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Ritsumeikan University records first victory at second UK Ekiden held in the United Kingdom

On Friday, June 20, 2025, the FT Nikkei UK Ekiden Year 2 was held in the London suburb of Windsor, and the team from Ritsumeikan University, which was competing for the first time, took home first place.

The UK Ekiden was first held in in June 2024 with the aim of promoting the culture of ekiden in the UK and to celebrate the 100th Hakone Ekiden, which was held in January 2024.
Ekiden, or long-distance relay running, is a sport that originated in Japan. Borrowing from the Japanese concept, the UK Ekiden follows a 114-km route divided into 10 legs. Starting from a park overlooking Windsor Castle, it passes along a riverside promenade called the Thames Path, before turning back at the halfway point in Reading.

A total of 31 teams and 310 people from universities and companies in Japan and the UK participated in this year’s race. Ten students (5 men and 5 women) from Ritsumeikan University competed in the mixed-gender university category. Team captain, Makoto Tsuchiya (4th year, College of Sport and Health Science), ran the 8th leg, and Yura Arata (3rd year, College of Sport and Health Science) served as anchor for the team, whose members all ran well. Although the route was full of grass and unpaved trails that are not usually found in ekiden races, the Ritsumeikan University team won the race with a time of 6 hours, 54 minutes and 49 seconds.