A lot of people spend Golden Week on vacation, but the AGU ekiden team spent their time working hard on Myoko's rolling land amid the sprouting leaves of spring. On the 2nd day of the camp, May 3, team members woke up at 5:00 a.m. to do their warmup. The team assembled at 5:45 a.m. to do core training, then went on a 15 km run and 3 repeats on a 200 m slope. All before breakfast.
The team gathered again at 3:15 p.m., and after warming up individually they ran 25 km, with 1st-years limited to 20 km. The long run finished at a track 5 km from the team's hotel, and immediately after they finished the run they did 3 x 200 m. After taking a recovery drink they then ran the 5 km back to the hotel. Including warmups and cooldowns, the total mileage for the day was over 50 km.
Golden Week is a critical time for every school. Teams that finished outside the top 8 at November's National University Ekiden had to run the Kanto Region Qualifying Meet on May 4 to try to make it back to this year's race. Top 8 teams like Koku Gakuin University and Waseda University were working on speed in track meets. But AGU focused on building mileage over racing. AGU has won 9 of the last 12 Hakone Ekidens. The architect of this golden era, head coach Susumu Hara was positive about this year's Golden Week camp, saying, "We were able to do the usual quantity of running, but on top of that the overall level of our speed has improved."
Women's team members Ashida and Ikeno had different training menus from the men's team for their main workouts, but did warmups and core training together with them. Yoshida, who will represent Japan in September's Nagoya Asian Games marathon, Hakone Ekiden uphill 5th leg history re-writer Kuroda, and other AGU alumni like Shunya Udagawa (Comodi Iida) shared the main workouts with the men's team.
"There's no other organization bringing together so many men and women from the very best university and corporate league teams," crowed Hara. Having them all together in one place creates synergistic energy that stimulates everyone involved. AGU may be well-known for its flashy victory parades and regular appearances on TV variety shows, but you can't argue that they don't put in the work even when Hara isn't in front of the cameras.
Out of the champion lineup from the 2026 Hakone Ekiden, 4 key members graduated in March; Udagawa who was 7th on the 3rd leg, 5th leg CR breaker Kuroda, 8th leg CR breaker Shota Shiode, and 9th leg winner Yuichi Sato. This year's team centers around 3 returning members, 3rd-year Kaito Iida, 10th on the 2nd leg, 4th-year Kyosuke Hiramatsu, 3rd on the 4th leg, and 3rd-year Sota Orita, 2nd on the 10th leg. All 3 took leadership roles during the training camp.
Team captain Nakamura has never made AGU's starting lineup for any of the Big 3 University Ekidens, but with innate leadership qualities he is a critical part of the team chemistry. "Training on the Myoko Plateau is a big part of what keeps AGU strong," he says. The tough training the team put in the bank over Golden Week back his words with more than just more words.
The local community in Myoko is an active backer of the AGU team, and around 250 local residents gathered in the local community hall on May 4 to celebrate the team's Hakone threepeat. Mayor Yoji Kido told them, "We look forward to celebrating another win next year." After the event AGU held a running clinic at Myoko Plateau Sports Park for local elementary and junior high school students.
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