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Second Stage Course Record Breaker Vincent Yegon Named Hakone Ekiden MVP


Tokyo Kokusai University 2nd-year Vincent Yegon was awarded the Kanaguri Cup as the MVP of the 2021 Hakone Ekiden for setting a new course record of 1:05:49 for the 23.1 km Second Stage. Yegon took 8 seconds off the record that 10000 m national record holder Akira Aizawaa of Toyo University had set last year, the first new record on Hakone's most competitive stage in 11 years. "It's a great honor to receive this award," said Yegon. "I'm happy. This season this was the best performance I was capable of."

Yegon is the first runner from Tokyo Kokusai University and the first non-Japanese athlete to win the Kanaguri Cup. He now holds the records on both the Second and Third Stages, having taken more than two minutes off the Third Stage record at the 2020 race. Motivated for more, he said, " I want to keep trying to break stage course records. Next time my main goal will be to have a good race on the Fourth Stage."
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TS said…
One of the charming elements of every Hakone Ekiden is watching these guys nearly pass out and get carried away post run after clearly giving their all. Then there is Vincent...who just broke the record for the most prestigious stage...and he's standing there looking like he's got 30 seconds until his next mile repeat. True MVP or not, that run was truly amazing...not even mentioning the fact that he helped carry the Soka dude and completely destroyed Tazawa.
January 5, 2021 at 10:48 AM
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