11:50 - H.S, girls' 4 km
12:10 - H.S. boys: 4 km
12:30 - Senior women's 2 km
12:40 - Senior men's 2 km
12:50 - U20 women's 6 km
13:15 - U20 men's 8 km
13:50 - Senior women's 8 km
14:25 - Senior men's 10 km
15:05 - J.H.S. girls' 2 km
15:20 - J.H.S. boys' 2 km
Start lists are here. Based on those, the senior men's 10 km looks like it has the best matchup, with the field including 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru), 10000 m NR holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu), 5000 m H.S. record holder Hiroto Yoshioka (Juntendo Univ.), Olympic triathlete Kenji Nener (Tochigi T&F Assoc.), Hakone downhill star Aoi Ito (Komazawa Univ.), sub-28 10000 m runners Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) and Ryuto Igawa (Asahi Kasei), and many more.
There's not a lot of comparable depth in the senior women's 8 km, where Sayuki Ota and Yumi Yamamoto from national champion Ritsumeikan University are realistically probably the favorites. Corporate league hopes include Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) and Yuri Tasaki (Sysmex).
The U20 men's 8 km is packed with talent from top high school programs including national champ Saku Chosei H.S., Miura's alma mater Rakunan H.S., Tosu Kogyo H.S., Yachiyo Shoin H.S. and Omuta H.S. Likewise in the U20 women's 6 km, where national champion Nagano Higashi H.S. faces Osaka Kunei Joshi H.S., Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. and more. National High School Ekiden runner-up Sendai Ikuei H.S. is giving it a miss.
The senior men's 2 km doesn't seem to have been a draw for top-tier talent, but the women's 2 km includes corporate leaguers Ran Urabe and Chikako Mori (both Sekisui Kagaku), and Yuzuki Nishide (Daihatsu). Performances at National XC this time around will count heavily in team selection for the 2026 Tallahassee World XC Championships.
© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Comments