by Brett Larner Bukkyo University anchor Kasumi Nishihara came within 3 seconds of breaking titan Ritsumeikan University's domination of the national ekiden circuit at the 6th All-Japan University Women's Invitational Ekiden Championship in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, delivering a new stage record for the anchor leg but coming up just short of catching Ritsumeikan's star first-year Michi Numata, the 2008 National University 10000 m champion. While both the men's and women's university ekiden circuits hold their national championships at the end of October or beginning of November, the true peak of the men's season comes at the Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2-3. The All-Japan University Women's Invitational Ekiden, a six-stage, 30.67 event a short distance northeast of Tokyo, began five years ago as a way of giving university women's distance running the year's-end holiday season national coverage accorded to men. Kyoto-based Ritsumeikan has dominated the e...
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