Results at the 99th Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2 and 3 this year showed that the high level seen over the last few years hasn't slowed down at all. Eleven university teams cleared 11:00:00 for the complete 10-leg, 217.1 km course, tying last year's record numbers. Before 2020, when ten teams did it, there had never been more than three in a single edition. Winner Komazawa University's time was the 3rd-fastest ever, with runner-up Chuo University running the 5th-fastest ever and 3rd-placer Aoyama Gakuin University the 9th-fastest. Komazawa and Chuo were both in the all-time top ten for both the Day One and Day Two segments, with overall 7th-placer Hosei University the 10th-fastest ever for Day Two.
© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Both Komazawa and Chuo went under the 3:00/km barrier for average pace over the entire course, which includes a stage that climbs to 874 m elevation and another that drops back down. At the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships, where teams run 100.0 km in seven legs with only one leg over 20 km, six of the 36 teams in the race couldn't manage 3:00/km average pace.
Komazawa won Hakone in 10:47:11, 2:58.9/km. For 100.0 km that would be 4:58:06. Ten of the 36 New Year Ekiden corporate teams were slower than that. Take out the two mountain stages and Komazawa's slowest remaining performer to give them the same number of people as a New Year Ekiden team and they averaged 2:56.8/km, 4:54:42 for 100 km. That would have put them in 17th out of 36 at the New Year Ekiden even though Komazawa's runners averaged 22.0 km each versus 14.3 km each for the corporate leaguers. Top 10 would have taken 2:55.7/km, the win 2:52.9.
In individual performances, two legs saw new course records. Vincent Yegon of Tokyo Kokusai University ran a new record of 1:00:00 for the 20.9 km 4th leg, and Yuito Yamamoto of Josai University ran a record 1:10:04 for the uphill 20.8 km 5th leg. Across seven legs a total of 19 athletes ran all-time top ten marks, with only the 1st, 3rd and downhill 6th legs not producing history book-making times.
Standardizing athletes' performances to the 21.0975 km half marathon distance, 67 people ran the equivalent of a sub-1:03 half marathon, 27 went sub-1:02, and 5 sub-1:01. Compared to last year, when there were 65 sub-1:03, 40 sub-1:02 and 13 sub-1:01, front-end numbers were down this year, but that was mostly due to a strategic 1st leg this time versus an aggressive CR-breaking start in 2022. Depth at the sub-1:03 level was up slightly.
Standardized to the half marathon distance, the fastest run at Hakone this year was of course Yegon's 4th leg CR, which was worth a 1:00:34 half marathon. But Chuo's Yamato Yoshii ran the equivalent of 1:00:37 on the longer and hillier 23.1 km 2nd leg, so it's hard to say which was the best performance of the race. Yoshii's 1:00:40 CR on the 21.3 km 1st leg last year translates to 1:00:05 for the half marathon, so it's safe to say he's got a good half marathon in him, maybe Japan's first sub-60. 2nd leg runner-up Kotaro Kondo of AGU ran the equivalent of 1:00:39 and 3rd-placer Ren Tazawa of Komazawa 1:00:48, with Chuo's Shota Nakano running the equivalent of 1:00:59 to win the 21.4 km 3rd leg.
At the New Year Ekiden the only individual leg over 20 km is the 22.4 km leg, where most of Japan's top marathoners are positioned. This year four athletes ran the equivalent of a sub-1:01 half marathon there. Stage winner Yohei Ikeda from the Kao corporate team ran the equivalent of 1:00:20, surpassing Yegon and Yoshii but on an easier course. CR holder Kyohei Hosoya of Kurosaki Harima and overall winner Honda's Naoki Koyama were next at 1:00:52 and 1:00:53, with 4th-placer Ken Yokote of runner-up team Fujitsu clocking the equivalent of 1:00:57.
There's no doubt about the quality of the collegiate athletes at the Hakone Ekiden, and the overall level continues to develop. The buildup to next year's 100th edition of the world's biggest race should see even more, especially among teams that didn't make the top ten this year. They will have to line up in October's Yosenkai half marathon qualifier to try to earn one of the remaining spots, and with all the prestige a start at the 100th Hakone will bring to the teams that make it, that won't be easy.
Comments