Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden Preview

The Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden, the year-ending national championship for university women, happens this Friday at 10:00 a.m. Japan time, kicking off four days of the year's best racing over the course of five. Fuji TV has the live broadcast starting at 9:50 a.m., TVer has the streaming, and @JRNLive will have the English coverage. When it comes to the collegiate men's ekiden circuit it's a given that Tokyo-area schools are going to win and, in most cases, fill the podium, but the college women's ekidens are more genuinely national, and in that way have a type of excitement the men's races lack.

The Mt. Fuji race has 7 hilly stages totaling 43.4 km, with a mostly downhill first two stages, a rolling middle four, and an anchor stage that climbs almost 170 m. And Meijo University is going to win. Meijo is the four-time defending champ and is fresh off a sixth-straight win at October's Morinomiyako Ekiden where it won 5 of the 6 stages, 3 in CR time. The runner-up there, Ritsumeikan University, won 11 of the 12 years prior to the start of Meijo's dynasty, but at Morinomiyako it was over two and a half minutes behind Meijo over the full 38.1 km course.

Star senior Narumi Kobayashi has struggled this year, but even with her at less than 100% at Morinomiyako Meijo was untouchable. Top recruit Nanaka Yonezawa played a key role in that, getting the team of with a stage win on the opening leg. It would take a combination of Kobayashi having an even worse day, someone else on the team having a breakdown, and/or the team not having a 7th runner at the same level, for them to blow it. Not likely.

The race for 2nd should be pretty good, though. Ritsumeikan is the best bet, but Osaka Gakuin University had a breakthrough run at Morinomiyako, just 1:13 behind Ritsumeikan in 3rd, and could follow up with something a lot better than last year's 10th-place finish. 2nd at Mt. Fuji from 2018 through 2021, Daito Bunka University is down a bit in strength this year and was 4th at Morinomiyako 28 seconds behind Osaka Gakuin. With any kind of improvement since then it could be back up in contention with Ritsumeikan.

But most eyes will be on last year's 6th-placer Takushoku University. Takushoku got there thanks in large part to 1st-year and collegiate 10000 m NR holder Seira Fuwa. Shortly after Mt. Fuji Fuwa had an Achilles tendon injury that ultimately kept her out of the 2022 World Championships, but she was back in time to help Takushoku finish 5th at Morinomiyako. Her individual performance there was a tier or two below her 2021 collegiate ekiden debut, but she ran it, did her part for the team, and seems to have survived without reinjury. If she has improved any since then, Takushoku should be in it for top 5. If not, making the 8-deep podium will still be an accomplishment. Kae Gyu and other team members have made a lot of progress this year, so at the least it's not all on Fuwa's shoulders.

2022 Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden Field

Meijo University

Ritsumeikan University

Osaka Gakuin University

Daito Bunka University

Takushoku University

Nittai University

Josai University

Kansai University

Fukuoka University

Osaka Geijutsu University

Tokyo Nogyo University

Kansai Gaikokugo University

Chuo University

Toyo University

Tamagawa University

Juntendo University

Tsukuba University

Kyoto Kyoka Joshi University

Bukkyo University

Tohoku Fukushi University

Asia University

Kyoto Gakuin University

National University Select Team

Shizuoka Prefecture University Select Team

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

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

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