Skip to main content

Ekiden Weekend Breakdown


October is the official start of ekiden season, and this past weekend had the first 3 big races. Saturday in Chiba was the Kanto Region University Women's Ekiden, the regional qualifier for the Morinomiyako Ekiden in Sendai at the end of the month. Daito Bunka University, Josai University, Takushoku University and Tsukuba University were already qualified thanks to podium finishes at Morinomiyako last year, leaving 16 other schools in competition for 6 qualifying spots.

DBU and Josai both broke the overall CR for the 6-stage, 34.4 km course, DBU moving into the top spot on the 2nd leg and staying there the rest of the way to win in 1:50:05. It took until the 4th leg for Josai to move into 2nd, finishing in 1:51:21. Teikyo Kagaku University was the top new qualifier for Morinomiyako, 3rd in 1:53:58 after an early lead thanks to a new CR of 13:25 on the 4.3 km 1st leg by 1st-year Sayo Imanishi.

Tsukuba was as low down the field as 10th as late as the 4th leg but managed to claw its way up to 4th in 1:54:38 over the last 2 legs. Tamagawa University, Chuo University, Juntendo University, Nittai University and Surugadai University rounded out the list of qualifiers, with Tokyo Nogyo University beating Takushoku for 10th but not making the cut. Overall it was a really competitive day, with every leg seeing a new CR, 4 of them having multiple people under the old CR.


Sunday were the first 2 big high school ekidens, really one event but given different names for the girls' and boys' races. In the Kurayoshi Joshi Ekiden, the 5-stage, 21.0975 km girls' race, last year's National High School Ekiden 3rd-placer Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. dominated, its A-team winning in 1:08:25 with individual wins on 3 of the 5 legs, and its B-team taking 2nd in 1:10:14 over Hakuho Joshi H.S. Nationals 4th-placer Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. was 6th here, running only 1:12:03.

Yuzu Hasegawa of Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. was one of the 2 girls to stop Osaka Kunei's A-team from taking every stage, outrunning Miyu Funaki by 1 second to win the 3.0 km 3rd leg in 9:44. Hakuho Joshi's Mary Akai was the other, 31 seconds faster than Osaka Kunei's Akari Niga to win the 3.0 km 4th leg in 9:27.


The Tottori Johoku H.S. A-team was the surprise winner in the 7-leg, 42.195 km Nihonkai Ekiden boys' race, outrunning National High School Ekiden champ Saku Chosei H.S. by almost 3 minutes to win for the first time in 2:04:24. Tottori Johoku's Ojiro Honda won the 10.0 km opening leg in 29:20, and his team never looked back the rest of the race. 3rd runner Junsei Murakami, 6th runner Takuma Minakata and anchor Ado Takenoshita all won their stages to contribute to the team's massive margin of victory.

Saku Chosei's B-team was a distant 2nd in 2:07:12, with its A-team just holding off the Rakuhoku H.S. A-team for 3rd 2:07:21 to 2:07:29. No Saku Chosei runners won their stages, the non-Tottori Johoku stage titles going to Antoni Ito Pareiyo (Fukuoka Daiichi H.S. B), 8:22 for the 3.0 km 2nd leg, Ren Kitamura (Kurashiki H.S.), 23:49 for the 8.0875 km 4th leg, and Kanade Iwasaki (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S. A), 8:55 for the 3.1 km 5th leg.

© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
In the Kanto Region University Women's Ekiden 8.6km 3rd ward, aside from the record breaking performance of Sarah Wanjiru (26:43) the performance of Haruka Ogawa (27:51) and Airi Tajima (27:55, 6th place to 2nd) were very eye catching. Two young athletes that have done very well this year, especially Airi Tajima whose specialty is the 1500m and arguably should have been in the World Championships had the selection criteria been based on recent form. Interestingly, Sarah Wanjiru ran 27:46 in 2024.
October 13, 2025 at 4:38 AM
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

Kuroda Conquers the Mountain to Give Aoyama Gakuin the Hakone Ekiden Day One CR Again

After a wild New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships yesterday that saw new CR on 6 of the race's 7 stages and a 7-second miss on the one that wasn't broken, Day One of the 102nd Hakone Ekiden more than lived up to what the pros had done 24 hours earlier. Only one runner, Chuo University 's Yamato Yoshii in 2022, had ever broken 61 minutes for the 21.3 km First Stage , but when Chuo's Daichi Shibata took it out on CR pace the entire field went with him. It took a while for Ageo City Half winner Rui Aoki of Izumo Ekiden champ Koku Gakuin University to move up to the front, but when he did it was decisive. Aoki crushed the CR in 1:00:28, 59:54 half marathon pace, and behind him the next both Shibata and the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team's So Kawasaki from Tsukuba University also went under Yoshii's old 1:00:40 record. 4th through 8th broke 61, setting the tone for the rest of the day. Chuo, KGU, last year's top 2 Aoyama...
4 comments
Read more

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .
Post a Comment
Read more