Waseda, which failed to be seeded, fared well in 6th place, while Aoyama Gakuin, the favorite to win, faltered… Surprising reasons for the “bright and dark sides among prestigious schools” at the Hakone Ekiden.

Mr. Hanada

Katsuhiko Hanada, the coach of Waseda University’s race team, is affectionately called “san” by his athletes. The reason for this is that he wants them to feel free to talk to him as a “senior” rather than a “coach. He wants to create a team with an open atmosphere.

Waseda University, where “Mr. Hanada” took over as coach in June 2010, made a great leap forward at the 99th Hakone Ekiden (January 2 and 3, 2011). The previous year, the team finished in 13th place and was seeded out of the race for the first time in three years. The team that had risen from the qualifying rounds came in third at one point, and eventually regained their seeding with a good sixth-place finish.

Mr. Hanada competed in the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics as a track athlete, and has extensive experience coaching students and adults at Jobu University and GMO Internet Group. He understands how young athletes feel. He often says, ‘I want them to ask me anything because a mentor is a dictionary. Students these days have their smartphones in their hands all the time except for practice. Mr. Hanada did not give them a stern warning, but instead spent three days a week at the training camp, eating and bathing with the players, and gradually developed a communication with them through persistent contact.

We have also taken a scalpel to the recently popular thick-soled shoes. Thick-soled shoes have strong resilience, but are also prone to injury. Mr. Hanada was surprised by the number of injuries at Waseda University and banned the use of thick-soled shoes from the summer training camp. In his own words, he had the players practice in thin-soled shoes, which were not dependent on functionality, and made them realize how much they were relying on high rebound,” said a reporter for a sports newspaper.

(A reporter for a sports newspaper) “How much they were relying on the thick-soled shoes.

Coach Hanada’s goal was right on target: Ryuto Igawa (4th year) ran a brilliant race in the 3rd section, passing 9 runners from 14th to 5th, and Hikaru Kitamura (3rd year) ran a strong race in the 6th section, finishing 3rd in 58:58, which was the third fastest time in the section.

I realized how much I had been relying on the thick bottom. （I realized how much I had lost ground.

Waseda’s “muddy” practice has revived the team’s prestigious reputation. Next year, Waseda plans to make a further leap forward, and plans to have its players gain experience through a series of crowdfunded overseas expeditions.

On the other hand, there was one university that was considered a contender for the championship but failed to show any results: Aoyama Gakuin, which finished in third place. After the competition, coach Susumu Hara expressed his regret, saying, “Life is full of different things, and Hakone is full of different things.

Life is full of things, and Hakone is full of things too. Many things happen in life, and many things happen in Hakone. That is why student sports are so interesting.

The “many things” happened in the sixth through eighth sections of the return leg. In the outward race, he had been in the lead with Komazawa and Chuo, but he dropped all the way down to 8th place.

In the 9th section, Daiki Kishimoto (4th year) held his ground and came back to 3rd place, but Komazawa, the winner, had a huge gap over him. Aoyama Gakuin, which had won many sectional prizes, came in last place in the 6th section with the best record. Coach Hara said, ‘Aogaku is not a team that can be happy with third place. We want to take revenge.

Director Hara also reflected on the situation, telling the press, “I want to build a self-disciplined, autonomous team. We need to build an autonomous team that is self-disciplined. I think this was a transitional tournament. I don’t want to slant toward a power-oriented style of coaching. The original style of student sports is to think and act on one’s own.

Waseda University gained confidence by finishing 6th, while Aoyama Gakuin University finished a disappointing 3rd. What was the reason for the difference between the two strong schools? Tetsuhiko Kim, a track and field commentator who has competed in the Hakone Ekiden himself.

Waseda University has had fast runners every year. However, there were concerns about their stamina to run long distances. Mr. Hanada focused on this issue, banned the use of thick-soled shoes, and began to change the mindset by incorporating a 20 km run once a week into training, which must have worked. I believe that his original muddy practice led to the results.

Aoyama Gakuin was hit hard when Hiroki Wakabayashi (sophomore), who was scheduled to run the 5th section as a “mountain climbing specialist,” was forced to pull out of the race due to illness shortly before the race. The emergency situation upset the team, and when he was passed by another school in the 6th section, the damage spread. As Director Hara said, ‘a lot of things’ happened. Considering the subsequent recovery, if Wakabayashi had run as planned, Komazawa might not have been allowed to run alone.”

The upcoming 24th year will mark the 100th Hakone Ekiden. Each school is now preparing for the commemorative event based on the mixed results of this year’s race, which included both disappointment and joy.