University men's ekiden season got started with the Izumo Ekiden two weeks ago and last weekend's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race. This week it's the first national-level university women's ekiden of the season, the Morinomiyako Ekiden in Sendai. Because of Hakone's popularity and Tokyo's massive size the Kanto Region dominates men's running to the point that it's almost impossible for a university from any other part of the country to beat even a single Kanto team at Izumo or next month's National University Men's Ekiden. Not so at Morinomiyako or December's Mt. Fuji University Women's Ekiden. The Kanto Region still has the biggest share of the field, with 11 of the 26 teams in the field this year based in Kanto. But it doesn't dominate the same way it does for collegiate men. There's almost always a Kanto Region team in the top 3, and it's almost always last year's 2nd-placer Daito Bunka University , but a Kant...
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