Skip to main content

Queens Ekiden Streaming and Preview


Championship ekiden season kicks off Sunday with the Queens Ekiden, the corporate women's national championship race in Sendai, 42.195 km in 6 legs with 24 teams competing to make the 8-deep podium. TBS has the live broadcast starting at 11:50 a.m. local time, with streaming starting on Youtube at 12:10 p.m.

Japan Post won its 4th national title last year, running down 2023 winner Sekisui Kagaku and CR holder Shiseido over the 2nd half of the race to take the win. Its entire lineup from last year returns, with a new addition to its 10-runner entry roster in former Meijo University captain Nanase Tanimoto. Sekisui Kagaku is missing one of its strongest people from last year, First Stage winner Erika Tanoura, but has picked up 2023 World University Games 5000 m bronze medalist Risa Yamazaki from Nittai University. A surprise 3rd last year, Shimamura also returns its entire lineup led by Anna Suzuki and Yuna Takahashi.

Shiseido ended up 8th last year, the last place earning a guaranteed return trip to this year's race. It'll be dealing with Panasonic, Edion, Iwatani Sangyo and Daiichi Seimei for another podium finish this time around. The record holder for most wins at 7, Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo was 9th last year and has picked up collegiate 10000 m record holder Seira Fuwa from Takushoku University. Fuwa has never been the same since her incredible 1st year of college, but even a decent run from her here could be enough to push Mitsui into the top 8. Traditional powerhouse Tenmaya was 11th last year and will be trying to turn things back around.

Further down the field, Otsuka Seiyaku features the top Japanese woman in the marathon at September's Tokyo World Championships, Kana Kobayashi. Bottom-ranked Ehime Ginko will be making its national debut in its 10th season as a program. Just making it to the national championships has a big impact on teams' financial existence, and every time there's a new one on board it's a good sign for the health of the system.

Team entry list with bib numbers:

1 - Japan Post
2 - Sekisui Kagaku
3 - Shimamura
4 - Panasonic
5 - Edion
6 - Iwatani Sangyo
7 - Daiichi Seimei
8 - Shiseido
9 - Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo
10 - Starts
11 - Tenmaya
12 - Kyocera
13 - Sysmex
14 - Uniqlo
15 - Route Inn Hotels
16 - Universal Entertainment
17 - Toyota Jidoshokki
18 - Otsuka Seiyaku
19 - Higo Ginko
20 - Noritz
21 - Tokyo Metro
22 - Daihatsu
23 - Kraftia
24 - Ehime Ginko

© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

 
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
I've been counting down the days for this one. I have high hopes for consecutive victories from the ever consistent JP team. Even though, on paper, there are faster teams out there I think they can rise to the occasion like they did last year. I expect Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo and Sekisui Kagaku to be their main threats. Sekisui Kagaku have depth of talent but some of their athletes are past their glory days as was evident in last year's race and not having Erika Tanoura to start off is a huge loss. Given the Princess Ekiden performance from Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo I expect them to be very strong. I could see them winning it. Edion have 3 super athletes in Ai Hosoda, Yada Mikuni and their rising star, Kana Mizumoto (newly signed with On Running) but lack some depth so I can't see them fighting for the win. Unless something immensely positive has happened in their last training camp, given what I've seen from the Shiseido athletes this year, I'm expecting them to drop out of the top 8 and be competing in the Princess Ekiden next year. Judy Jepngetich is no longer with the team which is an incredible loss to whatever chances they had. Very interested to see how Kana Kobayashi does in her stage. She somehow manages to thrive under pressure, when the stakes are high. I hope she can do it again.

I am so thankful that this race is live streamed on YouTube. Last year's race was incredible. I'll be glued to my screen watching.
November 21, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Anonymous said…
After reading the team line ups for the race I'm convinced Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo team will be victorious if all players run to form. The JP team will be in the mix for sure but with their changed line up I don't think they are as strong as last year. I could be wrong. Edion might be leading after the first stage if my positive thoughts regarding Kana Mizumoto are on point. Though Wakana Kabasawa and Yuma Yamamoto might have something to say about that! This is the showdown I've been wanting to see since Mizumoto was denied a World Championship birth this year. The Edion team are extremely strong on paper in the long 3rd (Mikuni Yada) and 5th stages (Ai Hosoda) but they may lose too much ground in the 4th section to be close enough to contest a victory. I don't know enough about their other runners to determine how competitive they will be. Perhaps a top 3 finish might be possible. However, I've revised my thoughts on Sekisui Kagaku and can't see them competing for the win. Their line up is untested and appears risky. Realistically, a top 8 finish would be a good result for them. What surprised me most about the team line ups are the omissions of some big names including Haruka Kokai and Yuka Suzuki (Dai-ichi Life), Ayuko Suzuki and Miyaka Sugata (JP), Hitomi Niiya and Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku). Also of interest is how Miu Saito will run in the long 3rd stage against the likes of Ririka Hironaka and Seira Fuwa. Unfortunately for the Panasonic team, I don't think it will matter too much because I expect they will be very well down by the time she receives the sash. Counting down the hours till the start.
November 22, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...
8 comments
Read more

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...
1 comment
Read more

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...
2 comments
Read more