November’s National University Ekiden is the second stop of the three-race university men’s ekiden season. Even more than the season-opening Izumo Ekiden, it’s pretty much a given that however many teams there are in the field from the Tokyo-area Kanto Region, where almost all the best high schoolers go for university in order to have the chance to run the Hakone Ekiden, the top team from outside
Source: japanrunningnews.blogspot.com