It's Championship Ekiden Season

That's right, it's the best time of the year, championship ekiden season, five major championship ekidens across six days of competition spread over 11 days starting Sunday. We'll be focusing all of next week on the lead-up to the peak of it all, the 100th Hakone Ekiden, and won't be able to do detailed previews of the other races, but below is a quick guide to what's coming up, when, and who is broadcasting it. In pretty much all cases there's no official streaming, so if you're outside Japan you either need to get a VPN, subscribe to a service that lets you watch Japanese TV internationally, or take your chances with something like mov3.co.

Sunday, Dec. 24, 10:20 a.m.: 35th National High School Girls' Ekiden

The top high school girls' team from each of Japan's 47 prefectures and 11 regional champion teams head to Kyoto to race 21.0975 km divided into five stages. Last year Nagano Higashi H.S. had a surprise victory over top-tier Sendai Ikuei H.S., winning by just 14 seconds. Both teams are back, along with 3rd through 8th-placers Kamimura Gakuen H.S., Ritsumeikan Uji H.S., Hakuho Joshi H.S., and Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S., Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S. and Kojokan H.S., meaning the podium could look very similar this time. NHK has the live commercial-free broadcast starting at 10:05 a.m. Sunday local time.

Sunday, Dec. 24, 12:30 p.m.: 74th National High School Boys' Ekiden

47 boys' teams race 42.195 km in seven stages at Nationals, held in Kyoto like the girls' race. Last year Kurashiki H.S. set a course record 2:01:10 thanks in part to Samuel Kibathi breaking the 3rd leg CR in 22:30 for 8.1075 km and its next runner Shunsuke Kuwata winning the 8.0875 km 4th leg in 22:48. But runner-up Saku Chosei H.S. ran 2:01:57, the fastest-ever by an all-Japanese lineup, and with six of its current roster having broken 14 minutes for 5000 m and a top-7 average of 13:50.05 Saku Chosei looks like the team to beat this time around. Last year's 3rd through 5th-placers Yachiyo Shoin H.S., Saitama Sakae H.S. and Sendai Ikuei H.S. all return, with 6th-place Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S. displaced in the prefectural qualifiers by Suma Gakuen H.S. NHK again has the live commercial-free broadcast starting at 12:15 p.m. Sunday.

Saturday, Dec. 30, 10:00 a.m.: Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden - National University Women's Invitational

Meijo University has been unbeatable since some of its current lineup was in elementary school, with seven-straight wins at October's Morinomiyako Ekiden and five-straight Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national titles. 24 teams from across the country race 43.4 km in seven stages in the foothills of Mt. Fuji, with almost 175 m climb over the 8.3 km anchor stage alone. Meijo looked vulnerable before Morinomiyako this year but proved to be anything but, and there's not much reason to think the dynasty is going to end this time. But, if there's one truth in life it's that nothing lasts forever. Fuji TV is broadcasting live starting at 9:55 a.m.

Monday, Jan. 1, 7:30 a.m.: New Year Ekiden - 68th National Corporate Men's Championships

This is the be-all and end-all for Japan's corporate men's circuit, 100.0 km in seven stages through the Gunma countryside. There's a significant course change this year, effectively swapping the ~22 km long stage for marathoners earlier into the race and the ~8 km short stage for all non-Japanese citizen athletes later. This seems largely driven by TV broadcast considerations, keeping all the top marathoners closer together for more head-to-head action and dispersing the dozens of Kenyan athletes over a wider frame of time to minimize the screen time spent on them. It's really a shame since the previous version with the "International Stage" coming second meant some of the highest-level racing between world-class athletes of the entire year, and the later placement of the long stage gave marathoners more room to work with to really show their skills in running people down.

But, yeah, nothing lasts forever. Honda won the last two years and has some key people in its lineup, including Paris Olympic marathon trials winner Naoki Koyama and new recruits from Hakone stardom, Vincent Yegon and Ken Tansho. 2023 runner-up Fujitsu boasts new 10000 m NR holder Kazuya Shiojiri, while 3rd-place Toyota has newly-ranked all-time #2 and #4 10000 m men Tomoki Ota and Ren Tazawa. It's going to be rough up front. TBS has the pre-race show starting at 7:30 a.m. on the 1st, with the race kicking off at 9:00 a.m. Unedited camera car feeds will be here.

Tuesday, Jan. 2, 7:00 a.m.: 100th Hakone Ekiden Day One

Wednesday, Jan. 3, 7:00 a.m.: 100th Hakone Ekiden Day Two

And then it's Hakone. The 100th running of the biggest and best road race in the world. It's always massive, and the danger this time is it collapsing under its own sheer weight and sucking us all in forever. But sometimes you just have to accept danger and jump in feet-first. 2023 Komazawa University is cubing the drama by trying to become the first school in history to score a double triple, winning titles at the Izumo Ekiden, National Men's Ekiden and Hakone over two consecutive seasons. And it really doesn't look like anyone can stop them unless there's a major blowup in the Komazawa camp.

But more on that, how Hakone got to be what it is, and what it means going forward, next week. Until then, buy your plane tickets, get a VPN, or do whatever else it takes to be a part of it. JRN has rented a house at Lake Ashi, the finish point of Day One and start point of Day Two, and will be hosting a select crew of friends and industry insiders from around the world to be there first-hand, and we've been getting texts and emails from readers almost daily saying they're coming from abroad to see it live. We couldn't be happier about that. If you can't do that, Nihon TV has the best broadcast of any sports event in the world lined up Jan. 2 and 3, with the pre-race show at 7:00 a.m. and the race kicking off 8:00 a.m. both days. Don't miss it.

© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved