Komazawa Defends National University Ekiden Title by 8 Seconds Over Aoyama Gakuin

Despite missing star 2nd-year Mebuki Suzuki, last year's national champion Komazawa University pulled-off a late stage reversal to win a second-straight National University Men's Ekiden title by one of the tightest margins in the race's history.

First-year Shoji Sato broke the course record on the opening leg by 2 seconds to put Komazawa out front, but a string of weak runs on the middle stages knocked it off the eight-deep podium. It took until the Sixth Stage for Komazawa's luck to turn around with 2nd-year Taiyo Yasuhara taking them from 9th to 4th. That put #1 man Ren Tazawa in position to take the lead by 18 seconds over the perpetually strong Aoyama Gakuin University with the fastest-ever time by a Japanese man on the stage, 50:36 for 17.6 km.

AGU anchor Takayuki Iida reeled in Komazawa's Yuki Hanao midway through the 19.7 km stage, but instead of going by he tucked in. Hanao responded by gradually slowing down, saving his energy for a last move that came with 2 km to go. His kick was too much for Iida, and Hanao easily pulled away to open an 8-second lead by the end of the stage. Komazawa covered the 8-stage, 106.8 km course in 5:12:58.

En route there was a lot of turnover, with Juntendo University, Izumo Ekiden winner Tokyo Kokusai University and Waseda University all taking turns up front before Komazawa took over. Juntendo's Ryuji Miura, a finalist in the steeplechase at this summer's Olympics, had an especially good run to put Juntendo in the lead, and TKU had new stage records from both 2021 Hakone Ekiken MVP Vincent Yegon and 3rd-year Ken Tansho.

The race for the last place on the 8-deep podium and a guaranteed return trip to next year's Nationals was very tight at the final exchange, with three teams within a minute of 8th-place Chuo University and more just further back. But Chuo succeeded in holding on, knocking longtime podium resident Toyo University off for the first time in over a decade. The National University Select Team overtook Nittai University for 15th, but with fifteen Kanto Region schools in the field the top non-Kanto program was Kansei Gakuin University in 16th.

53rd National University Men's Ekiken

Aichi-Mie, 7 Nov. 2021

27 teams, 8 stages, 106.8 km

complete results

Top Individual Stage Results

First Stage - 9.5 km

1. Shoji Sato (Komazawa Univ.) - 27:05 - CR

2. Yamato Yoshii (Chuo Univ.) - 27:05

3. Yoshinori Shimazaki (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 27:06

Second Stage - 11.1 km

1. Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) - 31:30

2. Ryuto Igawa (Waseda Univ.) - 31:48

2. Masaki Kodama (Meiji Univ.) - 31:48

Third Stage - 11.9 km

1. Vincent Yegon (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 32:46 - CR

2. Joseph Lemeteki Razini (Takushoku Univ.) - 33:21

3. Hironori Kishimoto (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 33:55

Fourth Stage - 11.8 km

1. Yuki Takahashi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 34:08

1. Kosuke Ishida (Toyo Univ.) - 34:08

3. Daiki Ozawa (Meiji Univ.) - 34:11

Fifth Stage - 12.4 km

1. Issei Sato (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 35:57

2. Yusaku Nomura (Juntendo Univ.) - 36:05

3. Takuro Miura (Chuo Univ.) - 36:19

Sixth Stage - 12.8 km

1. Ken Tansho (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 37:12 - CR

2. Taiyo Yasuhara (Komazawa Univ.) - 37:30

2. Fuma Nakamura (Teikyo Univ.) - 37:30

Seventh Stage - 17.6 km

1. Ren Tazawa (Komazawa) - 50:36

2. Kotaro Kondo (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 50:54

3. Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 52:22

Eighth Stage - 19.7 km

1. Kenzo Ijichi (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 58:33

2. Shunsuke Shikama (Juntendo Univ.) - 58:54

3. Takayuki Iida (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 59:02

Top Team Results

top 8 qualify for 2022 Nationals

1. Komazawa University - 5:12:58

2. Aoyama Gakuin University - 5:13:06

3. Juntendo University - 5:14:20

4. Koku Gakuin University - 5:14:53

5. Tokyo Kokusai University - 5:15:13

6. Waseda University - 5:16:29

7. Meiji University - 5:16:46

8. Chuo University - 5:17:06

-----

9. Hosei University - 5:17:39

10. Toyo University - 5:17:58

11. Chuo Gakuin University - 5:19:09

12. Tokai University - 5:19:10

Murayama and Sasaki Making U.S. Debut at New York Mini 10 km

Every year since 2012 that there's been a United Airlines NYC Half , JRN has partnered with the NYRR and November's Ageo City Half Marathon to bring two top-tier collegiate Japanese men to the NYC Half for what's usually been their international debuts. For years we've wanted to extend that program to include top collegiate women, but that has always faced 2 problems. For one, while the half marathon distance is the main focus for Japanese collegiate men due to the stage lengths at the Hakone Ekiden, few collegiate women run it. Those that do run the National University Women's Half Marathon in Matsue, held the same day as the NYC Half. This year, though, we're finally making it happen in a slightly different way. Amisa Murayama and Nazuki Sasaki of 2025 Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national collegiate championship runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University are joining the field for the NYRR's Mastercard New York Mini 10 km on June 6. After running an 18:14 CR ...

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."...

Some Reflections on the Ekiden

by Brett Larner This ekiden season I've had a few thoughts kicking around, and watching this week's Hakone Ekiden a few of them became clearer. These are still in progress, but at the moment this is what I'm thinking in terms of running as a spectator sport and about the quality of Japanese men's distance running right now. Quality: Japanese men's running is coming up very, very quickly. I was in the lead car at November's Ageo City Half Marathon , where 18 men, 17 of them university runners, broke 63 minutes. As it was going on we all thought it was a slow race because there were so many people running that pace all the way, no separation at all in the mass of the pack. See the JRN header photo above, taken just past halfway. That's pretty unusual in Japan, especially at the university level; generally you'll get a handful of guys who run an aggressive pace and a mass running dead on a safe pace, 3:00/km in a half marathon, for example. Th...

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