by Brett Larner
photos by rikujolove
click here for Hakone Ekiden Day One report and results
After an inspiring Hakone Ekiden Day One performance that saw first-year Kazuki Tamura set the Fourth Stage record and third-year Daichi Kamino deliver a soaring record on the famous uphill Fifth Stage on the way to a Day One course record win, Aoyama Gakuin University came to Day Two of Hakone's 91st running aspiring to something even higher.
With a 4:59 lead and 109.6 km to run Aoyama Gakuin had a margin of nearly 3 seconds per km over the nearest competition, Meiji University, and more over defending champion Toyo University and the heavy pre-race favorite, four-time National University Ekiden winner Komazawa University. Head coach Susumu Hara was cautiously optimistic pre-race, saying that he was most concerned about the Sixth Stage, with over 800 m of icy downhill in the middle 10 km of a 20.8 km leg, and that if they could get through that safely then the rest of the team would be a…
photos by rikujolove
click here for Hakone Ekiden Day One report and results
After an inspiring Hakone Ekiden Day One performance that saw first-year Kazuki Tamura set the Fourth Stage record and third-year Daichi Kamino deliver a soaring record on the famous uphill Fifth Stage on the way to a Day One course record win, Aoyama Gakuin University came to Day Two of Hakone's 91st running aspiring to something even higher.
With a 4:59 lead and 109.6 km to run Aoyama Gakuin had a margin of nearly 3 seconds per km over the nearest competition, Meiji University, and more over defending champion Toyo University and the heavy pre-race favorite, four-time National University Ekiden winner Komazawa University. Head coach Susumu Hara was cautiously optimistic pre-race, saying that he was most concerned about the Sixth Stage, with over 800 m of icy downhill in the middle 10 km of a 20.8 km leg, and that if they could get through that safely then the rest of the team would be a…