Where to start, really? Yesterday in just its fourth time running the Hakone Ekiden since it first qualified in 2015 and its second season under head coach Kazutaka Enoki , underdog Soka University pulled off a seemingly out-of-nowhere Day One win . Soka started the return trip to Tokyo today with a 2:14 lead over heavyweights including perpetual top 3 placer Toyo University , 2020 National University Ekiden champion Komazawa University and 2019 Hakone winner Tokai University , enough to give it breathing room but not a margin of safety. With 109.6 km ahead of them, their lead translated to just over a second per km. Soka's leadoff Day Two runner Masaki Hamano handled the Sixth Stage, 20.8 km with over 800 m of descent, well, but behind him Komazawa's Yuki Hanasaki nearly cracked the course record, winning the stage in 57:36 and cutting Soka's lead down to 1:08. Soka's most accomplished Day Two runner, Yoshiki Haratomi fired back on the 21.3 km Seventh Stage as...
the world's window into elite japanese distance running, since 2007