Now 23 years old, Sairai Fuwa made a name for herself at Takushoku University with an astounding ability to surge past competitors — repeatedly delivering dramatic overtakes in major ekiden races.

Her best-known feat came in the 2021 All-Japan University Women’s Ekiden, when as a first-year she passed six runners on the longest stage (leg 5), running 28:00 and smashing the leg record by 1 minute 14 seconds.

She followed that up in the 2021 Mt. Fuji Women’s Ekiden by overtaking 10 runners on leg 5, clocking 32:23 and lowering the leg record by 1 minute 54 seconds; and in the 2022 National Women’s Ekiden she produced an incredible 13-place surge in a single stage.

On the women’s side, the field is intriguing: the Japanese women’s half marathon record holder (1:06:38) and Japan’s third-fastest marathoner ever (2:19:24), 38-year-old Hitomi Niiya, will return to the marathon two years after her last effort — a direct showdown between two generations of Japanese women in Hokkaido promises plenty of storylines.

The men’s roster is equally glittering, including Yuta Koyama, who has already earned MGC qualification, and Hibiki Yoshida, who in March led solo for 37 km in Osaka before fading but still posted 2:09:35.

The Hokkaido Marathon in late summer tends to be hot and features a course with some challenges, and it is not typically regarded as a fast course for record attempts. The Japanese men’s course record is Naoki Okamoto’s 2:11:29 from 2018, and the women’s course record is Kiyoko Shimahara’s 2:25:10 from 2009.

Can Sairai Fuwa replicate her otherworldly overtaking in Sapporo at the end of August and announce herself with a bang in her marathon debut? We’ll be watching closely.