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National Women's Ekiden Returns to Kyoto This Sunday

The Kyoto new year's tradition of female athletes handing off the tasuki returns with the National Women's Ekiden. The entry list has been released, and some of the country's top athletes with international experience will run their first races of the new year there. The National Women's Ekiden starts and finishes at Kyoto's Takebishi Stadium on Sunday, Jan. 15 covering a marathon-distance course divided into nine legs, with teams from each prefecture made up of athletes from junior high school students to the corporate leagues.

2022 Oregon World Championships marathon 9th-placer Mizuki Matsuda will run for the Osaka team, with Nozomi Tanaka running for Hyogo after having participated in three track events in Oregon. Wrapping up her first year at national champion Meijo University, Nanaka Yonezawa will run for her high school-era home of Miyagi. Having played an important role in Nagano Higashi H.S.'s first-ever National High School Ekiden win in Kyoto last month, Miku Muraoka will be back to run Kyoto's streets again, this time for Nagano. They and other future stars of the next generation will be out in force.

The National Women's Ekiden starts at 12:30 p.m. on the 15th. NHK will broadcast the race live on TV, with streaming on NHK Plus and live results and other info on the NHK race site.

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translated by Brett Larner

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