First-day leader Aoyama Gakuin University ran almost unopposed by the field over the second half of the Tokyo-Hakone Intercollegiate Ekiden on Friday, winning the two-day, 217.1-kilometer relay race in a record time of 10 hours 45 minutes 23 seconds.
Aoyama finished well ahead of second-place Tokai University, which was looking for back-to-back championships, to win the race for the fifth time in school history and first since 2018.
Aoyama opened the day with a lead of 3:22 over Tokai, which worked gradually to narrow the gap in the sixth and seventh legs.
But Aoyama's Shuya Iwami held strong in the eighth stage and Yuta Kanbayashi pulled away from the field with a smooth run over the the 23.1-kilometer ninth section, finishing in 1:08:13 for the fastest time of the day in that stage.
Anchor Keigo Yuhara brought the sash across the finish line, breaking the record by 4:04.
Tokai managed to hold off Aoyama a year ago. This time out, Aoyama was inspired.
"Last year, I crossed the finish line with a sense of frustration," said Aoyama captain Takato Suzuki, who closed out the 2019 race unable to catch Tokai."After a year of hard work, I thought that we would definitely get positive results if I was able do everything I had to do as the captain."
On the return trip from Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, Tokai actually had a faster time than Aoyama, crossing in 5:23:47, while Aoyama's Day 2 time was 5:24:07. However, the initial gap Aoyama opened up on Day 1 was too wide to overcome.
Kokugakuin University prevailed in a four-team battle that was contested over the final four stages to finish in third place.
Teikyo University was fourth and Tokyo International University finished fifth to secure a seed, meaning automatic qualification for next year's ekiden, for the first time in four appearances.
Meiji University, Waseda University, Komazawa University and Soka University also grabbed seeds. Toyo University, considered to be one of the top five in the race, hung on by a nose for 10th place and the final seed.
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