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Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo Breaks Princess Ekiden CR


31 corporate women's teams were in Fukuoka this weekend to go for the 16 remaining spots at November's Queens Ekiden, the corporate women's national championship race. 19-year-old China Nakagawa was a revelation on the opening leg as she took down the leadoff runners from the bigger teams to put Hitachi out front, but on the next stage steepler Manami Nishiyama put Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo out front with a stage-winning 10:57 for 3.6 km. A brilliant run from Nanaka Izawa (Starts) on the first of the race's two long stages interrupted Mitsui Sumitomo's lead, but when Mitsui Sumitomo's Tabitha Njeri outkicked Starts' Esther Wambui it was all Mitsui the rest of the way.

Stage-winning runs from last two runners Wakana Kabasawa and Anna Matsuda were enough to give Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo the win in 2:15:53, 48 seconds under the old course record set by Shiseido in 2021 when Kabasawa was a member of that team. Starts ended up a distant 2nd in 2:18:04, with Tenmaya, Kyocera, Sysmex and Uniqlo all close behind.

Further down the field, Kana Kobayashi had a quick turnaround from her 7th-place finish in the Tokyo World Championships marathon a month ago, taking 2nd on the 10.4 km Fifth Stage to singlehandedly lift Otsuka Seiyaku into the qualifying bracket, with anchor Honoka Tanaike building on that with another 2nd on her stage to give Otsuka Seiyaku a 10th-place finish in 2:19:39.

The anchor stage race for the last qualifying spot was exciting, with early leader Hitachi side-by-side with Ehime Ginko who were trying to qualify for their first national championships. Dead ahead in 15th was Kraftia, meaning only one of them could go on unless they ran Kraftia anchor Maho Morita down, but things got more complicated when Nitori anchor Kino Sumitani caught them first.

Ehime Ginko anchor Misaki Kubo picked it up to stay with Sumitani, but Hitachi's Yuri Mitsune couldn't stay with them and dropped. Morita just wouldn't come back to them, so Kubo had no choice but to fire back and drop Sumitani. In the end she opened 20 seconds to take 16th in 2:20:59, putting Ehime Ginko into the qualifying bracket for the first time.

Nitori was the first non-qualifier at 17th in 2:21:19, with Denso 18th in 2:21:37 and Hitachi dropping to 19th in 2:21:52, all three having run the Queens Ekiden last year but bumped out this time by Ehime Ginko, Kraftia and Noritz, who had a great day at 12th in 2:19:52.

Princess Ekiden

National Corporate Women's Ekiden Qualifying Race
Munakata, Fukuoka, 19 Oct. 2025
31 teams, 6 stages, 42.195 km
top 16 teams qualify for National Championships

Team Results
1. Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo - 2:15:53 - CR
2. Starts - 2:18:04
3. Tenmaya - 2:18:15
4. Kyocera - 2:18:18
5. Sysmex - 2:18:25
6. Uniqlo - 2:18:37
7. Route Inn Hotels - 2:19:26
8. Universal Entertainment - 2:19:29
9. Toyota Jidoshokki - 2:19:35
10. Otsuka Seiyaku - 2:19:39
11. Higo Ginko - 2:19:51
12. Noritz - 2:19:52
13. Tokyo Metro - 2:20:19
14. Daihatsu - 2:20:30
15. Kraftia - 2:20:41
16. Ehime Ginko - 2:20:59
-----
17. Nitori - 2:21:19
18. Denso - 2:21:37
19. Hitachi - 2:21:52
20. Canon - 2:23:17
21. Memolead - 2:23:24
22. 18 Ginko - 2:23:43
23. Bears - 2:24:18
24. Senko - 2:24:29
25. Comodi Iida - 2:24:36
26. Daiso - 2:24:43
27. Toto - 2:26:47
28. Wacoal - 2:27:04
29. Kagoshima Ginko - 2:29:42
30. SID Group - 2:29:49
31. Shin Nihon Jusetsu Group - 2:32:53

Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (7.0 km)
1. China Nakagawa (Hitachi) - 22:28
2. Yuzu Nishide (Daihatsu) - 22:31
3. Shiori Yoshizono (Tenmaya) - 22:33

Second Stage (3.6 km)
1. Manami Nishiyama (Mitsui Sumitomo) - 10:57
2. Narumi Okumoto (Uniqlo) - 11:09
3. Mei Hokiyama (Sysmex) - 11:11

Third Stage (10.7 km)
1. Nanaka Izawa (Starts) - 33:46
2. Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon) - 34:30
3. Mao Uesugi (Tokyo Metro) - 34:47
4. Kazuna Kanetomo (Mitsui Sumitomo) - 34:51
4. Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) - 34:51 
6. Ayu Henmi (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 34:58
7. Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) - 34:59
8. Kaho Horio (Route Inn Hotels) - 35:13
9. Sakiho Tsutsui (Univ. Ent.) - 35:22
10. Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) - 35:24

Fourth Stage (3.8 km)
1. Dolphine Omare (Uniqlo) - 11:23
2. Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) - 11:26
3. Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo) - 11:31
3. Yvonne Chepkoskei (Higo Ginko) - 11:31
5. Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) - 11:34
6. Esther Wambui (Starts) - 11:39
7. Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) - 11:40
8. Esther Muthoni (Nitori) - 11:41
9. Lucy Nduta (Ehime Ginko) - 11:42
10. Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) - 11:45

Fifth Stage (10.4 km)
1. Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo) - 34:11
2. Kana Kobayashi (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 34:28
3. Kokoro Nakachi (Sysmex) - 34:32
4. Mizuki Nishimura (Tenmaya) - 34:34
5. Ayumi Morita (Tokyo Metro) - 34:44
6. Azusa Sumi (Univ. Ent.) - 34:46
7. Rina Shimizu (Noritz) - 34:54
8. Yuri Karasawa (Kraftia) - 34:56
9. Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) - 34:57
9. Chiharu Suzuki (Hitachi) - 34:57

Sixth Stage (6.695 km)
1. Anna Matsuda (Mitsui Sumitomo) - 21:42
2. Komachi Ikeda (Kyocera) - 21:47
2. Honoka Tanaike (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 21:47

© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Anonymous said…
Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo were in a league of their own. They were strong in all stages. It is hard to beat a team with this sort of depth of talent unless there is a mishap along the way. Stand outs were Nanaka Izawa from Starts. Incredible run and what a 2025 season she is having! Supreme performance. Credit to Yumi Yoshikawa for doing so well too after switching from Uniqlo to Canon! Wakana Kabasawa was so measured and professional in her run and Kana Kobayashi can do no wrong with an incredible run given these shorter distances aren't her bread and butter. And Manami Nishiyama was equally measured in her run. She made it look easy and I am looking forward to the continued rivalry with Miu Saito in their 3000m SC event. I think these 2 athletes might very well take turns breaking the National Record in that event. It will be interesting to see them in the Queen's Ekiden, hopefully racing in the same stage. Great coverage by TBS yet again. Great win by Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo! And lovely to see Ehime Ginko be the final qualifier. They did well and the emotion was there for all to see.
October 19, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Anonymous said…
Since she first came to my attention in June, China Nakagawa has really impressed me. In tactical races like Leg 1 here and when winning the national U20 champs 5000m she seems to be a very clever racer, able to gradually increase the pace over the second half, kilometre-by-kilometre, to finally break all her opposition.
She hasn't broken 16 minutes on the track yet but she surely would have run mid-15:40s in June at Hokuren Distance Challenge Round 2 given better conditions. She was on 15:48 pace at halfway but the heat and humidity did for her. In this Ekiden she beat half-a-dozen women who've run in the 15:30s this year which suggests to me that she's taken another step forward since the summer.

Mitsui Sumitomo were very impressive. Do they have a shot at winning Queen's Ekiden next month? The likes of JP Japan Post Group and Sekisui Chemical will still be hard nuts to crack though. Japan Post in particular look like they've recruited well with collegiate Ekiden ace Nanase Tanimoto and Mao Kogure who seems to be growing into her running career.

Sysmex look like they're going places. Young Mitsu Ozaki is on the up (though looked a bit off today) and they've recruited very well, right from the top ranks of High Schoolers and collegians with Mei Hokiyama and Kokoro Nakachi. Both of them ran excellent legs today. Are they going to be this year's Shimamura and surprise with a top 3 or 4 finish at Queen's Ekiden?

I was again very impressed with 20yo Mizuki Nishimura for Tenmaya on Leg 5. It seems crazy that, try as she might, she can't break 16 minutes on the track but put her on the roads and she's a completely different animal!

Congrats to Queen's Ekiden newbies Ehime Bank and also to Noritz, returning to Sendai for the first time since 2017.

Finally, what happened with Daihatsu today? I know they were missing Rika Kaseda but, Yuzu Nishide aside, they were very lacklustre.
October 20, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Anonymous said…
Yes, I have to add my surprise at Daihatsu's poor showing. And I'll have to keep my eye out for China Nakagawa in the future as she was one athlete that took me by surprise with her stage winning run. At this early stage I can see a battle between JP and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance for Queen's Ekiden honours. Both teams have strong Kenyan athletes and have depth of talent in all stages but I think Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, provided no one gets injured between now and the race would be my pick. I think Sekisui Chemical will struggle this year. They have some solid runners but they need Hitomi Niiya and Sayaka Sato at their very best and that is something they won't have along with missing a top foreign athlete. Also Yuma Yamamoto will probably run the short 2nd stage again as I can't see her stepping up in distance so the difference she makes won't be significant. I would say Edion will do well but again they do not have a top foreign athlete either (unless I am mistaken) so will lose a lot of ground in the 4th stage. Otherwise, they should be very competitive. Only one month to wait!
October 21, 2025 at 2:03 PM
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