Josai University followed up its women's domination of the college ekiden circuit this season and its men's 7th-place finish at the Hakone Ekiden with a start-to-finish win at the National University Mixed-Gender Ekiden, short and sweet with 6 stages of 2.0 to 5.0 km and 3 women and men from universities across the country. Only 9th last year, Josai was out front on the 1st leg and never looked back, winning all 6 individual stages. A 6:01 CR by Yuna Onishi on the women's 2.0 km 2nd leg and a 5:20 CR tie on the men's 2.0 k 5th leg by Manato Ozawa put Josai close to Nittai University's 58:27 overall last year, but ultimately they came up just short in 58:30.
But even that was enough to put Josai well over a minute ahead of Daito Bunka University, whose runner-up curse saw them finish 2nd yet again in 59:43, 2nd runner Mana Aiba tying Onishi's CR and helping keep DBU ahead of Juntendo University, 3rd in 59:46. Last year's 5th-placer Tsukuba University moved up to 4th in 1:00:00, win 2025 champ Nittai falling to 5th in 1:01:13.
Traditionally men's collegiate distance running tends to be centered in the Tokyo-area Kanto Region due to Hakone's massive gravitational pull, while collegiate women's running has tended to be more geographically diverse. One of the appealing things about this race is the potential to see teams from across the country race each other on more equal footing than at the longer distances in men's ekidens, but like last year the men's half of the teams tilted things in favor of Kanto and gave it the top 5 places. Just like in 2025, Kansai University was 6th as the top non-Kanto team, only 5 seconds behind Nittai versus its 12-second margin of loss to Tsukuba last year.
6th National University Mixed-Gender Ekiden
Nagai Park, Osaka, 15 Feb. 2026
22 teams, 6 stages, 20.0 km
Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (3.0 km, men)
1. Takayoshi Oba (Josai Univ.) - 8:03
2. Soya Mizuno (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 8:09
3. Kazura Munakata (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 8:09
Second Stage (2.0 km, women)
1. Yuna Onishi (Josai Univ.) - 6:01 - CR
1. Mana Aiba (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 6:01 - CR
3. Yura Tanaka (Tsukuba Univ.) - 6:08
Third Stage (5.0 km, men)
1. Kenichi Hashimoto (Josai Univ.) - 13:46
2. Hiroyuki Ishioka (Juntendo Univ.) - 14:02
3. Kirato Matsuura (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 14:03
Fourth Stage (3.0 km, women)
1. Mai Kubota (Josai Univ.) - 9:28
1. Miu Suzuki (Tsukuba Univ.) - 9:28
3. Runa Shoji (Kantaiheiyo Univ.) - 9:38
Fifth Stage (2.0 km, men)
1. Manato Ozawa (Josai Univ.) - 5:20 - CR tie
2. Takumi Shiobara (Juntendo Univ.) - 5:21
3. Fuga Moritama (Kansai Univ.) - 5:23
Sixth Stage (5.0 km, women)
1. Kyo Honma (Josai Univ.) - 15:52
2. Airi Tajima (Juntendo Univ.) - 15:59
3. Momoka Tsutano (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 16:16
Team Results
1. Josai University - 58:30
2. Daito Bunka University - 59:43
3. Juntendo University - 59:46
4. Tsukuba University - 1:00:00
5. Nittai University - 1:01:13
6. Kansai University - 1:01:18
7. Kantaiheiyo University - 1:01:33
8. Ritsumeikan University - 1:01:37
9. Takushoku University - 1:01:41
10. Surugadai University - 1:02:01
11. Chuo University - 1:02:03
12. Kyoto Sangyo University - 1:02:13
13. Waseda University - 1:02:40
14. Asia University - 1:02:50
OP - Kansai Region Select Team - 1:02:51
15. Bukkyo University - 1:03:56
16. Rikkyo University - 1:04:00
17. Meiji Kokusai Iryo University - 1:04:26
18. Niigata Iryo Fukushi University - 1:04:39
19. Kyoto Ikuei University - 1:05:17
20. Setsunan University - 1:05:41
21. Doshisha University - 1:08:18
© 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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