Skip to main content

Nagano Higashi Girls Make It Two In a Row at National High School Ekiden

The Nagano Higashi H.S. girls pulled off a perfect repetition of their start-to-finish win at last year's National High School Ekiden, taking the lead on the first leg again this time and never letting go. Opening runner Nami Kawakami won the 6.0 km First Stage by 2 seconds in 19:06, 2nd runner Haruna Tabata extended it to 12 seconds, and 3rd runner Airi Mashiba added another 30 seconds to the lead with a massive 9:06 CR for the 3.0 km leg, beating every Kenyan on the stage and everyone who had run it before.

Nagano Higashi's last 2 runners Yui Honda and Rena Imai both lost some ground, but with both of them still running the 3rd-fastest times on their stages there wasn't really any risk of anyone catching them. Imai brought Nagano Higashi home in 1:06:30 for the 21.0975 km course, just missing the overall CR by 4 seconds but still a dominant performance from an all-Japanese lineup.

3rd last year, Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. got off to a slow start but spend the rest of the race in 2nd, ultimately finishing 33 seconds behind Nagano Higashi in 1:07:03. Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. and Sendai Ikuei H.S. ruled for 3rd for most of the way, Ritsumeikan Uji ultimately getting there 9 seconds ahead of Sendai Ikuei, 1:07:29 to 1:07:38.

Saitama Sakae H.S. and Kurashiki H.S. were 5th and 6th, Saitama Sakae getting there 2 seconds ahead on 1:08:08 despite an amazing 8:32 CR on the 3.0 km Fourth Stage from Kurashiki's Janet Jepkoech. 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo, 3rd on her stage in 13:02 for 4.0975 km, helping Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. get onto the 8-deep podium at 7th in 1:08:24, with Suma Gakuen H.S. 8th in 1:09:01.

37th National High School Girls Ekiden

Kyoto, 21 Dec. 2025
57 teams, 5 stages, 21.0975 km

Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (6.0 km)
1. Nami Kawakami (2nd yr., Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 19:06
2. Nodoka Ashida (3rd yr., Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 19:08
3. Yua Nagamori (1st yr., Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 19:09

Second Stage (4.0975 km)
1. Rio Kawamura (3rd yr., Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 12:45
2. Haruna Tabata (3rd yr., Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 12:54
3. Rin Kubo (3rd yr., Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S.) - 13:02

Third Stage (3.0 km)
1. Airi Mashiba (3rd yr., Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 9:06 - CR
2. Mirriam Njeri (2nd yr., Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 9:16
3. Mary Muthoni (1st yr., Aomori Yamada H.S.) - 9:30

Fourth Stage (3.0 km)
1. Janet Jepkoech (3rd yr., Kurashiki H.S.) - 8:32 - CR
2. Rei Taya (2nd yr., Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 9:14
3. Yui Honda (1st yr., Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 9:22

Fifth Stage (5.0 km)
1. Miyu Kobayashi (3rd yr., Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 15:50
2. Mai Fukumoto (2nd yr., Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 16:01
3. Rena Imai (2nd yr., Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 16:02

Top Team Performances
1. Nagano Higashi H.S. - 1:06:30
2. Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. - 1:07:03
3. Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. - 1:07:29
4. Sendai Ikuei H.S. - 1:07:38
5. Saitama Sakae H.S. - 1:08:08
6. Kurashiki H.S. - 1:08:10
7. Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. - 1:08:24
8. Suma Gakuen H.S. - 1:09:01
9. Saikyo H.S. - 1:09:14
10. Kamimura Gakuen H.S. - 1:09:17

© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

M.I.A.

Sorry to have been silent for a while. JRN associate editor Mika Tokairin  was in Taiwan for Ironman Penghu, where she won her age group to qualify for Kona for the first time. Right after that we moved for the first time in 14 years, and immediately after that I headed to the U.S. to help Keita Sato  get settled in his new training base in Flagstaff. We'll be resuming normal operations shortly with a big roundup of results over the last 2 weeks. Brett Larner
Post a Comment
Read more

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...
3 comments
Read more