Arab News

TOKYO: Aoyama Gakuin University won the Hakone Ekiden for the second consecutive year on Friday, setting new tournament records.

The Hakone Ekiden is one of the most popular sporting events over the New Year period and consists of a two-leg race from Tokyo to Hakone – near Mt. Fuji – and back featuring universities from Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures.

Twenty-one teams compete against each other.

The race is officially known as the Tokyo-Hakone Round-Trip College Ekiden Race and is held on January 2 and 3. It is broadcast live on mainstream television.

The two-day race goes from Otemachi district near the central Tokyo Station to Hakone town and back and is separated into five legs on each day. The first-day distance is 107.5 km, while the distance on the second day is 109.6 km.

Aoyama Gakuin University dominated this year’s race and won the title for the second consecutive year and the eighth time overall in a new record time of 10 hours, 41 minutes, and 19 seconds.

In second place overall was Komazawa University, followed by Kokugakuin University, winners of the All-Japan University Ekiden this season.

“I want to say thank you to the students,” Aoyama coach HARA Susumu said. “The students have been working hard on their training and dorm life recently, even without me nagging them, and I think that’s what’s good about the Aoyama Gakuin family.”