The level at the Hakone Ekiden just keeps going up and up. Every year it seems like it can't go any further, and then it does. 3 stages this year had new course records, 9 out of 10 legs had at least one all-time top 10 mark, and 4 stages had 4 times inside their best-ever 10. In the absolute sense, shoes have played a part in that over the last few years, but in a relative sense the best college teams have at least equalled the top of the corporate leagues, and the teams behind them are getting closer and closer to the same level.
© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
At this year's 98th running on Jan. 2 and 3 Aoyama Gakuin University broke its own course record to make it 6 wins in 8 years. AGU clocked 10:43:42 for the complete 10-stage, 217.1 km course, an average of 2:57.9/km the entire way. How does that compare to Honda, which won the New Year Ekiden corporate men's championships on Jan. 1? Honda ran 4:51:04 for the 7-stage, 100.0 km course, averaging 2:54.6/km over an average 14.3 km stage length. Two of Hakone's stages have net elevation changes of 691 m, one going up and one going down. Taking those out and using AGU's best 7 of its remaining 8 performances, it did 154.1 km in 7:29:04, an average of 2:54.8/km over an average 22.0 km stage length. You'd have to think that if its runners were handling shorter stages like the corporate teams they'd be able to find the extra 0.3 sec.
11 teams at Hakone broke 11 hours for the complete 217.1 km course, the most since this version of the route started being used in 2015. Kanagawa University was 12th in exactly 11:00:00, and 3 other teams were within 28 seconds of them. Apart from 2020, when 10 teams broke 11, there's never been more than 3. 2017 didn't have any. The last 4 teams at the New Year Ekiden this year ran slower than 11-hour pace, 3:02.4/km.
On the New Year Ekiden's longest stage, 22.4 km, just 4 weeks after finishing 2nd at the final Fukuoka International Marathon, Kyohei Hosoya of the Kurosaki Harima team ran a 1:03:43 course record, a pace that would give 1:00:01 for the half marathon vs. the Japanese NR of 1:00:00. Out of the field of 37 runners on the stage, which drops about 15 m and had a tailwind of 8.5 m/s, 9 ran equivalent to sub-1:01 for the half marathon, 18 sub-1:02, and 31 sub-1:03.
Wind was a much smaller factor at Hakone, where its field of only 21 teams produced the sub-1:03 equivalent performances and stage-winning times below. As you can see, the 21.3 km First Stage alone almost equalled the New Year Ekiden's longest stage, with 6 sub-1:01 equivalents and 17 sub-1:02, but with less than 2/3 the field size, 1/3 the drop, and 1/5 the tailwind. You can also see how good the performances on the Second Stage were when you take into account the extra distance and substantial net climb, and how the generational talents still shine through the higher overall level.
First Stage CR breaker Yamato Yoshii (Chuo Univ.) is the U20 NR holder for 5000 m, and Second Stage winner Ren Tazawa (Komazawa Univ.) was the 2nd-fastest Japanese man ever on the stage. He's also the 2nd-fastest ever for 10000 m on the track. The only one faster on the stage Akira Aizawa (Toyo Univ.), is also the 10000 m NR holder. The two Kenyans faster than Tazawa in the Second Stage record books, Vincent Yegon (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) and Mekubo Mogusu (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) are 0.98 and 3.12 seconds slower than him for 10000 m, Mogusu in the previous shoe era.
First Stage 21.3 km, 4.5 m drop, +1.7 m/s wind
Yamato Yoshii (Chuo Univ.) - 1:00:05 - CR
Takumi Karasawa (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:00:44
Tomoki Ichimura (Tokai Univ.) - 1:00:49
Akihito Kimura (Senshu Univ.) - 1:00:49
Hayato Shiki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:50
Kota Fujiki (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:51
Yuta Nakayama (Select Team) - 1:01:06
Masaya Yamatani (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 1:01:14
Ryuichiro Ono (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:01:16
Shunta Uchida (Hosei Univ.) - 1:01:23
Kyosuke Kogure (Kokushikan Univ.) - 1:01:28
Riku Makita (Kanagawa Univ.) - 1:01:28
Yusuke Kodama (Toyo Univ.) - 1:01:32
Kyosuke Teshima (Meiji Univ.) - 1:01:38
Tatsuya Kiyama (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:39
Jun Kasai (Soka Univ.) - 1:01:45
Ryuto Igawa (Waseda Univ.) - 1:01:47
Taisei Kiyono (Surugadai Univ.) - 1:02:44
Second Stage 23.1 km, 53 m gain, +2.1 m/s wind
Ren Tazawa (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:00:29
Vincent Raimoi (Kokushikan Univ.) - 1:00:54
Philip Muluwa (Soka Univ.) - 1:00:54
Paul Onyiego (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:01
Vincent Yegon (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 1:01:13
Kazuki Matsuyama (Toyo Univ.) - 1:01:13
Kotaro Kondo (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:20
Fuma Nakamura (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:01:21
Koki Kamata (Hosei Univ.) - 1:01:22
Tamaki Fujimoto (Nittai Univ.) - 1:01:31
Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:01:52
Kenzo Ichiji (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:58
Neo Namiki (Select Team) - 1:02:21
Taiju Nishikata (Kanagawa Univ.) - 1:02:42
Yuhi Nakaya (Waseda Univ.) - 1:02:47
Shun Teshima (Chuo Univ.) - 1:02:54
Third Stage 21.4 km, 51 m drop, +2.5 m/s wind
Ken Tansho (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 1:00:03
Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:08
Tatsuya Iyoda (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:00:27
Daichi Endo (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:00:47
Ayumu Yamamoto (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:06
Naoki Ota (Waseda Univ.) - 1:01:30
Takuro Miura (Chuo Univ.) - 1:01:45
Mahiro Sato (Toyo Univ.) - 1:01:53
Reo Ohata (Nittai Univ.) - 1:01:54
Ruina Bukawa (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:16
Itsuki Koizumi (Hosei Univ.) - 1:02:26
Kosei Machida (Surugadai Univ.) - 1:02:41
Atsushi Utsuno (Kanagawa Univ.) - 1:02:43
Masaki Kodama (Meiji Univ.) - 1:02:45
Ryoma Kamizono (Tokai) - 1:02:52
Shunsuke Saito (Select Team) - 1:02:53
Fourth Stage 20.9 km, 32.5 m gain, -1.1 m/s wind
Yudai Shimazu (Soka Univ.) - 1:01:43
Kazuki Ishii (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:02:06
Takayuki Iida (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:21
Taiga Nakanishi (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:25
Shota Nakano (Chuo Univ.) - 1:02:52
Haruto Ishizuka (Waseda Univ.) - 1:02:55
Daiki Ozawa (Meiji Univ.) - 1:02:58
Fifth Stage 20.8 km, 691 m gain
Shoma Hosoya (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:11:34
Sixth Stage 20.8 km, 691 m drop
Keito Makise (Juntendo Univ.) - 59:12
Seventh Stage 21.3 km, 32.5 m drop, -0.6 m/s wind
Hironori Kishimoto (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:03
Shunpei Tomita (Meiji Univ.) - 1:02:26
Haruta Koshi (Tokai Univ.) - 1:02:33
Eighth Stage 21.4 km, 49 m gain, -2.5 m/s wind
Masaki Tsuda (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:03:34
Ninth Stage 23.1 km, 51 m drop, -2.2 m/s wind
Yuito Nakamura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:25 - CR
Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:13
Jin Yuasa (Chuo Univ.) - 1:02:35
Chikara Yamano (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:49
Tenth Stage 23.0 km, 4 m gain, -1.9 m/s wind
Hironobu Nakakura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:13 - CR
Excluding the mountain stages, out of 168 runners across 8 stages, this year's Hakone Ekiden produced a total of 13 sub-1:01 collegiate half marathon performances, 40 sub-1:02, and 65 sub-1:03, all but 4 by Japanese athletes. As we've shown before, the level at Hakone gives a good idea of how Japan's marathoners are going to look 4~6 years down the road. If you take the level at the New Year Ekiden as an indication of where things are for the marathoners right now, the future is looking very good indeed.
Comments
The first and second stage runs numbers were impressive. Especially the second considering the hills.
I think it shows there's potential for a sub 60 half marathon relatively soon by one of these guys and it makes it really interesting to watch their development.
Is there any half marathon or event anytime soon where most of these guys will be line up again against each other?
I hope to see some of them at the national ekiden on 23rd January to start with.