After finishing 15th at the Hakone Ekiden in January and dropping off the Hakone podium for the first time in 20 years, Toyo University is on a comeback mission. At the May 4 National University Ekiden Qualifying Meet at Kanagawa's Lemon Gas Stadium Toyo finished 5th overall in 3:58:51.88, scoring a place at November's Nationals after missing out last time around. 3rd-year Shion Jinnai, who led the first of the qualifying meet's 4 heats of 10000 m, said, "Our theme this season is 'getting back to our roots.' We have a new captain and some great 1st-years, and we're going for top 3 at Hakone."
Jinnai talked about some changes in the team since the disappointing last season, saying, "We're still doing the same group training, but we're also now putting more effort into individual activity out side of that, things like aerobic development outside the scheduled practices. We have team practices twice a day on weekdays when there are classes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, but some people do extra cool-downs between sessions, and others do walking or go for a bike ride after dinner, just hard enough to break a sweat."
Jinnai says that people doing this kind of light individual work is bringing benefits to people's physical condition. "Light exercise helps relieve fatigue, and I think that helps with improving fitness and speeding up recovery from injury."
Toyo University was once at the very top of the Hakone Ekiden, finishing in the 3 for 11 years in a row starting in 2009, scoring 4 overall wins and the historic mark of being the first team to break the 3:00/km average pace barrier for the entire Hakone course. With a new focus on self-reliance this season fans can hope to see them rise to those heights again.
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translated by Brett Larner
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