The Akita Athletics Association had already made an announcement on its website on Oct. 31 that due to the high number of bear encounters within the city of Akita this year, the ekiden would be held on a track instead of as a road race. Organizers said that they are leaving it up to each individual school whether to participate, and that they will accept schools choosing not to participate due to safety concerns.
The Gakuho Ishikawa boys and girls both won the Fukushima Prefecture High School Ekiden in October, earning them places at the Tohoku regional meet and December's National High School Ekiden in Kyoto. Other schools from Fukushima entered to run Tohoku Regionals include the Teikyo Asaka H.S. and Xaverio H.S. boys and girls, the Tamura H.S. and Iwaki Shuei H.S. boys, and the Nichidai Tohoku H.S. and Asaka Reimei H.S. girls.
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