Hakone Ekiden (箱根駅伝), officially called the Tokyo-Hakone Round Trip College Ekiden Race (東京箱根間往復大学駅伝競走), is a ekiden (relay marathon) race held between Tokyo and Hakone in Japan on January 2 and 3. Hakone Ekiden is one of the most prominent university-level Ekiden races of the year and is part of the two ekiden race events that celebrate the new year, the other one being the New Year Ekiden for corporate teams on January 1st.
The race is telecast on Nippon Television and streamed on TVer and in the special Yomuri coverage website for the event.
This two-day race from Ōtemachi to Hakone and back is separated into five legs on each day.[1] Due to slight variations in the courses, the first day distance is 107.5 km while the distance on the second day is 109.6 km.[2]
Rules
Five legs are provided between Tokyo and Hakone each way. Each runner runs one section, and alternates with the next runner at a station. Each team has ten runners, who each run with their team's sash which is handed over to the next runner on the team at each station.
Participation
Twenty universities, which belong to The Inter-University Athletic Union of Kanto (関東学生陸上競技連盟), can participate in this Ekiden. Ten of them are seeded teams that qualify by virtue of finishing in the top ten the previous year. Ten more teams qualify through their team results at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, a 20 km qualifier held in the October preceding the race. A final non-competing select team, the Kanto Region University Student United Team (関東学生連合チーム), made up of top-placing individuals at October's Yosenkai 20 km Road Race from universities that do not qualify for Hakone as teams.[3] The 2014 and 2024 races did not include a select team, and before 2014, the select team was called the Kanto Region Select Team (関東学連選抜チーム), and were also constituted by a selection of top runners from universities that did not qualify as one of the 20 participating teams.
Seed rights
Teams who finished 10th place or better will be seeded and guarantees participation in the Hakone Ekiden for the next year.
Forfeiture
If a runner retires en route to a station because of an accident, injury, or dehydration, his team is treated as retired. Although runners for following sections may run, their times are not officially recorded.
Early Start
Course
The Climb: Day 1, January 2
Leg 1 (21.3 km) From Ōtemachi, Tokyo to Tsurumi, Yokohama
Course Record : Aoki, Rui (Senior, Kokugakuin University) - 1:00:28 (2026)
The race begins promptly at 8:00a.m. in front of the Yomiuri Shimbun Building in Ōtemachi, Tokyo, and follows a relatively flat course along Hibiya-Dori and National Route 15 past various Tokyo landmarks such as Tokyo Imperial Palace, Tokyo Station, Hibiya Park, Zōjō-ji, and Tokyo Tower. Past Shinagawa Station, the runners will encounter some slopes at Shin-Yatsuyamabashi (新八ツ山橋) as well as Rokugōbashi over the Tama River at the 17 km mark, before arriving at the Tsurumi relay station.
This is one of the defining legs because the first runner's rank affects the flow of the entire ekiden for his team. Usually, for the first 10 kilometers of the race, runners clump into one group. Eventually this group breaks down as people go ahead of the group or fall behind. Therefore, colleges put decently strong runners in the first leg whom can either pace with this group or go ahead. In addition, usually runners with faster sprints run this leg.
Origin
Hakone Ekiden was started in 1920.[4] Shizo Kanakuri, who is known as the father of the Japanese marathon, conceived the idea. His enthusiastic idea of bringing up a runner who could compete in the world became the driving force of establishing Hakone Ekiden. When Kanaguri was a Tokyo Koto Shihan school (Koshi) student, he participated in Olympic Games in Stockholm in 1912 as one of the representative Japanese marathon runners. He had to give up his race on the way, however.[5]
In the meantime, the first ekiden, Tokaido ekidentohokyoso (東海道駅伝徒歩競走) was held in 1917 between Sanjō Ōhashi, Kyoto and Ueno Shinobazunoike (上野不忍池) Tokyo, celebrating 50 years after Tokyo became the capital. This race was a big relay race between Kyoto and Tokyo (516 km) held by Yomiuri Shimbun for three days. It succeeded and became the original form of Hakone Ekiden. Kanaguri was influenced by the success of the race and persuaded many universities that they should race in the Hakone Ekiden. As a result, Waseda University, Keio University, Meiji University and Tokyo Higher Normal School (now University of Tsukuba) replied to his offer and Hakone Ekiden started. Hakone Ekiden was started with great energy of the pioneers in Japanese sports society. It started during World War I, so industrial areas gradually expanded to the west and the Tokaido road was widened. Reflecting this active atmosphere, the Japanese sports society, including ekiden one, were developing great challenging spirits at that time.
Criticism
Despite being a regional event organized by the Kanto Collegiate Athletic Federation and limited to universities in the Kanto region, the Hakone Ekiden holds greater prestige than national races like the Izumo Ekiden and Japan Collegiate Ekiden Championships, due to its long history and nationwide TV coverage. As a result, the race has significant impact on the landscape of men’s collegiate long-distance running in Japan.
Talent Concentration and Regional Disparities
The race’s prestige and exclusivity has led to a concentration of top collegiate runners in Kanto universities, as many aspiring runners aim to compete in Hakone Ekiden. This centralization has caused concerns about equity, with universities from other regions frequently calling for the race to open its entry eligibility nationwide. Past attempts to broaden participation have faced opposition from Kanto alumni.
In response, the All-Japan University Ekiden (1970) and Izumo Ekiden (1989) were established as national competitions. However, the Hakone Ekiden retains unmatched prestige, and Kanto universities often dominate these national races as well.
Post-Hakone Career Decline
Although the original purpose of the Hakone Ekiden was to "develop long-distance runners from Japan capable of competing on the world stage," in reality, many athletes treat the event as their ultimate goal. Upon graduation, a significant number choose not to join corporate teams or continue competing at an elite level.
Level of competition in 2010
In the 2010 (86th) race, of the 380 athletes (190 runners and 190 alternates) that represent the 19 universities, 328 have run under 14:40 for 5,000 meters; 150 at 14:20 and 33 under 14:00.[6] This figure compares very strongly with US collegiate men from all schools: athletic.net's list of collegiate men 5000 meters in 2009, which lists approximately 400 athletes at 14:40, 200 at 14:20 and 60 under 14:00 in 2009. Stepping up to the 10,000 meter distance, the same sources show that these 19 Tokyo universities list over 190 runners with personal bests under 30:00 (14 more sub 30 minute runners make up an all-star team of runners from other Tokyo universities); about 90 US collegians ran under 30:00 in 2009.
Winners
Shizo Kanakuri Trophy
This prize is awarded to the most valuable runner. This was founded in 2004(80th) to admire Shizo Kanakuri's accomplishment.
Titles
Records
Competition Records
Following are the current competition overall records.
Section Time Records
Following are the time record for each of the section from the current course in effect.
Overtake Records
Competition Records
Triple Crown
Winning the previous year's Izumo Ekiden and the All Japan University Ekiden at the same time is awarded the Triple Crown.
In popular culture
Hakone was featured in various books, manga, anime and live-action films and series, usually those series narrates the build-up and training of a team to run the Hakone Ekiden, as well people envolved such as fans and TV Staff, some exemples include:
- Run with the Wind - a 2006 Japanese novel by Shion Miura. It has also been adapted to manga, live action film and anime.
- Our Hakone Ekiden - a 2024 Japanese novel by Jun Ikeido. It has also been adapted to live action drama for Nippon Television in 2026.[9][10]
See also
- Izumo Ekiden
- All Japan University Ekiden
External links
References
- 箱根駅伝公式Webサイト -衛星画像マップ- retrieved 2008-01-02^
- 箱根駅伝公式Webサイト retrieved 2008-01-02^
- Hakone Ekiden Kanto Select Team to Return Without Results Being Counted 2014-03-05^