Following Aoyama Gakuin University's scoring its second Hakone Ekiden threepeat, 4th-year Asahi Kuroda was awarded Hakone's MVP and Kanakuri Cup. The MVP award goes to the runner who made the biggest individual contribution to the winning team's success, with the Kanakuri Cup going to the outstanding overall individual performance of the race, as decided by a vote among coaches of the teams at this year's race.
On the first day of the Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2, Kuroda set a new CR of 1:07:16 on the 20.8 km Fifth Stage, which rises from near sea level to a peak elevation of 874 m before dropping to finish at 731 m. His incredible time took 1:55 off the 1:09:11 CR set just a year earlier by his former Aoyama Gakuin teammate Hiroki Wakabayashi and catapulted Aoyama Gakuin from 5th place into the lead, breaking its own Day One CR and setting it up to front run the second day to the overall win.
"I've never gotten the MVP award before, and that was one thing I really wanted," Kuroda said. "I'm really happy to get both. It wasn't something I achieved my own, and I want to thank everyone, including my teammates, coach, and all the other team staff, for helping me make it possible."
Last year Aoyama Gakuin's Akimu Nomura was also awarded both distinctions after breaking the CR on the downhill Sixth Stage.
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Will be a star at the corporate and marathon level.