110 teams took part in the 72nd National Oga Ekiden in Akita Saturday, with 30 teams in the open division, 12 universities, 44 high school boys' teams and 24 high school girls' teams. The Shingenden Kogyo corporate team won the open division for the 2nd year in a row, with Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University winning the 7-stage, 64.8 km university division in 3:14:28.
In the 5-stage, 21.0975 km high school girls' race, Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. took the win in 1:10:43. Right from the start it was a tough race against Sendai Ikuei H.S., which fielded 3 teams. Ritsumeikan Uji's lead runner Yui Ueda and Sendai Ikuei A's Rikka Kuroda both clocked 14:09, and a great stage-winning run from 2nd runner Nodoka Ashida put Ritsumeikan Uji out front. But Sendai Ikuei B's Miriam Njeri closed down the lead from 1:14 to 24 seconds on the 3rd leg, and her teammate Non Tachibana rode that momentum to overtake Ritsumeikan Uji for the lead.
It came down to the anchor stage, where Ritsumeikan Uji's Miyu Kobayashi closed down a 5-second deficit to Sendai Ikuei B and turned it into a 9-second margin of victory. Sendai Ikuei B was 2nd in 1:10:52, with its A-team 3rd in 1:11:25. 2024 National High School Ekiden winner Kamimura Gakuen H.S. was 4th in 1:11:34.
In the 7-stage, 42.195 km high school boys' race, Tottori Johoku H.S. was 1st across the finish line in 2:06:51. But because Tottori Johoku was running in a non-competitive capacity, Rakunan H.S. was the official winner in 2:07:57. Tottori Johoku's Ojiro Honda went straight into the lead on the opening leg. Sendai Ikuei H.S. took over on the 3rd leg with a stage win from Tsukasa Wakabayashi, and built its lead on the 4th and 5th legs. But on the 6th leg Tottori Johoku closed it back down to 1 second, then ran away on the anchor stage to finish 1st.
Official winner Rakunan was 5th after the 1st leg and dropped as far as 7th by the 4th leg. But its momentum turned after that, moving up one place on the 5th leg and then 6th runner Ryoya Taniguchi turning in a stage win to move into 3rd. Anchor Taishi Nojiri was also the fastest on his leg, covering the 9.3 km stage in 27:31 to pass Sendai Ikuei and open a lead of 1:04. In 2nd was 2024 National High School Ekiden winner Saku Chosei H.S. in 2:08:11, with Sendai Ikuei falling to 3rd in 2:09:04, holding off Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. by just 4 seconds.
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