Soka University surprised on Saturday by winning the five-stage outbound leg of the 97th Tokyo-Hakone collegiate ekiden road relay for the first time, giving itself a 2-minute, 14-second lead for the following day's return leg.
Soka covered the 107.5-kilometer course staring in Tokyo's Otemachi business district in 5 hours, 28 minutes, 8 seconds after taking the lead in the fourth stage and holding on throughout the steep fifth stage ending at the mountain resort of Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Yuta Mikami, the first-day anchor for Soka, started his leg with a 1:42 lead over Komazawa University, with Toyo University another 28 seconds back. Mikami then posted the second fastest fifth-stage time, completing the largely uphill 20.8 kilometers in 1:12:05.
"To be honest, we didn't imagine we'd win the outbound leg," Soka manager Kazutaka Enoki said. "We were in sight of the leader from the third stage. Our guys ran better than expected, and did so once we had the lead."
"I want us to look forward to tomorrow's return leg and be loose."
Toyo University finished the first day in second place with Komazawa University third and Teikyo University fourth in the 21-team field. Mikami said he likes Soka's chances on Sunday despite facing schools with better race pedigrees.
"Our runners over the first four legs put me in position, and we have some great guys lined up for tomorrow. It's going to be fun," Mikami said.
The race, a viewing staple of Japan's New Year holiday, was first run in 1920.
Despite a request from organizers that spectators refrain from attending in person to cheer on runners from the roadside, scattered groups of fans did turn out along the route.
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