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The revival of Komadai from “defeating Aoyama Gakuin” in 2021

With the 100th Hakone Ekiden coming up, the race has entered its prime. With teams aiming to win, teams aiming to be regulars, and teams aiming to participate, the ambitions of various universities are intertwined, and the race is taking place in an environment of unprecedented high level.

Among them, Aoyama Gakuin has been a thorn in the side of other universities since 2015, but the situation has changed since the 2021 tournament.

That year, Soka University had a nine out of ten chance of winning.

Soka University won the first leg when Shimazu Yudai (a graduate of Tokyo Metropolitan Wakaba Sogo High School and a big star in the 5th and 6th blocks of the Tokyo Metropolitan High School Athletic Federation) took the lead in the 4th leg. In the return leg, each runner ran steadily, and at the end of the 8th leg, they had a 1 minute 29 second lead over Komazawa University, which was in second place. For Komazawa University, which was chasing them, this was the limit of what they could do to overturn the lead.

However, Soka University delivered the deciding blow in the ninth section.

Ishizu Yoshiaki, a fourth-year student, won the stage award, widening the gap to 3 minutes 19 seconds (I heard that Ishizu was retiring from racing after this race and would be taking a job at a regular company. I wonder if he is still running now?).

This is a safe zone. Everyone must have thought so. However…

Soka University’s Yuki Onodera was a major brake on Komadai, leading to a major comeback. Komadai won its first championship in 13 years.

Such a dramatic comeback rarely happens at Hakone, and watching this race reminded me of something Coach Ohyagi once told me.

“It’s important to always be within the top three and within three minutes everywhere. You never know what’s going to happen in a relay race.”

Although Komazawa University was more than three minutes behind in the final section, they were able to make a huge comeback because they were in second place. If they had given up halfway through, there would have been no comeback.

On the other hand, for Soka University coach Kazuki Enoki, it was a missed opportunity.