Skip to main content

Kunei Joshi Gakuin Girls and Rakuhoku Boys Win Kurayoshi Joshi / Nihonkai Ekiden


The first major national-level high school ekiden of the season, the 39th Kurayoshi Joshi Ekiden and 44th Nihonkai Ekiden took place Sunday in Kurayoshi, Tottori. Serving as the girls' race with 5 legs totaling 21.0975 km, Kurayoshi saw Osaka's Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. return to the top spot for the first time in 5 years with a 1:08:58 win, its 3rd time ever winning. A total of 51 teams competed in the girls' race, included most of the best programs from across the country.

The Kunei Joshi Gakuin girls were 3rd after the first leg, with lead-off runner Yuika Tsuzurahara (2nd-yr) trailing leader Yua Sato (3rd-yr, Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) by only 3 seconds. Second runner Yua Tsukamoto (3rd-yr) ran the fastest time on her leg, moving up to 2nd behind last year's winner Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. Third runner Rio Kawamura (2nd-yr) also won her leg and gave Kunei Joshi Gakuin a lead that fourth runner Aika Murai (1st-yr) and anchor Miyu Funaki (2nd-yr) held until the end.

Toyokawa H.S. was 2nd in 1:10:06, taking until the fourth leg to move into 2nd with a solid run from Kanon Akitake (3rd-run). Anchor Anri Watanabe (3rd-yr) ran the fastest time on her stage, holding off Ritsumeikan Uji who ended up 3rd in 1:10:44.


In the Nihonkai Ekiden, the 7-leg, 42.195 km boys' race, Kyoto's Rakuhoku H.S. led the field of 89 teams to score its first-ever win in 2:05:45. 10th after the opening leg, Rakuhoku picked up 2 spots on the next leg before a stage win by Yu Hatanaka (3rd-yr)on the third leg moved them up 5 places to 3rd. Fourth runner Makoto Tada (3rd-yr) also won his leg and took over the lead, with Rakuhoku's fifth and sixth runners keeping it and anchor Ryuhei Nogi (3rd-yr) bringing them home to the win.

2023 National High School champion Saku Chosei H.S. was 2nd in 2:06:37. Leading after two legs thanks to a stage win from second runner Yuta Matsuyama (3rd-yr), Saku Chosei fell to 5th by the end of the fourth leg. It took stage wins from fifth and sixth runners Shuji Sakai (2nd-yr) and Kazuma Shino (3rd-yr) to get Saku Chosei back up to range of its final position of 2nd. Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S. was 3rd in 2:06:44, running 2nd most of the way after a great run from third runner Koki Niizuma (2nd-yr) before getting caught by Saku Chosei on the final leg.

39th Kurayoshi Joshi Ekiden

Kurayoshi, Tottori, 13 Oct. 2024
51 teams, 5 stages, 21.0975 km

Top Individual Stage Performances
First Stage (6.0 km) - Yua Sato (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 19:51
Second Stage (4.0975 km) - Yua Tsukamoto (Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 13:05
Third Stage (3.0 km) - Rio Kawamura (Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 9:27
Fourth Stage (3.0 km) - Jecinta Nyokabe (Hakuho Joshi H.S.) - 9:22
Fifth Stage (5.0 km) - Anri Watanabe (Toyokawa H.S.) / Mio Okafuji (Hiroshima Kogyo H.S.) - 16:28

Top Team Results
1. Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. - 1:08:58
2. Toyokawa H.S. - 1:10:06
3. Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. - 1:10:44
4. Hakuho Joshi H.S. - 1:10:59
5. Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. B - 1:11:16
6. Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. - 1:11:46
7. Hiroshima Kogyo H.S. - 1:12:59
8. Kyushu Kokuritsu H.S. - 1:13:04
9. Minokamo H.S. - 1:13:09
10. Hieizan H.S. - 1:13:47

44th Nihonkai Ekiden

Kurayoshi, Tottori, 13 Oct. 2024
89 teams, 7 stages, 42.195 km

Top Individual Stage Performances
First Stage (10.0 km) - Tsukasa Wakabayashi (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 29:49
Second Stage (3.0 km) - Yuta Matsuyama (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 8:26
Third Stage (8.1075 km) - Yu Hatanaka (Rakuhoku H.S,) - 23:53
Fourth Stage (8.0875 km) - Makoto Tada (Rakuhoku H.S.) - 23:46
Fifth Stage (3.1 km) - Shuji Sakai (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 8:54
Sixth Stage (4.9 km) - Kazuma Shino (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 14:35
Seventh Stage (5.0 km) - Kaito Mizutaka (Rakuhoku H.S. B) - 14:59

Top Team Results
1. Rakuhoku H.S. - 2:05:45
2. Saku Chosei H.S. - 2:06:37
3. Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S. - 2:06:44
4. Saku Chosei H.S. B - 2:07:35
5. Kyoto Gaikokudai Nishi H.S. - 2:07:39
6. Rakunan H.S. B - 2:07:57
7. Sendai Ikuei H.S. - 2:08:01
8. Fukuoka Daiichi H.S. - 2:08:03
9. Kochi Nogyo H.S. - 2:08:34
10. Kandai Hokuyo H.S. - 2:08:50


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...
3 comments
Read more

Long Time Coming - Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera's Road to the 2022 United Airlines NYC Half

Back in pre-pandemic days Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera  were still in college, Akasaki at Takushoku University and Onodera at Teikyo University . At the 2019 Ageo City Half Marathon they frontran most of the race together, dead set on finishing in the top two Japanese collegiate spots to win invitations to the 2020 United Airlines NYC Half. For Akasaki it had already been a year and a half wait. Inspired by Kenta Murayama 's 1:00:57 5th place in finish in New York in 2017 and Kei Katanishi 's 7th-place in 2018, Akasaki went for it his junior year in his debut at the 2018 Ageo Half . "Coming up to 10 km I was in the lead pack and feeling good, so I knew I had a shot at going to New York and got pretty excited," he said. But right after the 10 km turnaround point he tripped and fell, and by the time he was back up the lead group was out of range. He finished 20th in 1:03:07, over a minute and a half behind top Japanese university man Ken Nakayama . "I was f...
1 comment
Read more

My Training for 1:00:44

Hi, I'm Ayumu Kobayashi . Today I'm going to write about this year's National Corporate Half Marathon and the training I did for it. I hope other runners will find it even a little bit helpful. At the Corporate Half on Feb. 13 I was 10th in 1:00:44. My goal had been to run 61 minutes, so I hit that target. My Training Menu In January I ran a total of 681 km. Key workouts: Jan. 11: 1000 m x 5 at 2:50/km Jan. 12: 22.5 km Jan. 15: 9 km variable pace Jan. 17: 25 km Jan. 24: 1000 m x 8 at 2:52/km Jan. 27: 1 km + 4 km + 2 km Jan. 30: 16 km at 3:18/km avg. In January I was tired from the New Year Ekiden and had some knee pain after it, so I just jogged for 10 days until I started doing workouts again on the 11th. That's why I only ran 681 km for the month. But even on the jog days I was aware that I had the Corporate Half coming up, so I was doing around 30 km. It's pretty meat and potatoes, but I think it was really important. February (training for the 10 days before...
2 comments
Read more