japan running news

Sunday's National Women's Ekiden brings together the country's top distance runners from junior high school to the pros, all running for their home prefectures. NHK will broadcast the race live , commercial-free and nationwide starting at 12:30. local time. A quick guide to the top teams and athletes on each stage. Hosts Kyoto hold the record for most wins with 18 national titles, and they're expected to face tough competition from Osaka , Nagano , Kanagawa and Chiba . 2nd the last two years, this time around Kyoto's lineup features two members of Ritsumeikan University , the winner at this season's Morinomiyako Ekiden and Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden. Yumi Yamamoto ran in last year's U20 World Championships and set a new CR on her leg at the Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden, and she, teammate Tomo Muramatsu , and Kaede Kawamura , winner of December's Sanyo Ladies Road Race 10 km, give Kyoto's chances a big boost. 2023 winner Osaka has World Championsh...

The first major national-level high school ekiden of the season, the 39th Kurayoshi Joshi Ekiden and 44th Nihonkai Ekiden took place Sunday in Kurayoshi, Tottori. Serving as the girls' race with 5 legs totaling 21.0975 km, Kurayoshi saw Osaka's Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. return to the top spot for the first time in 5 years with a 1:08:58 win, its 3rd time ever winning. A total of 51 teams competed in the girls' race, included most of the best programs from across the country. The Kunei Joshi Gakuin girls were 3rd after the first leg, with lead-off runner Yuika Tsuzurahara (2nd-yr) trailing leader Yua Sato (3rd-yr, Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) by only 3 seconds. Second runner Yua Tsukamoto  (3rd-yr) ran the fastest time on her leg, moving up to 2nd behind last year's winner Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. Third runner Rio Kawamura  (2nd-yr) also won her leg and gave Kunei Joshi Gakuin a lead that fourth runner Aika Murai (1st-yr) and anchor Miyu Funaki (2nd-yr) held until the end. To...