Wednesday is the first day of the best five-day stretch of racing in Japan, the top women's university teams in the country racing in the foothills of Mt. Fuji at the season-ending Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden national championships. After that it's a day off for New Year's Eve, then 2021 kicks off with the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships and hits its peak with the year's biggest race, the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden.
It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that two-time defending Mount Fuji champ Meijo University is going to make it three in a row. In October Meijo broke its own record for the 38.1 km course to win the national-level Morinomiyako Ekiden by almost three minutes over Daito Bunka University. Since then it's only gotten stronger, with 3rd-year Yuna Wada running the fastest collegiate 5000 m time of the year, 15:25.14, and 4th-year Rika Kaseda clocking both the second-fastest 5000 m time, 15:32.77, and the fastest collegiate 10000 m time, 31:39.86. With 2nd-year Narumi Kobayashi already holding the second-fastest 10000 m time of the year, 32:08.67, and 3rd-year Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu to back them, that's an almost unbeatable core lineup for the seven-stage Mount Fuji course. To be sure, the hilliness of the Mount Fuji course demands a different skill set than the flatter one at Morinomiyako, but with a 76-second winning margin over Daito Bunka last year and a stronger team this year Meijo pretty much has it covered, barring something dramatic.
Daito Bunka is still the fastest among the other 20 teams in the Mount Fuji field, 3rd-year Yuka Suzuki the third-best collegiate 10000 m runner of the year at 32:11.66 and 2nd-year Reimi Yoshimura continuing to develop as one of the country's best steeplers. But grad student Natsuki Sekiya has been struggling this season, leaving Daito Bunka potentially vulnerable to the competition.
Nittai University is the biggest threat to Daito Bunka's chances, just 23 seconds behind at Morinomiyako. The once-unstoppable Ritsumeikan University is a little further out of range, finishing just over a minute behind Daito Bunka in the same race, but with the different demands at Mount Fuji it could close that deficit up, especially if Sekiya is still below her best. Osaka Geijutsu University has scratched, an inevitability as the race takes place in the midst of rocketing infection numbers across Japan.
Fuji TV will be broadcasting the race live starting at 9:50 a.m. on Dec. 30 local time. There doesn't look to be an official live stream, but if you're not in Japan options like mov3.co, iTVer, and TVJapanLive might work. Unofficial streams tend to pop up on Youtube once the race gets underway. We'll be doing English commentary on @JRNLive as usual, and will tweet Youtube links if streams turn up.
2020 Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden Entry List
University Women's National Championships Invitational
30 Dec. 2020
21 teams, 7 stages, 43.4 km
1. Meijo University (Tokai region)
2. Daito Bunka University (Kanto region)
3. Nittai University (Kanto region)
4. Ritsumeikan University (Kansai region)
5. Kansai University (Kansai region)
6. Osaka Gakuin University (Kansai region)
7. Josai University (Kanto region)
8. Matsuyama University (Chugoku/Shikoku region)
9. Takushoku University (Kanto region)
10. Kyoto Sangyo University (Kansai region)
11. Juntendo University (Kanto region)
12. Kyoto Koka Joshi University (Kansai region)
14. Toyo University (Kanto region)
15. Bukkyo University (Kansai region)
16. Tokyo Nogyo University (Kanto region)
17. Fukuoka University (Kyushu region)
18. Kansai Gaikokugo University (Kansai region)
19. Tamagawa University (Kanto region)
20. Kobe Gakuin University (Kansai region)
21. Chuo University (Kanto region)
22. Tohoku Fukushi University (Tohoku region)
DNS - Osaka Geijutsu University (Kansai region)
© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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