2002 Hakone Ekiden
K. Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
6 January 2002 - The Ekiden race from Tokyo to Hakone and back, popularly known as the Hakone Ekiden is only a district collegiate ekiden championships, but it is by far the most popular ekiden race in Japan. It regularly records one of the highest Japanese TV ratings. On average, over 25% of Japanese households tuned into the Hakone Ekiden during the last ten years. Millions of spectators line up along the course. Even those who hardly ever follow sporting events know about the Hakone Ekiden. Its stars are better known than most Olympians. Its best stars are household names and magazines featuring the race sell like hotcakes. In fact, they sell better than special Olympic issues.
For many high school distance runners, their ultimate goal in sports is to run in the Hakone Ekiden, so they try to gain acceptance to colleges eligible for the event. Some of the legendary distance runners in Japan - Toshihiko Seko, Hiromi Taniguchi to name but two - were superstars in the Hakone Ekiden. Seko twice recorded the fastest stage in the stage two where the team’s best runners are entered, while Taniguchi thrice recorded the fastest stage in the hilly stage six.
Dai Tamesue, a bronze medallist at the 400mH in Edmonton has described his amazement about the popularity of Hakone Ekiden in Track & Field Magazine of Japan (Rikujyo Kyougi Magazine): “Every year before the Hakone Ekiden, TV cameras lined up alongside my home track in Hosei University, despite the fact that Hosei was not a major contender and without any superstar distance runner.” (Note: Hosei finished 14th, 10th and 4th in the last three years. It is only in 2001 Hosei was finally considered as a contender with a star of its own, Kazuyoshi Tokumoto, who finished third at the 10,000m in the 2001 World University Games)
The Hakone Ekiden was started in 1920, and was contested every year except for the WWII years. The 78th edition of the race was contested on January 2 and 3, 2002. On the first day, it is contested over five stages totaling 107.2Km, starting at front of the headquarters of the Yomiuri Newspaper, one of the ekiden’s major sponsors, and finishing at Lake Ashi in Hakone. On the second day, the course is essentially the reverse of the first day; the course consists of five stages, totaling 109.2Km.
In the last three years, either Komazawa University (finished second, first and second in the last three years) or Juntendo University (finished first, second and first in the last three years) won this popular ekiden race. This year, Komazawa University was the favorite and Juntendo University was expected to give the stiffest competition. However, trouble started early for Juntendo. Their best runner, perhaps the best collegiate runner in Japan, Yoshitaka Iwamizu, was recovering from recent injury. Juntendo entered Iwamizu in stage nine, hoping to buy time for the national 3000mSC champion who had also run in Edmonton. It turned out that Iwamizu could not run the ekiden. Meanwhile, Komazawa University had problems of its own;
Takamasa Uchida (who ran in the 2000 World Junior Championships), who was scheduled to run the stage one could not. Hiroaki Oyagi, coach of Komazawa University told Tatsuo Terada of Japanese Track and Field Magazine: “I tormented myself whether to let Uchida run or not until two days before the race.”
On the first day of the Ekiden, the race stayed close and the lead changed in every stage. In spite of the tail-wind the race started slowly, and thus the huge pack stayed together until the end of the stage one. At the end, Mitsuru Irifune of Juntendo University, brother of Satoshi Irifune (27:53 10,000m runner) out sprinted everyone else. The co-favorite Komazawa University was 23 seconds behind, while the last place Nihon University was only 46 seconds behind after 21.3Km of racing.
At the end of the second stage, O Mokamba, a Kenyan student of Yamanashi Gakuin University took over the lead. In the third stage, it was Tetsu Morimura of Waseda University who took over the lead. Juntendo University was falling behind, from first to fourth after the second stage and to eighth after the third stage. Meanwhile, although their big gun Nobuyuki Kamiya did not perform as expected, Komazawa University was steadily moving up from 13th to ninth after the second stage and then to fourth after the third stage.
In the fourth stage, Ryuji Matsushita of Komazawa University was superb. Starting at the fourth place, a minute 38 seconds behind the leader Waseda University, Matsushita was on a roll. Matsushita moved steadily closer to the leader and finally just before 20Km into the fourth stage, he took over the lead. The favorite Komazawa University was finally in the lead.
However, the day was not over, and on the fifth stage, which climbs over 800m, Komazawa relinquished its lead to Kanagawa University, while Hidemori Noguchi of Juntendo University ran brilliantly to move his team to the third place. More importantly Juntendo was only 24 seconds behind their arch-rival Komazawa University at the end of the first day. Thus the race was far from over, for Juntendo is known as a comeback team who historically ran brilliantly on the second day; in the last three years Juntendo have finished first, second and first.
On the second day, each team starts with the time differential from the first day. Kanagawa University who was in the first place took off first, while Komazawa University started 23 seconds later, and the third place Juntendo University started another 24 seconds later.
Down the Hakone mountains, Komazawa University took over the lead 6Km into the sixth stage. Although Juntendo University moved into second place, the time differential grew to a minute and 51 seconds. For the fourth year in a row, a king of downhill running, Nobutaka Kaneko, ran the 20.7Km sixth stage in less than 1 hour. On the seventh stage, Yuji Ibi of Komazawa University increased Komazawa’s lead over arch-rival Juntendo to nearly three minutes. Although Takuro Nakagawa cut Komazawa’s lead by four seconds in the eighth stage, Masahito Takahashi recorded the fastest stage in the ninth stage, and essentially sealed the victory for Komazawa. In the end Komazawa won by nearly four minutes. “Compared to two years ago, the depth of the team is much better this year. We were able to win even with two top runners missing,” concluded coach Oyagi.
Results
Day 1; from Tokyo to Hakone:
1) Kanagawa
University 5:36:25
2) Komazawa University 5:36:48
3) Juntendo University 5:37:12
4) Waseda University 5:37:44
5) Daito Bunka University 5:39:33
6) Chuo University 5:39:47
7) Teikyo University 5:42:26
8) Yamanashi University 5:42:53
9) Asia University 5:43:22
10) Nihon University 5:44:21
Best Stage
stage distance Name affiliation time
1 21.3Km
Mitsuru Irifune Juntendo
U 1:04:21
2 23.0Km Masahiko Harada
Waseda U 1:08:35
O Mokamba (KEN)
Yamanashi Gakuin U 1:08:35
3 21.3Km Tetsu Morimura
Waseda U 1:04:27
4 20.9Km Ryuji Matsushita
Komazawa U 1:02:24
5 20.7Km Hidemori Noguchi
Juntendo U
1:12:32
Day 2; from Hakone to Tokyo
1) Komazawa
University 5:28:47 new
second day record
2) Waseda University 5:32:10
3) Juntendo University
5:32:22
4) Chuo University
5:33:11
5) Daito Bunka University
5:33:42
6) Nihon University of PE
5:36:16
7) Asia University
5:38:11
8) Nihon University
5:38:19
9) Yamanashi Gakuin University
5:38:51
10) Teikyo University 5:39:13
Best Stages
6 20.7Km
Nobutaka Kaneko Daito Bunka U
59:04
7 21.2Km Ryuji Sorayama
Waseda U 1:03:33
8 21.3Km Takuro Nakagawa
Juntendo U 1:04:53
9 23.0Km Masahito
Takahashi Komazawa U
1:09:31
10 23.0Km Yuki Sakurai
Waseda U 1:10:18 New stage Record
Combined final results (day 1 and day 2)
1) Komazawa
University 11:05:35
2) Juntendo University
11:09:34
3) Waseda University 11:09:54
4) Chuo University
11:12:58
5) Daito Bunka University
11:13:15
6) Kanagawa University
11:16:29
7) Asia University
11:21:33
8) Teikyo University
11:21:39
9) Yamanashi Gakuin University
11:21:44
10) Nihon University
11:22:40