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2019 Hakone Ekiden Winner Tokai University Deep in Summer Training to Break Back Into Top 5 This Season


They say in Hakone Ekiden circles that the team that wins the summer wins Hakone. Aiming to break a three-year streak of finishing off the podium at the main event, 2019 Hakone winner Tokai University is aiming to take the top position at the Oct. 19 Yosenkai Hakone qualifier half marathon. Led by 4th-year captain Yuto Kajitani, the Tokai team is putting in more mileage this summer than usual.

The Shonan-based Tokai's 2019 Hakone title was its first-ever win at Japan's biggest race. Since then it has finished as high as 2nd and 5th, but in the last three years it was 11th, 15th and 11th and missed out on top 10 and a guaranteed place at the following year's Hakone. To try to get back to its winning ways the team is training this summer in Nagano at Lake Shirakaba and at altitude in Sugadaira.

"This season our goal is to make top 5 at both the National University Ekiden and the Hakone Ekiden," said Kajitani. Everyone on the team is working actively to make that goal a reality. We've got a great vibe this year." At a team meeting during the training camp, Kajitani stressed to the other athletes the importance of preparation and consistency. "If you prepare properly before practice starts you can maximize the effectiveness of the workout and reduce the chance of getting injured," he said. "Doing that consistently is critical."

Last year Kajitani's teammate Haruta Koshi was captain as a 3rd-year, but at the start of this year Kajitani was elected to replace Koshi as captain. "I thought that Koshi would be better off concentrating on the running side of things, and that to lead the team to becoming better I should take over as captain," he explained.

Although core member Shotaro Ishihara graduated last year and moved on to the SGH corporate team, this year's lineup still features Judah Hyodo, 5th on the First Stage at Hakone this year, and Hisaya Hanaoka, 13th on the Second Stage. In June Tokai was the top team at the National University Ekiden qualifier with that lineup.

"We're aiming to be the top team at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai too," said head coach Hayashi Morozumi. "The 10 teams that made the podium at Hakone are still ranked above that, so if we're not the top team at the Yosenkai are at least in the top 3 then it will be hard to be competitive at Hakone itself." Last year Morozumi didn't prioritize what place Tokai finished at the qualifier and they just scraped through to Hakone in 10th. But this season is different, and success this fall depends on doing what needs to be done this summer.

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