But record-breaking runs on the last two uphill stages from Yuka Masubuchi and Narumi Kobayashi turned Meijo's momentum back around, carrying it on to take a minute off its own overall course record for the win in 2:21:38.

Perpetual runner-up Daito Bunka was over two and a half minutes behind by the end of the race, taking 2nd yet again in 2:24:16. Former dynastic power Ritsumeikan University was solid throughout, taking 3rd in 2:27:00. After stage wins on the First and Third Stages, Nittai held steady around 4th until anchor Akari Nakamura ran into trouble on the steepest climb in the final third of the stage. Matsuyama University, Osaka Gakuin University and Josai University all took advantage of the situation to knock Nittai back to 7th on the 8-deep podium, all three finishing within a minute of Ritsumeikan.

Strong early on, Kansai University rounded out the podium almost eight minutes behind Meijo in 2:29:19. In just its second Mount Fuji appearance Fukuoka University was the first team to miss a podium finish, taking 9th in 2:30:16. With no National Women's Ekiden in January, for most runners in the field this was the last ekiden of the season. A few more chances to race remain on the calendar until the end of the academic year in March, including January's Kitakyushu Invitational Women's Ekiden. Japan's corona numbers are going up quickly, but if that and other races go ahead you can expect to see Suzuki, Kaseda, Kobayashi and others at least once more before the season wraps for good.

2020 Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden

University Women's National Championships Invitational

Shizuoka, 30 Dec. 2020

21 teams, 7 stages, 43.4 km

complete results

Top Team Results

1. Meijo University - 2:21:38 - CR

2. Daito Bunka University - 2:24:16

3. Ritsumeikan University - 2:27:00

4. Matsuyama University - 2:27:42

5. Osaka Gakuin University - 2:27:53

6. Josai University - 2:27:59

7. Nittai University - 2:28:21

8. Kansai University - 2:29:19

----- 8-deep podium

9. Fukuoka University - 2:30:16

10. Kansai Gaikokugo University - 2:30:51

Top Individual Stage Results

First Stage (4.1 km) - Karin Akahori (Nittai Univ.) - 13:04

Second Stage (6.8 km) - Yuna Wada (Meijo Univ.) - 20:40 - CR tie

Third Stage (3.3 km) - Haruko Hosaka (Nittai Univ.) / Sae Hanada (Juntendo Univ.) - 10:22

Fourth Stage (4.4 km) - Yuma Yamamoto (Meijo Univ.) - 13:55 - CR tie

Fifth Stage (10.5 km) - Yuka Suzuki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 34:29

Sixth Stage (6.0 km) - Yuka Masubuchi (Meijo Univ.) - 19:31 - CR

Seventh Stage (8.3 km, ~130 m uphill) - Narumi Kobayashi (Meijo Univ.) - 28:26 - CR

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

Shiojiri, Kasai and Tazawa Scratch from Hachioji Long Distance, 5000 m Dropped from Program (updated)

On Nov. 15 the East Japan Corporate Federation announced that 10000 m national champion and Paris Olympian Jun Kasai (Asahi Kasei) and Budapest World Championships team member Ren Tazawa (Toyota) have both withdrawn from the 10000 m at the Nov. 23 Hachioji Long Distance meet. This year's Hachioji Long Distance features a special heat set up to target the 27:00.00 qualifying standard for next year's Tokyo World Championships. Along with Kasai and Tazawa, national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) and other top-level Japanese talent are scheduled to compete. After last January's New Year Ekiden , Tazawa sustained an injury that forced him to miss May's National Championships 10000 m and other races including the Paris Olympics. At the end of September he ran 13:36.99 for 5th at the Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup meet, but, he said, "My balance felt off and the back of my left knee hurt." In Kasai's case, after winning the national title in M

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