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Aoyama Gakuin Outruns Komazawa to Lead Hakone Ekiden Day One



Favorites Komazawa University ran according to plan with a course record on Day One of the 100th Hakone Ekiden, but Aoyama Gakuin University beat them to the punch with an upset win that saw them beat four of Komazawa's best.

Stephen Lemayan (Surugadai Univ.) set the tone in his Hakone Ekiden with a fast start on the 21.3 km First Stage, going through 5 km in 13:59 with only Komazawa's Kotaro Shinohara, AGU's Tomoki Aramaki and Koku Gakuin University's Kenzo Ijichi in touch. Aramaki and Ijichi quickly dropped off, and heading onto the bridge 3 km from the first exchange Shinohara, the fastest-ever Japanese-born half marathoner, picked up the pace to put Komazawa ahead by 23 seconds with the 2nd-fastest time ever on the opening stage, 1:01:02, 1:00:27 half marathon pace. Aramaki faded, dropping to 9th after being caught by the front end of the chase pack.

Mebuki Suzuki handled the 23.1 km Second Stage for Komazawa and ran up to potential with a solo 1:06:20, 1:00:35 half marathon pace, 8th-fastest ever and 4th-best-ever Japanese. But behind him, AGU's Asahi Kuroda backed up excellent runs at the Izumo Ekiden in October and the National University Ekiden in November with a 1:06:07, 1:00:23 half marathon pace, all-time 4th-best and 2nd-best Japanese.

That brought AGU's Aoi Ota within 22 seconds of Komazawa's Keita Sato at the start of the 21.4 km Third Stage, a critical leg for both team's chances. In his debut at a distance over 20 km, Sato went out strong and steady as cold rain began to fall, on track to crush the fastest-ever Japanese time on the leg. Ota went even harder, inexplicably on track to break Vincent Yegon's untouchable 59:25 CR through 10 km. When Ota caught Sato he tucked in behind to catch his breath, then surged at with 3 km to go. Sato responded, and over the remaining distance traded the lead repeatedly. But Ota had one more gear and pulled 4 seconds ahead with an incredible 59:47, over a minute faster than the previous best-ever Japanese time on the stage and equal to a 58:56 half marathon.

Sato finished in 1:00:13, well under target and worth a 59:22 half marathon, but with AGU now just ahead the momentum of the race shifted dramatically. AGU's Issei Sato started fast to add valuable seconds to the lead over Komazawa's Takuma Yamakawa in the early going of the hilly 20.9 km Fourth Stage. Yamakawa looked likely to come back over the second half of the stage, but as the weather worsened he couldn't gain ground. Sato stayed strong, and with a 1:01:10 time, 7th-best-ever on the stage and a 1:01:45 half marathon.

That put AGU 1:26 ahead at the start of the day's final leg, the legendary Fifth Stage climbing to 874 m elevation before a steep drop to the finish at Lake Ashi. The Fifth Stage takes special skills and can produce dramatic changes in running order, so that wasn't an impossible separation for Komazawa's Ibuki Kaneko to make up. But although he ran a strong 1:10:44, 7th-best-ever, like on the previous three legs AGU's Hiroki Wakabayashi was just stronger. Wakabayashi broke the Fifth Stage record by 32 seconds in 1:09:32. AGU totaled 5:18:13 for the 107.5 km Day One course, a stunning 3:03 faster than its own course record. Suzuki brought Komazawa in in 5:20:51, also well under the course record by 2:38 behind.

2:38 is a tough amount to make up over the 109.6 km Day Two course, the downhill Sixth Stage not allowing for the same kind of unpredictability as the Fifth. With that kind of advantage Aoyama Gakuin is well-positioned to stop Komazawa's bid to become the first team to ever win all three major university ekidens two years in a row, especially with head coach Susumu Hara having stacked the last three stages with some of his best athletes. Komazawa executive coach Hiroaki Oyagi told JRN, "We ran according to plan, but they were just a lot faster. It's hard to understand. We just have to try that much harder on Day Two and believe that we can run them down. The Sixth and Ninth Stages will be critical."

The rest of the field was far behind by part way through the Second Stage, with the other two top-ranked teams Koku Gakuin University and last year's runner-up Chuo University suffering setbacks on the opening leg. Chuo never really made it up and finished far back in 13th. Koku Gakuin worked up to 5th by the final exchange, but uphill man Ryuto Uehara had problems and by the end of the stage they dropped back to 6th.

Josai University had the best performance of its history, out in 3rd thanks to a great run from leading man Hayato Nomura, briefly dropping to 5th on the Second Stage but back in 3rd by the end of the Third Leg. Last year's Fifth Stage CR breaker Yuito Yamamoto was 2:09 behind Komazawa's Kaneko and 3:35 behind AGU's Wakabayashi, but with another CR of 1:09:14 he was faster than both, bringing Josai in just off the Day One CR in 5:21:30.

4th through 7th-place Toyo University, Waseda University, Koku Gakuin, and Soka University all finished within 10 minutes of Aoyama Gakuin, meaning they start Day Two with the same time difference with which they finished. Hakone Ekiden qualifier winner Daito Bunka University was 8th in 5:28:54, 10:11 behind, meaning they and everyone behind them start Day Two together 10 minutes behind and carry time handicaps to make up the difference.

Up front Day Two will be a desperate effort from Komazawa to catch back up to Aoyama Gakuin, but further back the battle to get onto the ten-podium will be intense and complex with less than a minute separating 15th-place Yamanashi Gakuin University and Day One 10th-placer Juntendo University. With all of them carrying time handicaps and starting together they'll be right with each other from the start, upping the stakes even further.

100th Hakone Ekiden Day One

Tokyo-Hakone, 2 Jan. 2024
23 teams, 5 stages, 107.5 km

Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (21.3 km)
1. Kotaro Shinohara (3rd yr., Komazawa Univ.) - 1:01:02
2. Daisuke Kuwata (4th yr., Soka Univ.) - 1:01:25
3. Hayato Nomura (4th yr., Josai Univ.) - 1:01:26
4. Shota Nishimura (4th yr., Nihon Univ.) - 1:01:28
5. Juda Hyodo (2nd yr., Tokai Univ.) - 1:01:33

Second Stage (23.1 km) 
1. Asahi Kuroda (2nd yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:06:07
2. Mebuki Suzuki (4th yr., Komazawa Univ.) - 1:06:20
3. Kiyoto Hirabayashi (3rd yr., Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:06:26
4. Tomonori Yamaguchi (2nd yr., Waseda Univ.) - 1:06:31
5. Stephen Muthini (1st yr., Soka Univ.) - 1:06:43

Third Stage (21.4 km) 
1. Aoi Ota (3rd yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 59:47
2. Keita Sato (2nd yr., Komazawa Univ.) - 1:00:13
3. Victor Kimutai (2nd yr., Josai. Univ.) - 1:01:29
4. Rui Aoki (2nd yr., Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:56
5. Fu Ando (4th yr., Nihon Univ.) - 1:01:56

Fourth Stage (20.9 km) 
1. Issei Sato (4th yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:10
2. Kazuki Matsuyama (4th yr., Toyo Univ.) - 1:01:37
3. Jin Yuasa (4th yr., Chuo Univ.) - 1:01:44
4. Hikaru Tsujihara (1st yr., Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:59
5. Shuma Yamanaka (4th yr., Josai Univ.) - 1:02:06

Fifth Stage (20.8 km, ~800m uphill) 
1. Yuito Yamamoto (4th yr., Josai Univ.) - 1:09:14 - CR
2. Hiroki Wakabayashi (3rd yr., Aoyama Gakuin. Univ.) - 1:09:32 (CR)
3. Ibuki Kaneko (4th yr., Komazawa Univ.) - 1:10:44
4. Shunsuke Kikuchi (4th yr., Daito Bunka. Univ.) - 1:11:41
5. Keito Kurashima (2nd yr., Surugadai Univ.) - 1:12:01

Team Results
1. Aoyama Gakuin University - 5:18:13 - CR
2. Komazawa University - 5:20:51 (CR)
3. Josai University - 5:21:30
4. Toyo University - 5:25:19
5. Waseda University - 5:26:05
6. Koku Gakuin University - 5:27:07
7. Soka University - 5:28:08
8. Daito Bunka University - 5:28:54
9. Hosei University - 5:29:03
10. Juntendo University - 5:30:17
11. Kokushikan University - 5:30:20
12. Teikyo University - 5:30:23
13. Chuo University - 5:30:35
14. Surugadai University - 5:30:51
15. Yamanashi Gakuin University - 5:31:05
16. Tokai University - 5:31:33
17. Rikkyo University - 5:31:37
18. Chuo Gakuin University - 5:31:42
19. Nihon University - 5:31:51
20. Tokyo Nogyo University - 5:33:33
21. Nittai University - 5:35:35
22. Kanagawa University - 5:35:50
23. Meiji University - 5:37:21

text and photo © 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Comments

Anonymous said…
Haven't been able to tune into much of the race this year, but I have yet to spot the Kanto select team (or find thier roster on the ntv/hakone sites). Has the program been discontinued?
Thank you for the coverage and looking forward to your book
January 3, 2024 at 9:35 AM
Brett Larner said…
Thanks very much. Yes, they didn't have a Select Team this year. Since the Yosenkai was open to teams from across the country they opted not to have a National Select Team, or to restrict it to only Kanto schools. Todai spearheaded a protest to get a Kanto-only Select Team in the race but it didn't work out.
January 3, 2024 at 5:49 PM
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