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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

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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
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