Skip to main content

Call Him Silva: Natsuki Terada and a Classic Hakone Finish (updated)

Trying to bring Koku Gakuin University home to its first-ever top ten seeded bracket Hakone Ekiden finish in a four-way sprint for the last three seeded spots, with less than 200 m to go on a 23.1 km stage at the end of a 217.9 km race in front of a live TV audience in the tens of millions freshman anchor Natsuki Terada kicks to the front and.....follows the camera truck off the course. Terada's coach Yasuhiro Maeda told reporters afterward, "I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head." Amazingly, Terada comes back to take the final seeded spot in 10th.

The clip below is from the "Mo Hitotsu no Hakone Ekiden" documentary which aired last weekend. The clip shows coach Maeda following Terada in a car during the last km. I'll try to get time to do a translation of the audio, but it's pretty easy to follow his range of emotions and he is essentially saying what it looks like he is saying all the way through.


Comments

Dusty said…
Do you know of anywhere online where I can find a copy of the entire race? I tried Keyhole TV and it would work for one minute, then stutter, then stop. I want to watch this race so badly!
Brett Larner said…
Dusty--

Sorry to hear Keyhole didn't work out for you. I was in Canada at the time and had the same problem initially. We reloaded the newest version of the player and the streaming improved dramatically, but several thousand people were watching by the last stage on each day and it did get choppy.

As far as the race being available online, no, it's about 14 hours of coverage so I can't imagine it being up for download anywhere. I recorded it, though.
Phil Suh said…
Brett--

Nippon Tele had a couple specials on TV this past Sunday. One was called "もうひとつの箱根駅伝", a one hour special covering some of the behind-the-scenes views of the race.

Evidently they have cameras in the coach's cars -- and of course the best reactions came from Kokugaku University's coach Maeda as he watched his 10th stage runner Terada run off course and then back on. It is absolutely riveting footage.

Did you see it? I recorded it, but I am trying to figure out a way to get it up on Youtube or something now.

P.S. LOVED your coverage of the race. I was down at Shinagawa on Day 2 cheering the racers as they came back through, armed with my 1 seg TV and your twitter feed. Definitely the best Hakone ever.
Phil Suh said…
someone already youtubed it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_UNgXYN48w
Brett Larner said…
Phil--

Thanks, glad my Twitter feed was helpful. I did from the wildlands of northern Vancouver Island. Yes, I did see Mo Hitotsu. Always interesting to see some of the inside stories, like Murasawa not knowing how far up he had advanced. Thanks for the link to the Youtube clip as well. If I have time I'll translate the audio for non-Japanese speakers.
Phil S said…
Brett - here's another video w English annotations. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrKz5QspAuU

Terada's coach cracks me up every time I watch it. I didn't bother trying to translate everything because it really is better just to watch and enjoy what happens.

Most-Read This Week

Chien Breaks TPE NR, Iwata Betters ID-Class WR - Weekend Track Roundup

The last weekend of the academic and fiscal year saw at least 5 meets with good results domestically and abroad. Kicking things off Friday was the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, where Tomohiro Shinno and Naoto Hasegawa took 1st and 3rd in the men's high jump, both of them only clearing 2.18 m along with 2nd-placer Roman Anastasios . 12 other Japanese athletes were in action on the second day of the meet on Saturday, where 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura ran 3:42.84 for 6th in the men's 1500 m. Nagiya Mori had a better one in the men's 3000 m with a 7:45.40 for 4th. Both Yota Mashiko and Rui Suzuki cleared 8:00 too, Mashiko's 7:53.84 the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese-born high schooler. Abigail Fuka Ido and Nagisa Takahashi both placed 3rd in their events, Ido going 23.85 (-0.9) in the women's 200 m and Takahashi clearing 1.82 m in the women's high jump. 8 Japanese men were at The TEN in California to run 10000 m. In the B-heat won by Edward Marks in ...

JAAF Announces World Road Running Championships Half Marathon Team

The JAAF announced the men's and women's half marathon teams today for this fall's World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen: Women Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon) - 1:09:14 (1st, 2026 Osaka Half) Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:09:20 (1st, 2026 Nat'l Corp. Half) Rina Shimizu (Noritz) - 1:09:22 (2nd, 2026 Osaka Half) Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) - 1:09:23 (3rd, 2026 Osaka Half) Men Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 1:00:22 (4th, 2026 Marugame Half) Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:26 (5th, 2026 Marugame Half) Neo Namiki (Subaru) - 1:00:29 (6th, 2026 Marugame Half) Daisuke Sato (Chuo Univ.) - 1:00:40 (7th, 2026 Marugame Half) Mile and 5 km teams, if any, will be decided after June's National Track and Field Championships. © 2026 Brett Larner , all rights reserved

Updates on Transfers

April 1 is the start of Japan's new academic and fiscal year, and there's always a wave of transfer announcements to go with it. Some notable ones yesterday: 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo skipped university to go straight to 2023 Queens Ekiden national champion Sekisui Kagaku after her graduation from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. Multiple NR holder Nozomi Tanaka rejoined the Toyota Jidoshokki women's team after having left it to pursue a solo pro career as a New Balance athlete. Already on the team for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games in the 10000 m, Ririka Hironaka announced a switch from her longtime home at Japan Post to the Uniqlo women's team. Collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda joined the 2026 national champion GMO corporate team after graduating from 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University last week. Hakone Ekdien First Stage CR holder Rui Aoki joins the Sumitomo Denko corporate team after running his final race for 2025 Izumo Ekiden w...