Day Two of the 2008 Hakone Ekiden dawned with weather as perfect as on Day One, cool, sunny and windless. The big news of the morning was that defending champion Juntendo University, who had been eliminated 460 m from the finish the previous day when their runner Hiroyuki Ono collapsed, would be allowed to run in a ceremonial capacity, out of competition.
6th Stage: 20.8 km
On Day Two, runners start one by one with a time handicap and order determined by their team’s finish on Day One. For example, Komazawa finished 1:14 behind leader Waseda on Day One, so its 6th stage runner Hikaru Fujii started Day Two 1:14 after Waseda’s runner Sota Kato began. Any teams which finished more than 10 minutes behind Waseda on Day One started together with an appropriate modification added to their later stage times. Fireworks announced each runner`s departure from the starting line to the tens of thousands of fans lining the course.
Waseda`s Kato went out hard, 1 second behind stage record pace at the peak of the uphill first 5 km. On the downhill next km he let loose with a 2:29 split, widening the gap over Komazawa. He continued to run extremely hard over the 800 m-plus elevation loss downhill stage. Kato suffered a side cramp at the 10 km point, falling off stage record pace by 10 seconds, but recovered and accelerated, back on record pace at the 12 km and 13.7 km checkpoints. At 14 km he suffered another side cramp, but again recovered and accelerated, running much of the next 4 km with his eyes closed.
Behind him, Fujii was struggling, losing ground to Yamanashi Gakuin’s Yuta Chuman and the East Japan Select Team’s Yuji Sato. Sato caught Chuman at the 7.5 km, the two runners staying together until 16 km where Sato surged to go after Fujii.
Further back, Toyo`s Kazuki Onishi, the identical twin brother of Toyo’s 1st stage runner Tomoya Onishi, was making enormous ground, passing Tokai’s Kazuma Kaikura and Asia’s Masashi Mifune at 3.5 km and Nihon’s *** at 9 km. Nittai’s Keichiro Ishitani, well-known in Japan for overcoming a potentially fatal heart malformation to make the Hakone Ekiden last year, overtook Kokushikan’s Teppei Takeda, and Teikyo’s Tsubasa Akagi likewise advanced a place over Daito Bunka’s Takumi Sato.
In the final stretch of the 6th stage the pendulum began to swing back against most of the runners who had pushed hard on the steepest parts of the downhill. Kato could not maintain his pace once the course flattened out in the final 3 km, dropping off stage record pace to finish in a stage best time of 59:15, Waseda’s first victory on the 6th stage in 40 years and its first combined victory both ways on the mountain in 75 years.
Fujii continued to falter, slowing almost to a walk with 2 km to go. Komazawa’s coach *** Oyagi got out of the following van to give Fujii water, then after returning to the van shouted at Fujii over a loudspeaker, calling out ‘encouragement’ such as, “Come on and be a man, this is your last Hakone!” Sato and Chuman were now visible behind him, but Fujii managed to get to the handoff zone before they overtook him, having lost almost 2 minutes to Waseda.
Onishi was the biggest casualty of the stage, retaken by Nihon at 13 km and Kaikura at 15 km. Kaikura continued to accelerate, his coach having told him to hold back until the course began to level out in the last few km. Kaikura went on to overtake Nihon at 17 km, while Onishi continued to slow. With 400 m to go Onishi was walking and was passed by four more teams, Daito Bunka’s Sato moving into 10th position. Onishi almost fell twice in the last 200 m but made it to the handoff zone in the end.
1. Waseda: *** (Sota Kato, 2nd yr.: 59:15 stage best)
2. Komazawa: *** (Hikaru Fujii, 4th yr.: 1:01:12)
3. East Japan Select Team: *** (Yuji Sato, 3rd yr., Heisei Kokuritsu Univ., 1:00:03)
4. Yamanashi Gakuin: *** (Yuta Chuman, 4th yr., 1:01:25)
5. Chuo Gakuin: *** (Masahiko Watanabe, 3rd yr., 1:00:58)
7th Stage: 21.3 km
Tokai chose to put its superstar runner, 3rd year student Yuki Sato, on the 7th stage. Sato has so far in his career shown the potential to become the best distance runner Japan has yet produced. The 7th stage thus became a showcase for Sato’s attempt on a 3rd stage record, each time on a different stage.
Sato started out hard, running the 1st km in 2:43 and the 2nd in 2:48. With subsequent splits he stayed well ahead of stage record pace:
4 km: 11:07 7 km:19:47 9 km:25:24 11 km:31:31 14 km:40:33 17 km:49:22 20 km:58:44
Along the way he picked up Chuo Gakuin’s ***, Yamanashi Gakuin’s captain Nobuhiko Izuka, and the East Japan Select Team’s Kazumasa Kawanabe. At 9 km, Komazawa’s coach Oyagi got out of the van to give water to his runner Tomoaki Bungo, looking back nervously. At 16 km Sato came within sight of Bungo and accelerated, jumping to 40 seconds ahead of stage record pace. At this point, Sato experienced a replay of last year’s Hakone when he set the record for the 1st stage. Sato’s left leg began to cramp, breaking his stride slightly and causing him to slow. 3 km later his right leg also began to cramp and he began to lose ground, even though Bungo was also slowing.
Elsewhere on the course, Waseda’s Yozo Ishibashi ran by himself in the lead, passing 10 km in 29:51 and doing his best to maintain Waseda’s margin over Komazawa. Teikyo’s Tomonao Nishimura caught Chuo’s Toshinori Seki at 13 km, and Asia’s Yuichiro Ogawa passed Nihon’s Shuhei Takahashi at 16.5 km. Nishimura likewise passed Takahashi shortly before the finish, and Izuka also overtook Kawanabe near the stage’s end.
With both legs having tightened up, Sato continued to slow as he approached the handoff zone, but there was never any question of his missing the stage best record. He came through in 1:02:35, 18 seconds ahead of the old record and just over a minute behind Komazawa. He became the first Hakone runner in 51 years to hold three stage records at the same time. In his stage victory interview, Sato said that while the record was nice he was disappointed that he had slowed and as a result been unable to help Tokai more by catching Komazawa.
Another of Japan's most talented university runners, Juntendo's Yuki Matsuoka, was scheduled to run the 7th stage as his final student race. When Juntendo were eliminated on Day One and then permitted an honorary run on Day Two, Matsuoka gave up his space to 1st year runner *** to help *** gain experience for the future. It was a selfless gesture of leadership and teamwork.
1. Waseda: 7:37:35 (Yozo Ishibashi, 4th yr.: 1:05:11)
2. Komazawa: 7:39:48 (Tomoaki Bungo, 4th yr.: 1:04:14)
3. Tokai: 7:41:07 (Yuki Sato, 3rd yr.: 1:02:35 new stage record)
4. Yamanashi Gakuin: 7:42:29 (Nobuhiko Izuka, 4th yr.: ***)
5. East Japan Select Team: 7:42:39 (Kazumasa Kawanabe, 3rd yr., Kokugakuin Univ.: ***)
8th stage: 21.5 km
Little changed during the first quarter of the 8th stage. After the 5 km splits came up it became apparent that Komazawa’s Takuya Fukatsu was quickly making up the distance to Waseda’s captain Junji Iizuka and widening the gap over Tokai’s Ryuichi Yoshimura, having picked up 38 seconds on Iizuka and added 1:04 against Yoshimura. Komazawa’s coach again jumped from the trailing van, this time to run alongside and yell at Fukatsu. At 10 km it was clear that at least part of Fukatsu’s improvement against Tokai was due to a bad day for Yoshimura, whose 10 km split was over 31 minutes.
At 10.6 km Toyo’s rookie Yu Chiba caught *** of Daito Bunka but could not make any progress against Chuo’s fellow newcomer Takamori Yamashita in the important 10th place position. By the 8th stage the schools near the 10th spot usually become desperate, as only the top 10 schools are seeded for the following year’s Hakone Ekiden. It is a great mark of distinction to make this seeded class, particularly for the smaller, weaker schools. Yamashita moved away from Chiba as the runners entered the 2nd half of the stage, catching Teikyo’s Yusuke Owaki and Nihon’s Hiroya Takahashi at 12 km. Takahashi dropped out of the trio at 13.2 km. In a similar play up ahead, Yamanashi Gakuin’s Keita Kurihara and the East Japan Select Team’s *** caught the weakened Yoshimura of Tokai at 14.5 km. When Kurihara put on a short attack Yoshimura was unable to respond and drifted away. Shortly afterward, Teikyo’s Owaki dropped Chuo’s Yamashita to take 8th.
All the while, Fukatsu was rapidly gaining on Iizuka. With 4.5 km to go Fukatsu was 30 seconds back and gaining. With 2.5 km to go the gap was down to 20 seconds, but at this point Iizuka rallied to put on his final push while Fukatsu began to show the strain of his powerful run. With 1 km to go the gap had widened to 22 seconds and it was clear that Iizuka was safe. Komazawa’s coach again left the van to yell at Fukatsu, but the runner was spent and could not get himself together for a strong enough final kick.
Back at 18.6 km Toyo’s Chiba and Daito Bunka’s *** caught Nihon’s Takahashi, making a pack of three schools running together for the 10th position. Even further back, Juntendo’s Akira Kimizu had stopped running and was barely walking, making it look like Juntendo would be eliminated again, even from their honorary participation. Kimizu managed to get back together, coming in 19 seconds ahead of the stage cutoff time to allow Juntendo to avoid the dreaded white tasuki start.
Fukatsu picked up stage best honors for his performance. Nevertheless, he cried during his stage victory interview when expressing his disappointment over not being able to move Komazawa into the top position.
1. Waseda: 8:44:29 (Junji Iizuka, 4th yr.: ***)
2. Komazawa: 8:44:44 (Takuya Fukatsu, 2nd yr.: 1:04:57 stage best)
3. East Japan Select Team: 8:49:10 (***: ***)
4. Yamanashi Gakuin: 8:49:25 (Keita Kurihara, 4th yr.: ***)
5. Tokai: 8:50:46 (Ryuichi Yoshimura, 3rd yr.: ***)
9th Stage: 23.2 km
With only a 15 second lead at the start, Waseda’s Masayuki Miwa had little chance against Komazawa’s strongest runner, Koichi Sakai. The squat, muscular Sakai looks more like a wrestler than a distance runner and is singularly tough on rolling, hilly courses like Hakone’s 9th stage. Although Miwa opened with a 2:49, Sakai came on with a far more effortless-looking 2:42 over the uphill first km. He overtook Miwa with ease at 2.6 km and went on to run a 14:24 5 km split, just 2 seconds off stage record pace. To most commentators’ surprise, Miwa stayed right next to him. At 8.4 km Sakai attacked on a mild downhill, breaking Miwa’s contact and quickly pulling away.
Behind the two leaders there were many changes taking place. Yamanashi Gakuin’s Masato Miyagi caught up to the East Japan Select Team’s Hirotaka Nakamura within the first 2 km. Nakamura runs for Rikkyo University and was the first member of that school’s team to make Hakone in over 40 years. He was not to be easily dropped, matching Miyagi’s pace. Chuo Gakuin’s captain Jun Shinoto caught Tokai’s Takeshi Maegawa at 5.1 km. Toyo’s Takamasa Nakada and Nihon’s captain Shoji Akutsu worked together to drop Daito Bunka’s Naoki Sumida, making it a 2-team race for 10th place. At 11.8 km Akutsu took off and threw away his lumbar support belt, immediately launching a series of sprint attacks against Nakada. In each case the Toyo runner was able to respond. Sumida continued to slow, losing a place to Nittai’s Kota Noguchi at 14 km.
While Sakai continued to widen his lead, it became clear that he was not going to win the stage best title. Chuo Gakuin’s Shinoto went through the 14.7 km checkpoint 1 second ahead of stage record pace and accelerating. He passed Miyagi and Nakamura to move into 3rd, all but guaranteeing Chuo Gakuin its best-ever finish. At 20 km he was 7 seconds ahead of stage record pace. At the same time, Nakada dropped Akutsu and Chuo’s Nobuhiko Hirakawa passed Teikyo’s Kanenori Oda to strengthen Chuo’s claim on a seeded placing. Nakamura dropped the exhausted Miyagi easily, opening a gap of almost a minute.
Komazawa’s Sakai came to the handoff zone with a comfortable 1:21 lead over Waseda. Shinoto was next, picking up a stellar additional 30 seconds on the course record over the final 3.2 km to finish in 1:08:01, a stage record by 37 seconds. It was Chuo Gakuin’s first ever stage record and as the largest of the three stage records set at this year’s Hakone was good enough to earn Shinoto the overall MVP award over stars Mekubo Mogusu and Yuki Sato. Shinoto, a one-time national steeplechase champion, said he hopes to run the 3000 m steeplechase at the Beijing Olympics.
Tokyo Nogyo’s Tomohiro Shiiya pulled off an exciting finish, making it to the handoff zone 4 seconds before the cutoff time. Back at the 17.2 km point, Daito Bunka’s Sumida was in serious trouble. He stopped running, talked to his coach and a race official, then slowly restarted. The cutoff time at the next handoff zone passed with Shiiya still far away, and Daito Bunka’s anchor Muga Hamazaki began with a white tasuki. At 19 km Hamazaki stopped again, then began walking with his coach next to him. He began to run again but when he stopped again at 21.75 km a race official immediately withdrew him from the race, eliminating Daito Bunka from the ekiden. In post-race interviews Daito Bunka’s coach *** Maeda told reporters that, like Juntendo’s Hiroyuki Ono the day before, Sumida had suffered from dehydration. When Sumida slowed to a walk, his legs cramped to the point that he was unable to move any further. His elimination tied the Hakone DNF record of 2 schools, while Daito Bunka’s anchor Hamazaki continued on unaware.
1. Komazawa: 9:53:59 (Koichi Sakai, 4th yr.: 1:09:14)
2. Waseda: 9:55:20 (Masayuki Miwa, 3rd yr.: 1:10:51)
3. Chuo Gakuin: 9:59:25 (Jun Shinoto, 4th yr.: 1:08:01 new stage record)
4. East Japan Select Team: 10:00:39 (Hirotaka Nakamura, 3rd yr., Rikkyo Univ.: 1:11:29)
5. Yamanashi Gakuin: 10:01:38 (Masato Miyagi, 3rd yr.: 1:12:13)
10th Stage: 23.1 km
Waseda’s anchor Yoichi Kanzawa made a good effort to take back the lead Waseda had held since the previous day’s 5th stage. Over the first 13 km of the 10th stage he slowly but steadily gained on Komazawa’s Yukinori Ota. In the final 10 km the strain of making up ground caught up with him and he began to fade, while Ota continued on steadily to bring Komazawa back to the winner’s stand for the first time in 3 years. Little else changed in the upper echelons until Shinpei Miyata of 2006 winners Asia caught Yamanashi Gakuin’s Go Nakagawa at 13 km to move into 5th place.
Further back, the race to make the top 10 gained dramatic momentum. Pre-race favorite Tokai was down to 7th place as its anchor and captain Takehiro Arakawa ran unexpectedly slowly. Chuo’s Masashi Kada and Teikyo’s captain Takayuki Tanabe were a short distance behind and closing. Not much farther behind Teikyo was Toyo’s Yoshimitsu Kishimura in 10th. Behind him, Nihon’s Takuma Sasaya was waging a furious battle to make up the 40 second gap he inherited at the stage’s start, with Josai’s Yoshito Nagaiwa out of range but running even faster in 13th. Sasaya relentlessly pushed the pace, down 30 seconds on Kishimura at 16.6 km and 10 seconds at 20.4 km. It looked simply a question of Sasaya having enough ground left to make up the last few meters separating him from earning Nihon a seeded slot.
Everything changed abruptly at 20.9 km. With no warning, Tokai’s Arakawa stopped and fell. He could not continue the final 2.4 km and was swiftly given a red flag, eliminating Tokai and making history as the first time 3 schools have been eliminated in the same edition of the Hakone Ekiden. In post-race interviews Tokai’s coach revealed that Arakawa had caught his foot in a railroad crossing at the 6 km point and had done some ligament damage. Despite the pain he had continued running as long as he could, but his leg had simply given out when he began his final push to stay ahead of Chuo and Teikyo.
With Tokai out of the race, both Toyo and Nichidai each had a seeded slot secured. Sasaya nevertheless continued his attack and successfully overtook Kishimura at 21.2 km to take 9th place. Josai’s Nagaiwa caught Nittai’s Kazuya Deguchi at 21.5 km to take 11th place, also taking the stage best time. This was Josai’s 2nd time to take the stage best on the anchor leg in the last 3 years.
1. Komazawa: 11:05:00 (Yukinori Ota, 3rd yr.: 1:11:01)
2. Waseda: 11:07:29 (Yuichi Kanzawa, 2nd yr.: 1:12:09)
3. Chuo Gakuin: 11:11:05 (Masaki Ikeda, 4th yr.: 1:11:40)
4. East Japan Select Team: 11:12:25 (Ryuichi Yokota, 4th yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.: 1:11:45)
5. Asia: 11:14:19 (Shinpei Miyata, 4th yr.: 1:11:20)
stage best: Yoshito Nagaiwa, 2nd yr., Josai Univ.: 1:10:14
Day Two Results:
1. Komazawa: 5:30:38
2. Chuo Gakuin: 5:33:49 (new stage record: Jun Shinoto, 9th stage (23.2 km): 1:08:01
3. Waseda: 5:34:21
4. East Japan Select Team: 5:36:00
5. Teikyo: 5:36:14
6. Asia: 5:36:16
7. Josai: 5:37:00
8. Chuo: 5:37:29
9. Nittai: 5:38:40
10. Toyo: 5:38:49
11. Kanagawa: 5:38:59
12. Nihon: 5:39:05
13. Senshu: 5:39:40
14. Yamanashi Gakuin: 5:39:53
15. Kokushikan: 5:42:08
16. Tokyo Nogyo: 5:43:24
[Juntendo: 5:43:32 – out of competition]
17. Hosei: 5:45:43
Tokai: DNF, 10th stage (new stage record: Yuki Sato, 7th stage (21.3 km): 1:02:35)
Daito Bunka: DNF, 9th stage
For overall results please see the bottom of this article.
© 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
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