[RunGal] The epic showdown at the Mt. Fuji Women's University Ekiden.gif

Since it's the Mt. Fuji Ekiden, the camera keeps catching Mt. Fuji in the background.

Full sprint at the end of Section 1. 1st place is Ritsumeikan (the big 'R' on the uniform).

But the gap with the 2nd place group wasn't huge. Soon, a Josai University freshman in yellow took back 1st. Even with a minor mishap where they went slightly off-course due to poor guidance...

...her overwhelming pace created a massive gap with the chasing pack.

Josai keeps the lead comfortably. Now the 10.5km 'Ace' Section (Section 5) begins. The sash is handed to the senior captain. Meanwhile, the 'monster' Sarah Wanjiiru from Daito Bunka University starts in 3rd place, 47 seconds behind.

The gap starts shrinking right from the start, and by the 4km mark, they lose the lead.

Maybe she wasn't feeling her best, but around the 8km mark, she gets passed by Tohoku Fukushi University who was chasing from 3rd. Suddenly, they drop to 3rd place.

Still, in Section 6, the freshman runner manages to close the gap with 2nd place.

When handing off for the final Section 7, they narrowly reclaim 2nd place. The gap with 1st place Daito Bunka is 27 seconds. Section 7 is an 8.3km stretch with a 169m uphill climb.

Despite it being an uphill section, the Josai freshman pushes hard and finally takes back the lead just before the 4km mark.

On the endless uphill, Tohoku Fukushi (in 3rd) suddenly starts catching up.

Showing insane performance, Tohoku Fukushi pulls off an overtake at the 5.8km mark and takes back 1st.

By 6km, the gap widened quite a bit, but the Josai freshman digs deep again lol. Finally overtakes them again with 1km left to the finish.

Crossing the finish line with the Mt. Fuji backdrop—a shot reserved only for the winner.

Thanks to the 'super hard-carry' of three freshmen, Josai University wins both the All-Japan and Mt. Fuji Ekidens. The senior captain (far right in white) is seen crying, feeling sorry that they almost lost because of her poor performance despite being the ace.

Sometimes, during the sash handoff, mishaps like this happen...

Source: Running Gallery