japan running news

青学優勝、そして 3連覇 おめでとうございます 😭 🎉 🥇 🎽 🏃🏻

今年も強すぎた … (;o;)#箱根駅伝#箱根駅伝2017#青学駅伝pic.twitter.com/Bo23nJGGjh — m i s a k i (@m_k10__) January 3, 2017
by Brett Larner
click here for Day One report

Holding onto a slim 33-second lead from Day One, Aoyama Gakuin University became the fourth school in history to win all three university men's ekidens in a single season and the sixth to win Japan's most prestigious and popular race three years in a row as it held off rival Waseda University to take the 2017 HakoneEkiden title.

【箱根駅伝 復路 2017.01.03】６区
小野田勇次 選手（青山学院大） pic.twitter.com/p4Bs2WEGMF — ▽ みさと (@run_nur07) January 3, 2017
With 109.6 km before them on the Day Two course, to have a chance of making up the 33-second deficit Waseda needed to stay in range of Aoyama Gakuin on the first leg of the day, the 20.8 km Sixth Stage with over 800 m elevation loss.  This was no easy task given that Aoyama Gakuin was running second-year Yuji Onoda, 2nd on the same stage last year.  Proving himself a…

by Brett Larner
photos by @rikujolove
click here for Hakone Ekiden Day One report and results

After leading the first day of Japan's biggest race the entire way, defending champion Aoyama Gakuin University did it again on the return trip to become the first school in 39 years to lead the Hakone Ekiden start to finish.  Starting the day with a margin of 3:04 over 2015 National University Ekiden champion Toyo University Aoyama Gakuin had some room for error over the 5-stage, 109.6 km Day Two race, but even so head coach Susumu Hara took a major gamble in putting unknown Yuji Onoda, a 1st-year with no university ekiden, half marathon or 10000 m credentials and a 5000 m best of only 14:15.70, onto the day's leading stage, the 20.8 Sixth Stage with 800 m of brutal descent.  In doing it he also showed why is the best current coach in Japan, as Onoda responded to the challenge by tying the course record in 58:31.  For Toyo to have a chance it needed to make up serious ground on the Six…