Another Change to Hakone Ekiden Select Team - Now Restricted Only to Athletes Without Hakone Experience
The Inter-University Athletic Union of Kanto (KGRR) , organizers of the Hakone Ekiden , have announced that its Representative Committee, the highest voting body in its organization, has made the decision to change the qualification system for the Kanto Student Alliance select team made up of runners from universities that fail to qualify as a team for Hakone at October's Yosenkai qualifier. In its current incarnation the select team accepted athletes who had taken part in Hakone, including registration as an alternate, a maximum of once, but beginning with Hakone's 94th edition in 2018 it will be limited to only athletes who have never run in the actual race before. In essence, the Kanto Student Alliance will now be made up entirely of rookies. A KGRR spokesperson explained, "We have made this decision after careful consideration of the Select Team's original purpose of sharing the Hakone experience with as wide a range of students and universities as possible....