From Hakone to the Olympics

by Brett Larner

The Hakone Ekiden is Japan's biggest, most prestigious sporting event, a two-day road relay with twenty university teams of ten men each running roughly a half marathon that pulls in tens of millions of viewers on live TV and along the 210 km+ course. University men focus on Hakone above all else. Jason Lawrence, a New Zealand runner who took part in Josai University's summer training camp for Hakone, wrote, "For most team members if not all, Hakone is the pinnacle of their careers and it's what they think about 24/7."

The media and the public love the catchphrase 箱根から世界へ, from Hakone to the World, Hakone's role as a springboard to the World Championships and, ultimately, the Olympics. But at the same time there is frequent criticism that Hakone has grown too big, too popular, that the focus Lawrence cites is a distraction from prioritizing the Olympics as a career goal. This line of criticism suggests that the very best young talent, the runners who might make top five on their stage at Hakone, are being burned out mentally and physically before they can develop.

And yet, of the seven Japanese men entered in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics long distance events, all seven have run the Hakone Ekiden. Three of them graduated from Toyo University, the first school to break a 3:00/km average pace for the entire distance of Hakone. Five of them made the top five on their stages at some point in their university careers. Three won their stages. One set a new stage record. One is even a current Hakone runner. Originally conceived of as a way to develop Olympic marathoners, there may be problems with the Hakone Ekiden and there may be casualties, but at least this year there is not much evidence to support claims of a negative impact on Japan's future Olympians.

The Hakone Ekiden performance history of Japan's seven Rio long distance men:

Suehiro Ishikawa (36, Honda) - men's marathon
graduated Toyo University 2002

2000 Hakone Ekiden (2nd yr.) - Ninth Stage - 15th
1999 Hakone Ekiden (1st yr.) - Second Stage - 14th

Hisanori Kitajima (31, Yasukawa Denki) - men's marathon
graduated Toyo University 2007

2007 Hakone Ekiden (4th yr.) - Eighth Stage - 1st
2006 Hakone Ekiden (3rd yr.) - Fourth Stage - 8th

Kota Murayama (23, Asahi Kasei) - men's 5000 m, 10000 m
graduated Josai University 2015

2015 Hakone Ekiden (4th yr.) - Second Stage - 2nd
2014 Hakone Ekiden (3rd yr.) - Second Stage - 18th
2013 Hakone Ekiden (2nd yr.) - Second Stage - 15th
2012 Hakone Ekiden (1st yr.) - First Stage - 5th

Suguru Osako (24, NOP) - men's 5000 m, 10000 m
graduated Waseda University 2014

2014 Hakone Ekiden (4th yr.) - First Stage - 5th
2013 Hakone Ekiden (3rd yr.) - Third Stage - 2nd
2012 Hakone Ekiden (2nd yr.) - First Stage - 1st
2011 Hakone Ekiden (1st yr.) - First Stage - 1st

Satoru Sasaki (30, Asahi Kasei) - men's marathon
graduated Daito Bunka University 2008

2008 Hakone Ekiden (4th yr.) - Second Stage - 10th
2007 Hakone Ekiden (3rd yr.) - Fifth Stage - 6th
2006 Hakone Ekiden (2nd yr.) - Fifth Stage - 6th
2005 Hakone Ekiden (2nd yr.) - Fifth Stage - 6th

Kazuya Shiojiri (19, Juntendo University) - men's 3000 mSC
current Juntendo University 2nd-year

2016 Hakone Ekiden (1st yr.) - Second Stage - 5th

Yuta Shitara (24, Honda) - men's 10000 m
graduated Toyo University 2014

2014 Hakone Ekiden (4th yr.) - Third Stage - 1st
2013 Hakone Ekiden (3rd yr.) - Third Stage - 1st
2012 Hakone Ekiden (2nd yr.) - Seventh Stage - 1st, course record
2011 Hakone Ekiden (1st yr.) - Third Stage - 8th

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 Marathon Teams for Nagoya Asian Games

On Mar. 25 the JAAF announced Japan's marathon team lineups for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games. Yuya Yoshida (GMO) and Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) make up the men's team, with Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) and Mikuni Yada (Edion) representing Japan in the women's marathon. Each country can field up to 2 men and 2 women per marathon team at the Asian Games. The top-ranked male and female athletes in the 2025-26 MGC Series rankings were given first priority, with the second slots going to people with high-level performances in the 2025-26 MGC Series. Yoshida ran 2:05:16 to win the 2024 Fukuoka International Marathon, and at February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon ran an excellent 2:06:59 to take the top Japanese spot in the race and in the MGC rankings. After having run the Tokyo World Championships marathon last fall this will be his second-straight marathon national team in a major international championships. Yamashita ran 2:06:18 at February's Osak...

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

japan running news

Search This Blog