Skip to main content

Mt. Fuji. Women's Ekiden Preview


Next up in championship ekiden season is the Dec. 30 Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden, the national title race for Japan's collegiate women and the start of 4 days of top-tier ekiden action over the course of 5 days. Fuji TV has the live broadcast starting at 9:55 a.m. local time on the 30th, with free streaming on TVer if you're in Japan or have a VPN.

October's Morinomiyako Ekiden saw a shift in the balance of power, with the Kanto Region's Josai University and Daito Bunka University going 1-2 over Tokai region powerhouse Meijo University, the Tohoku region's Tohoku Fukushi University 4th, and 2024 national champion Ritsumeikan University from Kansai only 5th. Josai, DBU, Meijo and TFU were only 34 seconds apart over the 6-stage, 38.0 km course, so in a longer and more technical race like Mt. Fuji, 7 stages totaling 43.4 km with some serious hills punctuated by a 169 m ascent on the 8.3 km anchor stage, it's too close to call.

The big question for Josai is whether it has the one more runner it needs to put together a winning team. Last year Rinka Okita had a good debut at Mt. Fuji as a 1st-year, finishing 4th on the 3.3 km 3rd leg, but she has barely raced in 2025 and wasn't part of Josai's starting roster at either October's Kanto Region University Women's Ekiden or Morinomiyako. 4th-year Aoi Takahashi ran 4th on the opening stage in Kanto but not at Morinomiyako, so she may be a more likely addition to the final lineup.

DBU has been 2nd at Morinomiyako 11 times in the last 13 years and at Mt. Fuji 5 times in the last 7 years. 3rd-year Mariya Noda, 2nd on her stage at Mt. Fuji last year, was still coming back from injury at Morinimoyako this season and was only 15th on her stage, setting up Josai anchor Hinata Kaneko to run her down for the win. On paper DBU has the best team, powered by collegiate 5000 m and 10000 m champ Sarah Wanjiru, but there just seems to be a curse it can't break to get through to the top spot.

Meijo was the most recent dynasty in Japanese women's collegiate racing, with 7-straight Morinomiyako wins and 6 in a row at Mt. Fuji until Ritsumeikan took both last year. 1st-years Mei Hosomi and Wakana Hashimoto weren't quite there yet at Morinomiyako, finishing 8th and 5th on their stages, but with Hosomi having run a 9:10.47 PB for 3000 m and Hashimoto 15:45.54 and 32:28.46 PBs since then Meijo's chances are looking pretty good.

TFU is the wildcard here, coming up through the ranks the last few years, only 9th at Mt. Fuji in 2024 but a close 4th at Morinomiyako this season with stage wins from 3rd-year Nazuki Sasaki and 2nd-year Yu Hayasaka. It was only 34 seconds behind winner Josai even with 2nd runner Karen Murakami finishing 11th on her leg, 42 seconds slower than Josai's stage winner Koharu Kaneko. Like Josai and other programs it needs one more top-tier runner to really be in it for the win, but if Murakami turns in a better run here then top 3 seems totally realistic.

Ritsumeikan has been having a rough season despite returning most of last year's national champion roster, taking 3rd at the Kansai Region University Women's Ekiden and only 5th at Morinomiyako. A lot of that was due to 4th runner Momoka Moriyasu nor anchor Chiseno Ikeda making the top 12 on their stages. Ritsumeikan has more to iron out than the top 4-ranked teams, so while a repeat national title seems out of reach a good team performance could put it into the top 3.

Last year's 3rd-placer Nittai University was only 10th at Morinomiyako, and 4th-placer Takushoku University's era has passed with the graduation of collegiate 10000 m record holder Seira Fuwa. It's down to the next tier of programs, Osaka Gakuin University, Tsukuba University, Fukuoka University, and Juntendo University, to go for the 3 spots behind the favorites on the 8-deep podium.

The complete 2025 Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden field with regions and bib numbers:

1. Josai University (Kanto)
2. Daito Bunka University (Kanto)
3. Meijo University (Tokai)
4. Tohoku Fukushi University (Tohoku)
5. Ritsumeikan University (Kansai)
6. Osaka Gakuin University (Kansai)
7. Tsukuba University (Kanto)
8. Fukuoka University (Kyushu)
9. Juntendo University (Kanto)
10. Nittai University (Kanto)
11. Tamagawa University (Kanto)
12. Teikyo Kagaku University (Kanto)
13. Takushoku University (Kanto)
14. Toyo University (Kanto)
15. Osaka Geijutsu University (Kansai)
16. Chuo University (Kanto)
17. Kyoto Sangyo University (Kansai)
18. Surugadai University (Kanto)
19. Tokyo Nogyo University (Kanto)
20. Kansai University (Kansai)
21. Kobe Gakuin University (Kansai)
22. Kansai Gaikokugo University (Kansai)
23. National University Select Team
24. Shizuoka Prefecture Select Team

© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

 
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
I am counting down the hours for this one. My heart wants Josai University to repeat their heroics at Morinomiyako but my head tells me Meijo will right the wrongs of that race and come back strongly to reclaim victory. They have great depth and their athletes are in top form so everything is pointing toward a return to the victory podium. Still, I want Josai to beat the odds again, perform at 110% and make it a year to remember. I think the winner will be from these two but anything is possible. This will be nail biting. I'll be glued to the live stream. Thank you for the link.
December 30, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Ngetich Breaks CR, Murayama and Sasaki Make U.S. Debut at New York Mini 10k

WR holder Agnes Ngetich  soloed a fast one at the 54th edition of the Mastercard New York Mini 10k, leading inside the first mile and pulling away the rest of the race to run a 30:07 CR for the win, the fastest time ever on U.S. soil albeit on a slightly net downhill course. On a warm day that saw over 10,000 women finish  Tsigie Gebreselama  was on her own most of the way too, a distant 2nd in 30:53 and 17 seconds up on past champ Hellen Obiri . Further back, 2026 World University Cross Country bronze medalist Amisa Murayama  and 2025 Morinomiyako Ekiden 3rd leg CR breaker Nazuki Sasaki  from 2025 National University Women's Ekiden runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University  made their U.S. debuts. Murayama was targeting the fastest-ever Japanese time at the Mini, 32:37, but struggled on the hills just before 5 km and late in the race, fading to finish 23rd in 34:08. Sasaki, recovering from a stress reaction in her upper back a few months ago, ran a conservative ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more

National Track and Field Championships Entry List Highlights

Entry lists are out for next week's National Track and Field Championships in Nagoya, the main selection event for Japan's teams for September's Nagoya Asian Games and Copenhagen World Road Running Championships. Top entries in each event with best time in 2025-26. Asterisks indicate 2025 national champions. Men Men's 100 m *Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 9.99 Sorato Shimizu (Seiryu H.S.) - 10.00 Yuhi Mori (Watanabe Pipe) - 10.00 Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.06 Fukuto Komuro (Chuo Univ.) - 10.08 Ryota Yamagata (Seiko) - 10.08 Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.10 Ryota Suzuki (Suzuki) - 10.11 Naoki Inoue (Osaka Gas) - 10.12 Rikuto Higuchi (Suzuki) - 10.12 Men's 200 m Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 20.45 Aoto Suzuki (Sumitomo Denko) - 20.49 Kota Uematsu (Chuo Univ.) - 20.50 Yuji Michael Orisa (GK Line) - 20.51 Soshi Mizukubo (Miyazaki T&F) - 20.51 Mitsuhiro Numata (Legalis) - 20.58 Seisho Sasaki (Iwate Univ.) - 20.60 Sota Miwa (Koizumi) - 20.61 Naoki Uemoto (Lega...
1 comment
Read more