About Toyo University The 98th Hakone Ekiden
98th Hakone Ekiden
January, 2nd, 3rd 2022
Overall 4th (10:54:59) first half 9th (5:28:34) second half 2nd (5:26:25)
Turning support into strength:
All members proved TETSUKON.
TETSUKON : Toyo University's school color. A rich purplish navy-blue.
Photos: Toyo University/Getsuriku
The 98th Hakone Ekiden was held on two days, from January 2nd to 3rd, 2022.
Toyo showed their pride for this season’s slogan “Proving TETSUKON,” with determined running and finishing 4th place overall.
| It was expected that there would be fierce competition for the top spots at this year’s Hakone Ekiden, with all universities fielding strong runners. In the first half, Kazuki Matsuyama (2nd year student) ran the coveted second section for the second year in a row and put in a solid performance with a section ranking of 5th. Captain Hayato Miyashita (4th year student) ran his final Ekiden for Toyo in the 5th section moving up three places leaving Toyo with a time of 5:28:34 and in 9th place. In the second half on the following day, Shota Ezomori (4th year student) ran the 8th section with a section ranking of 4th. In the 9th section Toyo made up the lost ground, with Yoshihiro Maeda (3rd year student) chasing down the runner of a section ranking of 5th. In the final 10th section, Taiga Seino (3rd year student) ran the anchor leg for the second consecutive year and handed over the sash with 7th place, one second behind from the 6th-place university. Seino pushed hard all the way to the finish line, overtaking three universities and finishing in 4th place, only 2 seconds behind 3rd place Komazawa University. This year’s ekiden featured fast-paced changes to the running order, with Toyo fighting back to within seconds of their targeted overall 3rd place finish, finishing 2nd in the second half. |
| Comments from Head Coach Toshiyuki Sakai. |
 |
| Thanks to support from many people, we were able to make our 80th appearance at the 98th Hakone Ekiden, as we have done for the last 20 consecutive years. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who worked hard to make this year’s Hakone Ekiden happen. In this year’s Hakone Ekiden, we could not field our strongest team with Kosuke Ishida, who was awarded single-stage prizes at the All-Japan University Men’s Ekiden and The Izumo Ekiden, not recovering in time to make the cut. We were slower than expected in the first half, but we approached the next day with a fresh mindset, and I told the second-half runners not to give everything they have until the finish line. The runners made every second count with tenacious attempts in every section, passing on the TETSUKON sash with this fighting spirit to the next runner. We were not able to achieve our target of finishing within the top three, but we regained lost ground with a 2nd place finish in the second half, and we have ended up in a seeded position for the 17th consecutive year. Watching the runners from behind in a support car, I could feel their passion for the Hakone Ekiden, the team, or someone close to them. Looking back over the race as a whole, it is safe to say that all the athletes put in solid performances and shouldered the tradition of TETSUKON. The runners exceeding their limits and saving every last second with unwavering running produced a lot of growth and sensation. In the end, there was a significant gap with the winning time, but we will work on becoming a team that can fill this gap. We ask for your continued support. |
|
First Half
|
Section1 Yusuke Kodama 3rd year student, Time 1:02:07 |
 |
|
Section 2 Kazuki Matsuyama 2nd year student, |
 |
|
Section 3 Mahiro Sato 2nd year student, |
 |
|
Section 4 Daichi Kimoto |
 |
|
Section 5 Hayato Miyashita |
 |
Second Half
|
Section 6 Keishun Kushima |
 |
|
Section 7 Ren Umezaki |
 |
|
Section 8 Shota Ezomori |
 |
|
Section 9 Yoshihiro Maeda |
 |
|
Section 10 Taiga Seino |
 |
●Overall Result
1st Aoyama Gakuin University 10:43:42
2nd Juntendo University 10:54:33
3rd Komazawa University 10:54:57
4th Toyo University 10:54:59
5th Tokyo International University 10:55:14
6th Chuo University 10:55:44
7th Soka University 10:56:30
8th Kokugakuin University 10:57:10
9th Teikyo University 10:58:06
10th Hosei University 10:58:46