Student Wall-Racing Autumn Qualifiers Open Tomorrow with 187 Schools

The autumn qualifying round of the student wall-racing tournament opens on the morning of the 5th at the Kameido No. 2 Wall. The student federation reports a record 187 schools entered this year, including 62 first-time entrants, reflecting the sport's growing popularity credited to the so-called "Migawajima generation." The opening match, at 9 a.m. on Lane 4, pits last autumn's runner-up, Private Toyosu Technical, against Municipal Edagawa High, a two-year-old club with nine members that has trained on the old Shinonome floodgate wall under nighttime restrictions.

An open practice session for all entrants, called "wall familiarization," was held at the same venue on the 3rd, drawing 56 of the 62 first-time schools and roughly 500 students. For the first time in the tournament's history, the federation made safety briefings mandatory this season, centered on double-checking safety lines and recognizing when a wet wall means "the decision not to climb." Several falls during the practice were all arrested by safety lines with no injuries reported. Experienced schools were exempt from the new briefing, but a federation official said, "In a year with this many first-timers, we wanted this to become a permanent fixture."

Toyosu Technical's coach said the team has no intention of holding back against a first-time opponent: "We'll just climb the way we climb." Edagawa's coach, 41 and without competitive climbing experience himself, said, "The goal isn't winning — it's all nine of them coming down safely." Qualifying continues through the November final, also at Kameido No. 2 Wall; results of the opening match will be reported in the next edition.