Hakone Ekiden Entry Lists

With 3 weeks to go entry lists are out for the 101st Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2-3, 2025. Things keep going up and up. With 21 teams of 16 entrants and 10 starters each a quick crunch of the numbers gives:

15 teams with a 10-man 5000 m average under 14 minutes
3 teams with a 10-man 5000 m average under 13:45 led by 2024 Hakone winner Aoyama Gakuin University in 13:40.07
10 teams with an individual under 13:30 for 5000 m, AGU, Komazawa University, Chuo University, Tokyo Kokusai University, and Yamanashi Gakuin University with 2 each
2 teams with an individual under 13:15 for 5000 m, TKU's collegiate record holder Richard Etir at 13:00.17 and Komazawa's indoor NR holder Keita Sato at 13:09.45
17 teams with a 10-man 10000 m average under 29 minutes
4 teams with a 10-man 10000 m average under 28:30, led by Chuo's incredible 28:15.62
11 teams with an individual under 28:00 for 10000 m, AGU and Chuo with 3 each, and Komazawa, Josai University, TKU, Waseda University and YGU with 2 each
4 teams with an individual under 27:30 for 10000 m, TKU's Etir again at 27:06.88, Nihon University's Shadrack Kipkemei at 27:20.05, YGU's James Mutuku at 27:23.09, and Komazawa's Sato at 27:28.50
6 teams with a 10-man half marathon average under 1:03:00
3 teams with a 10-man half marathon average under 1:02:30 led by Komazawa in 1:02:01
13 teams with an individual under 1:02:00 for the half marathon, Komazawa with 4, and Izumo Ekiden and National University Ekiden winner Koku Gakuin University, AGU and Soka University with 3 each
6 teams with an individual under 1:01:00 for the half marathon
1 team with an individual under 1:00:00 for the half marathon, TKU's Etir yet again with a 59:32

We'll do a more detailed preview closer to the race, but it's no surprise that at the top of the heap are Izumo and Nationals top 3 KGU, AGU and Komazawa. 2nd at Hakone in 2024, Komazawa has the best half marathon average in the field, the most important statistic given Hakone's average stage length of 21.71 km, but with a lot of its people not having run 10000 m its average for that distance is slow and drags it down behind KGU and AGU in the rankings. If #1-ranked KGU wins it'll join both AGU and Komazawa on the very short list of schools to sweep all three university ekidens in one season.

The next tier down includes Izumo and Nationals 4th-placer Soka, ranked 4th here too, 2024 Hakone 3rd-placer Josai, solid programs Daito Bunka University and Toyo University, and, in via October's Yosenkai Half Marathon qualifying race, Chuo and Chuo Gakuin University. DBU, Toyo and Chuo are all missing big guns, DBU lacking its #3 half marathoner Peter Wanjiru, Toyo without 1:00:43 half marathoner Kazuki Matsuyama, and Chuo facing the loss of its #1 and #4 half marathoners Daichi Shibata and Kazusa Takanuma.

The next tier is where things start getting really interesting, with a top-10 placing at Hakone scoring teams places at the next season's Izumo and Hakone, and everyone 11th and lower missing Izumo and running the Yosenkai instead to try to get back to Hakone. You've got a mix of teams like Waseda, Teikyo University and Hosei University that always perform better than they look on paper and usually make the top 10, and teams like TKU, Juntendo University and Nittai University that made it through this season's Yosenkai.

The Kanto Region Student Alliance team, made up of top-placing individuals at the Yosenkai from schools that didn't make the cut as a team, leads the bottom tier, but for whatever reason, maybe a lack of team chemistry, it almost always performs worse than its ranking. Interestingly, the top 3 from the Yosenkai, Rikkyo University, Senshu University and YGU, are all down at this level along with bottom-half Yosenkai qualifiers Nihon and Kanagawa University. Conditions at the Yosenkai were hot, so it's probably best not to read too much into some of the better teams like Chuo and TKU running badly there, but it's likely that it was the peak of the season for Rikkyo, Senshu and YGU, and it'll take proper planning for them to replicate their performances next month.

Check back closer to race date for an in-depth preview and info on how to watch live.

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How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...

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