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.

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...

japan running news

Search This Blog