After having led Surugadai University to its first-ever Hakone Ekiden appearances in 2022 and 2024, Kazuyoshi Tokumoto, 45, announced on Jan. 12 that he is stepping down as head coach.
A star Hakone runner during his days at Hosei University, Tokumoto took over as head coach at Surugadai in 2012. In his 10th season in 2021-22 Surugadai made the qualifying bracket at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race, earning the right to make its debut at Hakone 2022. That was followed up with a second appearance in 2024. Assistant coach Nobuhiro Goto, 42, will take over from Tokumoto in the head coach's role. According to a source, Tokumoto had already informed the athletes, their parents and other involved parties of his decision to leave the program prior to making the public announcement.
The announcement makes Surugadai the 4th Hakone contender school to replace its head coach for the 2025-26 season, following Asia University, Reitaku University and Meiji University. Others are expected to make their own announcements.
At this past October's Yosenkai Surugadai was only 16th, missing the 10-deep qualifying bracket by a wide margin. But out of its 10 fastest finishers there only one was a 4th-year, and Yosenkai overall 5th-placer Stephen Lemayan, currently a 2nd-year, top Japanese member Taiga Tosen, a 3rd-year who has run 28:32.29 for 10000 m, and 1st-year Gakuto Sato who ran the uphill Fifth Stage at this year's Hakone as part of the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team, all return as the core of a strong program. "The Surugadai team is strong enough to make it through the Yosenkai this year and make it to Hakone, even without me," Tokumoto wrote.
In his Hakone days at Hosei University Tokumoto made waves as the first athlete to run it with dyed hair and sunglasses, becoming part of the event's history. As a 2nd-year he won the First Stage. Current Hosei head coach Tomoo Tsubota also won the Second Stage, earning the team the nickname The Orange Express. As a 3rd-year Tokumoto was the top Japanese finisher and 2nd overall on the Second Stage, positioning him at the very top of the collegiate circuit. Right afterward he did a live interview on Nippon TV wearing bizarre Ultraman-style sunglasses, shocking home viewers across the country.
But as a 4th-year things went wrong. Running the Second Stage again at the 2002 Hakone Ekiden, Tokumoto pulled a muscle in his right calf and had to stop only 7.3 km into the 23 km stage. At only 28.6 km from the start in Otemachi it was the earliest DNF in Hakone history.
Exactly 20 years on from that nightmare, Tokumoto pulled off a miracle comeback when he led Surugadai to its first Hakone. Takao Imai, a teacher who had taken a leave of absence to enter Surugadai's Psychology Department as a 3rd-year in hopes of running Hakone, made national news when Tokumoto chose him to run its Fourth Stage. He finished last on the stage, handing off to Fifth Stage runner Ryuji Nagai who had been his student at Saitama's Ogose J.H.S. As he finished Tokumoto called out to him over the chase car loudspeaker, saying, "Thank you for the last 2 years! If you apologize I'll kick your ass so hard you'll go flying!" That moment became another iconic part of Hakone history, one part of Tokumoto's legacy in his 13 years at Surugadai.
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translated and edited by Brett Larner
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