On Nov. 20 Yuji Kawasaki, head coach at Chuo Gakuin University and acting coach of the Kanto Region Student Alliance team for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden, announced that team members would be allowed to choose which stage they will run, with first pick given to the highest-placing finisher at October's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifier half marathon and going down the team's roster in finishing order. "They made this team by running the Yosenkai, so they'll get to pick their stage in the order in which they finished there," he said. "Whatever stage the top finisher wants to run, that's what he'll run."
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Top placer Hayate Nitta, a 4th-year at Ikuei University and 33rd at the Yosenkai in 1:03:28, chose the First Stage. Ryutsu Keizai University 2nd-year Ryu Hasegawa, 34th in 1:03:32, opted for either the Second or Third Stage. Akio Hashimoto, a 3rd-year at Shibaura Kogyo University and 36th in 1:03:37, picked the famous uphill Fifth Stage. "The announcement of the stage entries on Dec. 29 will be the ten athletes who will actually run those stages," said Kawasaki. "After that, if for example the athlete on the Second Stage gets sick or has something else go wrong, the 11th man on the team will run the Second Stage."
27-year old Hiroaki Furukawa, a 2nd-year PhD candidate at Tokyo University Graduate School who previously studied at Kumamoto University and Kyushu University Graduate School was the 13th-placer on the team roster at the Yosenkai, giving him a low chance of actually running at Hakone. On Nov. 15 he was diagnosed with COVID-19 and was absent from the Nov. 20 team meeting at Tokyo's New National Stadium.
The team athlete and staff roster, with Yosenkai performance:
Hayate Nitta (4th yr, Ikuei Univ.) - 33rd, 1:03:28
Ryu Hasegawa (2nd yr, Ryutsu Keizai Univ.) - 34th, 1:03:32
Akio Hashimoto (3rd yr, Shibaura Kogyo Univ.) - 36th, 1:03:37
Hiroto Kudo (2nd yr, Reitaku Univ.) - 37th, 1:03:47
Takuto Yamada (4th yr, Takushoku Univ.) - 44th, 1:03:54
Kazunori Minakawa (3rd yr, Tsukuba Univ.) - 63rd, 1:04:10
Akihito Kawada (4th yr, Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 74th, 1:04:26
Risei Uchino (3rd yr, Kanto Gakuin Univ.) - 77th, 1:04:27
Ryuto Hatae (2nd yr, Nihon Yakka Univ.) - 83rd, 1:04:29
Aoi Sato (2nd yr, Heisei Kokusai Univ.) - 84th, 1:04:30
Yusuke Kaigawa (4th yr, Keio Univ.) - 85th, 1:04:31
Kota Enomoto (2nd yr, Meiji Gakuin Univ.) - 94th, 1:04:40
Hiroaki Furukawa (2nd yr PhD, Tokyo Univ. Grad School) - 100th, 1:04:42
Yusuke Inaba (2nd yr, Obirin Univ.) - 107th, 1:04:44
Shota Nishimura (3rd yr, Nihon Univ.) - 110th, 1:04:45
Ryuki Yoshioka (4th yr, Asia Univ.) - 115th, 1:04:50
head coach: Yuji Kawasaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.)
assistant coach: Masashi Kawano (Nihon Univ.)
assistant coach: Tatsuya Yamakawa (Reitaku Univ.)
manager: Hiroaki Iida (Tokyo Toshin Univ.)
manager: Naoto Adachi (Chuo Gakuin Univ.)
translated by Brett Larner
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