The 33rd National Junior High School Ekiden took place in Shiga's Kibogaoka Bunka Park, with boys running 18 km in 6 legs and girls 12 km in 5 legs. Making Nationals for the first time, Gunma's Kise J.H.S. won the boys's race, while Okayama's Kyoyama J.H.S. became only the 3rd school in event history to pull off a threepeat.
Ryunosuke Ideta (Chukyo J.H.S.), winner of the boys' 3000 m at last summer's Okinawa National Junior High School Track and Field Championships, and girls' 1500 m champ Aika Koreeda (Utsube J.H.S.) both raced, the first time in 17 years that the winners of both the boys' and girls' long-distance events ran at the National Junior High School Ekiden. Both ran up to potential and won their stages.
Running the First Stage, Koreeda came to Nationals with a solid season since her national title on the track, winning at the National Sports Festival U16 and taking her 3000 m PB down to 9:34.44. Even with all the other schools' best runners positioned on the same stage, Koreeda went to the front from the start. Kyoyama's Iroha Nakanishi and Kioka Hirata (Matsunami J.H.S.) tried to put pressure on her, but Koreeda kept calm and carried on at the front of the lead group, ignoring others went they tried to pass her and staying focused on her own race.
"I'm good on uphills, so I attacked on them and relaxed a bit on the downhills," Koreeda said post-race. She finally broke free of Hirata on the last uphill, taking the stage win in 10:12. It was the first time for a runner from Mie prefecture to win a stage at the National Junior High School Ekiden. "Winning the National Junior High School Championships 1500 m on the track gave me the experience to pull it off here," she said. "Competing in the big races makes you less nervous."
While Koreeda led off, Ideta was assigned the anchor stage for Chukyo. Chukyo had been a favorite for the overall win, but the team struggled from early on, and Ideta was in 15th when he took over, 1:07 behind the leader. A come-from-behind win was probably out of reach, but Ideta gave it a go with aggressively fast running from the start. Gaining momentum on the first downhill, he started catching the competition one by one. 8th place, the bottom of the podium, had been about 30 seconds ahead when he started, but Ideta succeeded getting all the way up to 7th by the end of his run, clocking a stage-winning 9:11.
Chukyo's captain this year, Ideta said, "My job was to try to get to the finish line first no matter what place I was in when I got the tasuki. I'm happy I at least got the stage win."
Both Koreeda and Ideta plan to run January's National Women's Ekiden and National Men's Ekiden, a chance for them to score triple national titles this season. "I don't know what stage I'll be running yet, but my goal is to win whatever I run," Ideta said. "If I'm on the Second Stage then I want to break Kain Inagaki's 8:21 CR from last time."
33rd National Junior High School Ekiden
Kibogaoka Bunka Park, Shiga, 14 Dec. 2025
girls: 48 teams, 5 stages, 12 km
boys: 48 teams, 6 stages, 18 km
Girls
Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (3.0 km) - Aika Koreeda (Utsuno J.H.S.) - 10:12
Second Stage (2.0 km) - Hinano Sugawara (Kuroishino J.H.S.) - 6:44
Third Stage (2.0 km) - Mikoto Ando (Ryunan J.H.S.) - 7:03
Fourth Stage (2.0 km) - Sorano Sugawara (Kuroishino J.H.S.) - 6:55
Fifth Stage (3.0 km) - Chisato Shimoda (Kyoyama J.H.S.) - 10:27
Top Team Performances
1. Kyoyama J.H.S. (Okayama) - 42:07
2. Kuroishino J.H.S. (Iwate) - 42:24
3. Otokoyama Dalsan J.H.S. (Kyoto) - 42:42
4. Matsubashi J.H.S. (Kumamoto) - 42:50
5. Tsurugashima Fuji J.H.S. (Saitama) - 43:11
6. Matsunami J.H.S. (Kanagawa) - 43:11
7. Funehiki J.H.S. (Fukushima) - 43:13
8. Omigawa J.H.S. (Chiba) - 43:23
9. Shimodate Minami J.H.S. (Ibaraki) - 43:41
10. Ryunan J.H.S. (Aichi) - 43:53
Boys
Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (3.0 km) - Shunta Sakai (Okazaki J.H.S.) - 9:13
Second Stage (3.0 km) - Eita Shimobayashi (Naruse J.H.S.) / Tomoki Negishi (Kawanakashima J.H.S.) - 9:16
Third Stage (3.0 km) - Ryoga Takahashi (Obusuma J.H.S.) - 9:30
Fourth Stage (3.0 km) - Seishiro Takada (Kise J.H.S.) - 9:19
Fifth Stage (3.0 km) - Tsubasa Osawa (Kise J.H.S.) - 9:33
Sixth Stage (3.0 km) - Ryunosuke Ideta (Chukyo J.H.S.) - 9:11
Top Team Results
1. Kise J.H.S. - 57:01
2. Miyazaki Oyodo J.H.S. - 57:38
3. Naruse J.H.S. - 57:52
4. Tokiwamatsu J.H.S. - 57:58
5. Kawanakashima J.H.S. - 57:58
6. Inami Kita J.H.S. - 58:21
7. Chukyo J.H.S. - 58:35
8. Otokoyama Daisan J.H.S. - 58:42
9. Tomita J.H.S. - 58:53
10. Matsubashi J.H.S. - 58:54
source article:
translated by Brett Larner
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