The first two regional qualifying races for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships happened Monday in the two most competitive regions, the Tokyo-area East Japan region and Fukuoka-centered Kyushu region. The New Year Ekiden is pretty much the only major ekiden that doesn't have a seeded podium that guarantees top-placing teams a place at the follow year's race, meaning even the best of the best have to go through the formalities of a regional qualifier and all the disruption it brings to whatever fall racing schedule Japan's top corporate men might be trying to put together. 12 places were available in the East Japan race and 9 in Kyushu, and in honor of the New Year Ekiden's 70th anniversary one more slot was available in both regions to the next team to finish if they made it to the line within 10 minutes of the last regular qualifier.
Logisteed took the top spot in East Japan thanks in a big way to a brilliant run on the race's longest stage from third man Shunsuke Shikama. Shikama worked side-by-side with the corporate league-debuting Soka University star Hibiki Yoshida of Sunbelx to run down debuting leader Aoi Ota from GMO, then proceeded to hammer each other into the ground. Over the last km on their 16.4 km stage Shikama and Yoshida surged to break the other at least 3 times each, and on the track Shikama pulled ahead to hand off 1 second ahead.
From there Logisteed's lead was never broken, with anchor Kiyoto Hirabayashi soloing it the entire way in his own corporate league debut to bring Logisteed in for the win in 3:31:24 for the 7-leg, 74.6 km course. After Logisteed pulled away GMO and Sunbelx found themselves in contention with Subaru when its 5th runner Katsuhiko Suzuki had a great run to win the 5th leg. GMO's last 2 runners Takato Suzuki and Chihiro Ono won their stages to put them into 2nd in 3:32:00, with Subaru's Kanta Shimizu moving into 3rd in 3:32:13 on the anchor stage and Sunbelx 4th in 3:32:24.
The most dramatic thing in the race next to Shikama and Yoshida was in the race for 13th. It was pretty clear that multiple teams were going to finish within a minute of 12th-place Kao. Mid-race it was SID Group, then Fujisan GX. 36 seconds back in 15th, ND Software, missing its star member Alexander Mutiso who had just had a near-miss on winning the NYC Marathon, worked its way up through the field over the second half of the race, closing the gap to Kao step by step.
A stage win by 6th runner Ruon Oikawa put them into 13th, 26 seconds behind Kao. In a quick turnaround from his win at the Sept. 28 Warsaw Marathon, anchor Ryoma Takeuchi closed the gap to Kao's Yuki Suzuki, but in the last 200 m on the track Oikawa fought back to hang onto 12th in 3:35:16, Takeuchi 4 seconds behind in 3:35:20. Both teams qualified, shutting 14th-place Fujisan GX and the rest out of the national championships.
In Kyushu, Mitsubishi Juko won a 3-way sprint finish on the track over the newly-renamed Kraftia and Kurosaki Harima to lead the 9 qualifiers in 4:19:06 for the complete 89.3 km course. Mitsubishi Juko had the early lead thanks to a great opening run from Japan's top man in the Tokyo World Championship marathon, Ryota Kondo, but it went back and forth between all three teams the entire way. Mitsubishi Juko anchor Taisei Kobayashi, Kraftia's Masahiro Fukumoto and Kurosaki Harima's Kyohei Hosoya were all brilliant, Hosoya doing a lot of the work and Fukumoto breaking the anchor stage course record, but Kobayashi having the wheels to get away at the end for the win.
Known as Kyudenko until last month, Kraftia was 2nd in 4:19:11, Kurosaki Harima another 5 seconds back in 3rd. Toyota Kyushu, Yasukawa Denki, Hiramatsu Byoin and Nishitetsu took the next 4 spots, with 2025 New Year Ekiden national champion Asahi Kasei looking like a shell of itself in 8th in 4:23:12. Togami Denki took the last qualifying spot in 4:26:22, just fast enough to shut Kyocera Kagoshima, 12th overall in 4:38:42 but the 10th team contending for a New Year's spot, out of the bonus qualifying spot for finishing within 10 minutes of them.
The other corporate regions, Chubu, Hokuriku, Kansai and Chugoku, have their regional qualifying races next weekend.2025 New Year Ekiden 3rd-placer Toyota features heavily in the Chubu region.
66th East Japan Corporate Ekiden
Kumagaya, Saitama, 3 Nov. 2025
30 teams, 7 legs, 74.6 km
top 13 teams qualify for New Year Ekiden national championship
Top Team Results
1. Logisteed - 3:31:24
2. GMO - 3:32:00
3. Subaru - 3:32:13
4. Sunbelx - 3:32:24
5. JR Higashi Nihon - 3:33:29
6. M&A Best Partners - 3:33:38
7. Fujitsu - 3:33:51
8. Yakult - 3:34:08
9. Konica Minolta - 3:34:09
10. Honda - 3:34:15
11. Press Kogyo - 3:34:47
12. Kao - 3:35:16
13. ND Software - 3:35:20
-----
14. Fujisan GX - 3:36:13
15. SID Group - 3:37:37
16. Comodi Iida - 3:39:04
17. Komori Corp. - 3:39:38
18. Tokyo Police Department - 3:41:41
Top Individual Stage Performances
First Stage (13.1 km)
1. Yuto Imae (GMO) - 37:12
2. Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx) - 37:16
3. Ayumu Kobayashi (Subaru) - 37:19
Second Stage (8.2 km)
1. Raphael Dapash (JR Higashi Nihon) - 22:15
2. Rogers Kibet (Konica Minolta) - 22:16
3. Michael Temoi (GMO) - 22:17
Third Stage (16.4 km)
1. Shunsuke Shikama (Logisteed) - 45:52
2. Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) - 46:07
3. Kotaro Shinohara (Fujitsu) - 46:37
Fourth Stage (8.2 km)
1. Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) - 22:45
2. Tamaki Fujimoto (Logisteed) - 22:48
3. Sota Watanabe (Sunbelx) - 22:51
Fifth Stage (8.2 km)
1. Katsuhiko Suzuki (Subaru) - 23:10
2. Hiroto Kudo (JR Higashi Nihon) - 23:14
3. Toru Kubota (Honda) - 23:16
Sixth Stage (8.2 km)
1. Takato Suzuki (GMO) - 23:21
1. Ruon Oikawa (ND Software) - 23:21
3. Hironori Muramatsu (Logisteed) - 23:28
Seventh Stage (12.3 km)
1. Chihiro Ono (GMO) - 35:24
2. Kanta Shimizu (Subaru) - 35:29
3. Ryu Takaku (Yakult) - 35:34
62nd Kyushu Corporate Ekiden
Oita, Kyushu, 3 Nov. 2025
20 teams, 7 legs, 89.3 km
top 9 teams qualify for New Year Ekiden national championship
Top Team Results
1. Mitsubishi Juko - 4:19:06
2. Kraftia - 4:19:11
3. Kurosaki Harima - 4:19:16
4. Toyota Kyushu - 4:20:59
5. Yasukawa Denki - 4:21:25
6. Hiramatsu Byoin - 4:21:33
7. Nishitetsu - 4:21:52
8. Asahi Kasei A - 4:23:12
9. Togami Denki - 4:26:22
-----
10. Asahi Kasei B - 4:28:07
11. Corporate Select Team A - 4:30:10
12. Kyocera Kagoshima - 4:38:42
Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (12.8 km)
1. Ryota Kondo (Mitsubishi Juko) - 36:59
2. Ryo Goda (Yasukawa Denki) - 37:01
3. Ryo Nishikubo (Kraftia) - 37:03
Second Stage (18.3 km)
1. Rinto Nakayama (Nishitetsu) - 52:57 - CR
2. Sota Fukutani (Kurosaki Harima) - 53:14
3. Wataru Tochigi (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 53:17
Third Stage (11.1 km)
1. Ryoto Yoshioka (Mitsubishi Juko) - 31:54 - CR
2. Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 31:56
3. Haruki Abe (Yasukawa Denki) - 31:59
Fourth Stage (6.6 km)
1. Nehemiah Kipngeno (Kraftia) - 17:43 - CR
2. Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko) - 17:57
2. Kiprono Sitonik (Kurosaki Harima) - 17:57
Fifth Stage (15. 5 km)
1. Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 45:14 - CR
2. Keito Makise (Toyota Kyushu) - 45:27
3. Ryo Saito (Asahi Kasei A) - 45:34
Sixth Stage (11.1 km)
1. Kazuki Moriya (Mitsubishi Juko) - 32:10 - CR
2. Yukinobu Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 32:18
3. Akira Aizawa (Asahi Kasei A) - 32:21
Seventh Stage (13.9 km)
1. Masahiro Fukumoto (Kraftia) - 40:36 - CR
2. Taisei Kobayashi (Mitsubishi Juko) - 40:42
3. Yuichiro Ueno (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 40:44
© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Comments
Subaru's Yuito Yamamoto after that great 5th stage at Hakone seems like he hasn't found his way in this world yet. Will be interesting to see if he partecipates at New Year's Ekiden like last year or if he'll be at the XC world championship since he won the Nationals and the qualifying spot.
Great for Hirabayashi to get a win at his debut, Logisteed seems on the rise. Just like Subaru that had a very good run and without Miura (good to see them not overloading him after an intense season like it used to happen at Juntendo).
GMO is reliable, was expecting more from a few teams (Fujitsu-Honda) but New Year Ekiden will likely be a different story.
Stage win for Ryota Kondo as well and a decent showing from Akira Aizawa, good seeing him a bit competitive again.