Last year Nagano's Saku Chosei H.S. won the National High School Ekiden boys' race for the first time in 6 years, its third time winning the national title. Ahead of its attempt to take its first-ever repeat win at this year's race in Kyoto on Dec. 22, on the day the school held an open practice session for the media it was sunny but windy at times, an unusually warm 17˚.
Last year Saku Chosei won in 2:01:00 for the 7-stage, 42.195 km course with a team that included 6 runners with 5000 m bests under 14 minutes, a top-class time for high school runners. All the team members demonstrated their strength, each helping the team achieve the win. Out of the 10 runners on Saku Chosei's entry roster at this year's Nationals 5 have 5000 m bests in the 13-minute range, but even though that is slightly less than last year there is no doubt about the team's talent level. Its goal is to be the strongest, not just the fastest.
3 members of last year's winning team are back this season. Expectations are high for the team's two best, captain Yamato Hamaguchi and vice-captain Tetsu Sasaki. During the open practice session both often side ran side-by-side. If one went to the front, on the next lap the other would take a turn leading, an impressive show of mindfulness toward each other even during training.
Last year Hamaguchi handed off in the lead on the Fourth Stage, running the 2nd-fastest time in the overall field. In the year since then he's done well, winning the National Sports Festival 5000 m and making the Japanese team for the U20 World Championships. This will be his 3rd time running the National High School Ekiden. "2 years ago we were 2nd and last year we won, but I wasn't satisfied with how I ran," he said. "This year I want to win my stage. I'm really confident about my last kick."
Sasaki broke the Fifth Stage course record last year by 8 seconds, covering the hilly 3.0 km stage in 8:14. At this year's National High School Track and Field Championships he won the 3000 m steeplechase and went on to join Hamaguchi at the U20 World Championships. He is expected to form the core of this year's team at Nationals alongside Hamaguchi. "Winning the overall title last year and getting the Fifth Stage CR was the best," he said. "I'm really grateful to have the chance to go for a repeat win and I want to deliver the best results again this time."
At the entrance to the school is a stone monument to the team's history, a marker of the level of tradition the ekiden team has built. Saku Chosei won its first title in 2008 at the 59th National High School Ekiden. Its anchor that time was 3-time Olympian Suguru Osako. Other national team members have followed, and there's a sense of pride and responsibility that comes from wearing the team kit running on the streets of Kyoto. That pressure is intense.
Saku Chosei is coach by Masaru Takamizawa, himself a graduate of the school. Including 2017 and last year he has led it to 2 national victories. "Winning back-to-back titles is something special, but we're not doing anything special in training," he said about this season. "We're just keeping on doing what we always do. This year is more about competing than about time. Last year we had a team with speed, but this time is a team with strength. We hope to live up to the hopes of everyone cheering for us and supporting us." If they succeed, a 2nd-straight win would add a new piece of history to the high school ekiden.
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translated and edited by Brett Larner
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