Aoyama Gakuin University head coach Susumu Hara took the opposite of the usual approach on Day One of the 102nd Hakone Ekiden yesterday, starting with his weakest two runners and building up to his absolute best. First runner Hikaru Ogawara was only 16th of 21, but Day One anchor Asahi Kuroda delivered one of the best performances in Hakone history on the uphill Fifth Stage, breaking its CR by 2 almost 2 minutes and coming from over a kilometer behind to give AGU the Day One win in CR time. With AGU's 9th win in the last 12 years and its second threepeat in the works, it blew apart the rest of the field over the 5-stage, 109.6 km Day Two course. Last year AGU's Akimu Nomura became the first runner to break 57 minutes on the 20.8 km Sixth Stage that kicks off the second day of the legendary race, starting at 731 m, climbing to 874 m in the first 5 km, then dropping to near sea level by its end. Popular speculation pre-race was that AGU would get caught by at least one of ...
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