At the closing ceremony of the 101st Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 3 at the Yomiuri Newspaper building in Otemachi, Tokyo, Akimu Nomura was named MVP of this year's race for his role in helping Aoyama Gakuin University score it 2nd-straight course record win. Nomura became the first runner ever to break 57 minutes on the 20.8 km downhill Sixth Stage, setting a new CR of 56:47, and was also awarded the Shizo Kanakuri award for exceptional performance and potential.
The MVP award is new this year and goes to the outstanding member of the winning team, while the Kanakuri award has been in place since the 80th edition in 2004. The winners of both awards were determined by the KGRR selection committee led by Yasushi Ueda.
Nomura told media, "To be honest I didn't think they'd give me both. I would have been happy with either, so I'm really, really happy. When the team started training in April after the 100th last year I said I was going to go for 56 minutes, but it seemed like a fantasy when I said it. From around 15 to 18 km I started thinking, 'There's still 6 km left, 5 km left....' It really felt long. I got blisters on the bottom of my left and it really hurt."
Of his goals post-graduation Nomura said, "I'm going to continue as a corporate league runner, and I'm going to mainly focus on the 5000 m. I want to develop enough to make the podium at the National Championships."
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translated by Brett Larner
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