Championship Ekiden Season Wraps Sunday

Championship ekiden season wraps up Sunday with its last two big events. In Kitakyushu, the 35th Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden brings together top high school, college and corporate league teams to race a short 27.2 km in five stages, with the longest leg split in two for the high school teams. University teams are absent this time except for one select team made up of women from the area, while the corporate league division has nine teams and the high school division 22 plus another select team.

2023 Queens Ekiden national champion Sekisui Kagaku is the top seed, its entry roster including members of its national title-winning lineup, Yuma Yamamoto, Rina Sasaki and Chikako Mori. Its closest competition is Queens 8th-placer Iwatani Sangyo, which has five of its six runners from the national championships entered including Kaede Kawamura, winner of the anchor stage at last weekend's National Women's Ekiden.

2023 National High School Ekiden winner Kamimura Gakuen H.S. leads the high school division and has its entire champion team on its Kitakyushu roster including sub-15 runner Caroline Kariba. Nationals 3rd-placer Ritsumeikan Uji H.S., 4th-placer Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S., 6th-placer Suma Gakuen H.S. and 9th-placer Ginga Gakuin H.S.are also in the race, with 7th-placer Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S. a late scratch. The race will be broadcast live on BS-TBS starting at 10:00 a.m. local time, and JRN will be on location in Kitakyushu. There might be streaming on the RKB Sports Live! Youtube channel.

As soon as Kitakyushu is done, the 29th National Men's Ekiden goes off in Hiroshima with a live commercial-free national broadcast on NHK. Like the National Women's Ekiden, the men's race features teams from all 47 prefectures made up of each one's best junior high school, high school, collegiate and corporate league runners, in the men's case racing 48.0 km in seven stages of 3.0 to 13.0 km length.

When the event returned last year for its first post-pandemic edition Nagano took 1 second off its own CR from the last pre-pandemic edition in 2020 as it won for a record-setting ninth time in 2:17:10. It's back with a strong lineup including high school 5000 m NR holder Hiroto Yoshioka (Juntendo Univ.), 27:30.69 10000 m runner Mebuki Suzuki (Komazawa Univ.), 1:01:50 half marathoner Taishi Ito (Waseda Univ.), and four members of 2023 National High School Ekiden CR break Saku Chosei H.S., Soma Nagahara, Shunpei Yamaguchi, Yamato Hamaguchi and Kazuma Shino.

2023 runner-up Saitama and 3rd-placer Tokyo are down on strength this year, but 4th-placer Chiba has a quality lineup led by 2024 Hakone Ekiden First Stage winner Kotaro Shinohara (Komazawa Univ.). Hakone Second Stage winner Asahi Kuroda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and his younger brother Zen Kuroda (Tamano Konan H.S.) lead 5th-placer Okayama, while the Rakunan H.S.-heavy 6th-placer Kyoto is feeling the absence of the star of its 2023 team, Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.) who is skipping the ekiden this year for altitude training in the U.S. in prep for February's Millrose Games.

2023 7th-placer Hiroshima is led by another member of Hakone champ Aoyama Gakuin University, Ninth Stage winner Genta Kuramoto. 8th-placer Hyogo, a five-time winner, has a very decent lineup including 13:18.49 runner Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) and National High School Ekiden First Stage winner Sota Orita (Suma Gakuen H.S.). 9th-placer Miyagi saw its women pull of an anchor stage upset last weekend, but Hakone uphill Fifth Stage star Shunsuke Kikuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) will have a tough time duplicating his role in scoring a top 10 overall finish for his team. 10th-placer Ibaraki is led by 2:06 marathoner Kyohei Hosoya and Yushin Akatsu of Hakone runner-up Komazawa University.

National University Championships Entry Lists and Streaming

The 95th National University Track and Field Championships run Friday through Monday at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. The complete meet schedule and live results are here . The 10000 m races were already held separately earlier this season. Streaming starts at 9:00 a.m. Saturday Japan time, with separate field event channels and Day 2 and 3 streaming here . Top entries in each event with best performance in the qualifying window: Men 100 m Shoma Yamamoto (Hiroshima Univ.) - 10.04 Fukuto Komuro (Chuo Univ.) - 10.07 Naoki Nishioka (Tsukuba Univ.) - 10.09 Riku Oishi (Toyo Univ.) - 10.13 Kaito Kuroki (Chuo Univ.) - 10.14 Ryunosuke Mizuno (Waseda Univ.) - 10.14 Yugo Haitamataira (Juntendo Univ.) - 10.17 Shun Miyashita (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10.19 200 m Akira Hayashi (Keio Univ.) - 20.36 Tomoru Funaki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 20.39 Oma Asai (Tsukuba Univ.) - 20.47 Reishin Yamamoto (Toyo Univ.) - 20.49 Shingo Suzuki (Tokai Univ.) - 20.54 Haruto Nakamura (Fukuoka Univ.) - 20.55 400 m Shinya Hayashi...

Yuasa and Niiya Win Hokkaido Marathon, 6 Qualify for Olympic Trials

Six more people picked up qualifying spots for next year's MGC Race at yesterday's Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo, guaranteeing themselves places at Japan's 2028 Los Angeles Olympics marathon trials. In the men's race, Hibiki Yoshida tried to break away from the massive lead group at 30 km, opening a 25-second lead between there and 35 km before getting cut down by the chase trio of Jin Yuasa , Ken Tansho and Masato Arao . All three stayed together until the very end, Yuasa showing the same kind of closing speed he had in winning 2025 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon and pulling away to win in 2:10:46. The debuting Tansho was next in 2:10:55, with Arao, 6th at last year's Sydney Marathon in an excellent 2:07:42, 3rd here in 2:10:59. By clearing 2:12:00 all three picked up MGC qualifying spots, freeing them up to go overseas next spring. Continuing a great season, Soka University 's Shoki Yamaguchi was 4th in 2:11:47, missing out on trials qualification but bea...

Monterey Welcomes Student-Athletes from Sister City Nanao, Japan

a press release by the Monterey-Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project photos here Fourteen student-athletes from Nanao High School in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, recently completed a weeklong visit to the Monterey Peninsula as part of the Monterey–Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project , bringing together young people from the two Sister Cities through running, education, environmental stewardship, cultural exchange, and friendship. The seven boys and seven girls from Nanao were paired with 14 members of the Monterey High School cross country team and stayed in their homes throughout the visit. The week marked the first half of a reciprocal exchange that will continue when the Monterey students travel to Nanao later this year. The visitors received their first introduction to Monterey shortly after arriving at Monterey High School, walking with their hosts to Sister City Park and gathering for photographs beside the sign honoring Nanao — a fitting beginning for a week devoted to bringin...

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