Hakone Ekiden Qualifier Preview
Nihon University third-year Ikki Yamazaki made this animated video using over 700 pieces of paper asking for fans' support for Nihon at Saturday's Hakone Ekiden qualifier.
by Brett Larner
Monday's Izumo Ekiden saw the top ten schools from the 2016 Hakone Ekiden get their 2016-17 season started. For the rest of the universities in the Tokyo area, Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai is their gateway to the biggest race of the year.
A 20 km road race, the Yosenkai is the official qualifier for the Hakone Ekiden, the Jan. 2-3 road relay that is a cultural institution in Japan featuring twenty Tokyo-area university teams and one select team. The top ten finishers in Hakone are seeded for the following year, freeing them up to run Izumo. The rest line up again at the Yosenkai with all the other Hakone hopefuls, where they field teams of ten to twelve men. The times of their first ten finishers are combined, and the ten schools with the fastest aggregate times make the Hakone cut. Ten of the fastest individuals at the Yosenkai whose teams don't make it are chosen for the select team.
Like Hakone itself, the Yosenkai is broadcast live, and the atmosphere in Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park is alive with energy before, during and after the race. Marching bands and cheerleader squads from each university line the course around the start area and 5 km first loop, and all around the park crowds of students, alumni and fans wave banners with the school colors and cheer their runners on enthusiastically. The announcement ceremony for the ten qualifying schools is one of the most dramatic moments of the season. Taken all together, the Yosenkai is the biggest, most competitive 20 km in the world.
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