japan running news

October is the official start of ekiden season, and this past weekend had the first 3 big races. Saturday in Chiba was the Kanto Region University Women's Ekiden , the regional qualifier for the Morinomiyako Ekiden in Sendai at the end of the month. Daito Bunka University , Josai University , Takushoku University and Tsukuba University were already qualified thanks to podium finishes at Morinomiyako last year, leaving 16 other schools in competition for 6 qualifying spots. DBU and Josai both broke the overall CR for the 6-stage, 34.4 km course, DBU moving into the top spot on the 2nd leg and staying there the rest of the way to win in 1:50:05. It took until the 4th leg for Josai to move into 2nd, finishing in 1:51:21. Teikyo Kagaku University was the top new qualifier for Morinomiyako, 3rd in 1:53:58 after an early lead thanks to a new CR of 13:25 on the 4.3 km 1st leg by 1st-year Sayo Imanishi . Tsukuba was as low down the field as 10th as late as the 4th leg but managed to cl...

110 teams took part in the 72nd National Oga Ekiden in Akita Saturday, with 30 teams in the open division, 12 universities, 44 high school boys' teams and 24 high school girls' teams. The Shingenden Kogyo corporate team won the open division for the 2nd year in a row, with Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University winning the 7-stage, 64.8 km university division in 3:14:28. In the 5-stage, 21.0975 km high school girls' race, Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. took the win in 1:10:43. Right from the start it was a tough race against Sendai Ikuei H.S. , which fielded 3 teams. Ritsumeikan Uji's lead runner Yui Ueda and Sendai Ikuei A's Rikka Kuroda both clocked 14:09, and a great stage-winning run from 2nd runner Nodoka Ashida put Ritsumeikan Uji out front. But Sendai Ikuei B's Miriam Njeri closed down the lead from 1:14 to 24 seconds on the 3rd leg, and her teammate Non Tachibana rode that momentum to overtake Ritsumeikan Uji for the lead. It came down to the anchor...

A close 2nd at December's National High School Ekiden , 90% of the members of the five-time national champion Omuta H.S. team in Fukuoka will transfer to Tottori Johoku H.S. in Tottori at the start of the new school year next month. The mass transfer comes as a backlash against Omuta's treatment of head coach Ken Akaike , 52, with most team members and parents choosing to continue running under Akaike following his move to Johoku. Akaike had resigned as head coach at Omuta in March, 2023 after it came out that he had used corporal punishment on team members. But many team members at the time and their parents asked him to continue, and he returned to a coaching position at the school after undergoing training. Effectively serving as head coach, he led the team at last December's National High School Ekiden where they finished 2nd in a close-fought battle that went all the way to the end. According to multiple sources, in November the month before the National High School ...

The 37th Nihonkai High School Boys Ekiden and 32nd Kurayoshi High School Girls Ekiden , the first major national-level high school races of the season, took place Oct. 8 in Kurayoshi, Tottori on courses starting and finishing at Kurayoshi Municipal Field. In the seven-stage, 42.195 km Nihonkai Ekiden, the 2016 national champion  Kurashiki H.S. boys ran 2:07:09 to return to the winner's circle after a loss last year. Running 3rd after the First Stage, Kurashiki moved up into the lead on the Fifth Stage and held that position the rest of the way. For the third year in a row Tottori Johoku H.S. was the top-fnishing school from within Tottori prefecture. Defending girls' national champions Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. won the five-stage, 21.0975 km Kurayoshi Ekiden for the first time in 1:09:44. The Osaka Kunei girls took over 1st on the Third Stage and ran on to the finish without challenge. For the first time in nineteen years Yazu H.S. was the first Tottori school to...