Earlier this month Aoyama Gakuin University broke its own course record to win the 102nd Hakone Ekiden , its 9th overall win and second three-peat. But in the background behind the brilliance of the almost unbeatable champion, one rookie on another team ran well in hopes of making the people back home who were still recovering from the Noto Hanto earthquake happy. To make that happen the same athlete left his position with one of the top corporations in the world to go to university with Hakone dreams. Let us tell you about Yamato Sugasaki , another Hakone Ekiden story. Born in Toyota, Aichi, Sugasaki played soccer through junior high school. But when he went to Toyota Kogaku Gijutsu H.S. , a private training school operated by the Toyota corporation, he switched to the track and field team. Sugasaki had watched the Hakone Ekiden on TV since he was a kid and decided that he wanted "to try something new," he says. His 3rd year of high school Sugsaki's times began to appr...
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