Rikkyo coach Ueno’s “I won’t use them” comment at the Hakone Ekiden attracts attention: “I couldn’t even tell my family…” Sadness of “scouting members”

Komazawa University won the 99th Hakone Ekiden, becoming the fifth school in history to win the triple crown.

Komazawa University won the 99th Hakone Ekiden overall, becoming the fifth school in history to win the Triple Crown. Chuo University was chasing Komazawa University, and in the 9th section, six schools lined up to battle for third place, and even the seeding (top 10 schools) lasted until the 10th section. The fans were excited to see whether Rikkyo University, which had returned to the race for the first time in 55 years, the longest in the history of the event, would be able to carry the Edomurasaki sash,” said a reporter from a sports newspaper.

One of the charms of the Hakone Ekiden is the drama that ensues at every race.

This year, Rikkyo University coach Yuichiro Ueno said, “We will not use ‘scouting members,'” which drew even more attention to the December 29 “sectional entries” than in previous years.

A sportswriter explains this “scouting member,” a term not often heard of in the sports world.

In the Hakone Ekiden, 16 runners from each team are registered on December 10, and the first 10 sections and six alternates are registered on December 29. Then, for both the round-trip route and the intermediate route, ‘same-day changes’ can be made 70 minutes before the start of the race.

The only change allowed is the replacement of the registered athletes and alternates, so for example, a change between athletes in the 1st and 2nd sections is not allowed. Therefore, in case an accident occurs to the ace, the semi-ace will be registered as an alternate. The athletes who are registered for the section the ace is scheduled to run at this time are called ‘scouting members,’ and since it is assumed that they will be absent on the day of the race, they will be sorely missed.”

One of the traditional rules of the Hakone Ekiden, “changing entries on the day of the race” and “scouting members,” can be easily understood by thinking of it as crisis management.

For example, if the ace of the “second section of flowers” had an accident, the substitutes registered for the section would have to run the “second section of flowers” if they were registered in order of their ability, since substitutions are not allowed. If the runners were registered in order of ability, the 11th-ranked alternate would end up running in the “flowery second section. This is why the mainstay athletes are registered as alternates in advance. )

In addition, there are cases where they want to wait until the last minute to see if their main players are recovering from injuries or other problems.

There are also cases where they want to wait until the very last minute to see how their main players are recovering from injuries or other problems, but there can also be tactical changes such as deploying them in the section they will be competing in. This is such an important tactic that Hara, who lost his fifth consecutive championship in the 2007 tournament, recalls, “I made a mistake in placing the wrong section. The coach makes the final decision on both the round-trip route and the route to be run on the day of the race, based not on the movements of other schools, but on the individual characteristics of the runners, such as whether they are good at running alone or strong in competitions.

(A sportswriter mentioned above) “Same-day changes were limited to four runners until 2008, but due to the Corona whirlpool, the limit was expanded to six runners in 2009 (however, no more than four runners per day). Looking back on this year’s sectional entries, it was said that many universities had a strategy of registering their main competitors as alternates.

Last year’s champion, Aoyama Gakuin University, placed ace runners Aoi Ota (2nd year, 2nd in the 3rd section last year) and Taiki Kishimoto (4th year, 1st in the 7th section last year) as alternates, while Jun University and Komazawa University, the 2nd and 3rd runners respectively, had high-profile runners Ryuji Miura (3rd year) and Koutarou Shinohara (2nd year) as alternates,” said one sports writer.

Ueno, the coach of Rikkyo University, explained the reason for not using scouting members.

“Actually, I don’t really know how to assign scouting members.

There is also a case like this. Former Toyo University coach Hisashi Sato revealed, “Toyo University won the overall championship.

In the 90th race in 2002, when Toyo University won the overall championship, the ace Keita Shitara was made a substitute, and the decision to use him for the 5th section was made after checking the weather conditions at Hakone on the day of the race on the spot. The reason was that I did not want him to have to climb a mountain in bad weather because of his slender physique.”

The scouting members are indispensable for their alma mater to win the championship and obtain the seeding. However, from December 29th to the day of the race, they will have to suffer the grief.

The sports papers all report the sectional registration on December 29, and the players receive congratulatory e-mails. But basically, because of the team strategy involved, they don’t reveal to anyone that they are ‘scouting members. In other words, even if they receive an e-mail from their family saying, “Congratulations!” from his family, he cannot tell them that he is a member of the reconnaissance team.

Some of the directors say, ‘There are many family members and others who are looking forward to seeing the sectional entries, so I don’t intend to use too many change quotas,’ but many directors feel sorry and keep the information from being mentioned. However, there are many players who use this as a springboard for a successful run the following year. This year, too, there was a case in which a ‘reconnaissance member’ from the previous year was registered as an alternate, changed on the day of the race, and ran well,” said a sports newspaper reporter.

The tragedies and joys behind the race. The “Ekiden,” a race born in Japan, conveys the weight of a single sash….