The 6th section athletes of Kokugakuin University are conflicted about their decision to run in the 5th year for the Hakone National Marathon.

Komazawa University won the 99th Hakone Ekiden for the eighth time in two years, becoming the fifth school in history to win the triple crown. Some finished in 4th place, aiming for the top 3 overall, while others graduated with a sense of regret.

On January 3, the fourth to stand at the start line for the return leg, Kokugakuin University’s Shinai Shimazaki took a small, deep breath to calm himself. This was the third time for him to run in the 6th section, a downhill race, and he did not expect to return to the familiar Lake Ashinoko again this year at the age of 22.

In the previous race, when he was in his fourth year, he had a recurrence of an injury four days before the race and unexpectedly had to withdraw from the race. He was in tears of disappointment, and was supposed to have joined a business team without running in his “last Hakone race. He had already decided to delay his graduation by six months due to a lack of credits, but he never imagined that he would be running in Hakone again after a year of absence.

I thought I would never be able to run again and that this would be the end of it,” he said. I was told by coach Maeda that I had one more chance, so I talked to my parents about it. I had received a job offer from a business company in my hometown of Gunma, so I asked them, ‘What are you going to do?’ but in the end they pushed me back and said, ‘You should do what you want to do. I have nothing but gratitude to my parents.”

When he decided to aim for his fifth year in Hakone, he gave up on the job offer and concentrated on the competition. He has never forgotten the frustration of missing out due to a breakdown. However, in the previous track season, he failed to break his personal best, and in the All-Japan University Ekiden held last November, which is considered a prelude to the Hakone Ekiden, he finished 18th in the crucial first section, a painful setback. Although he was saved by the fact that the juniors behind him recovered and finished in second place, their best ever finish, he still felt sorry. He said “Thank you” to everyone who ran, and vowed to return the favor at Hakone.

If he was concerned about his old injury to his right hamstring (back of the thigh) before the race, he immediately asked a trainer to take a careful look at it. He was in perfect condition, and entered the New Year in the best shape he had ever been in. He was confident that he could run the 57:00 time he had set as a personal goal and win a sectional prize. He was not only determined to make up for his own regrets, but also to win a sectional prize.

The team captain, Daisho Nakanishi, who had to give up the race due to an injury just before the race, asked me to do my best to make up for him.

I started off well, but after 8 km, I felt something was wrong. After 8 km, when Waseda University passed him, he could not react as he wanted to. I couldn’t pick up the pace, and their engine-colored backs were getting further and further away from me. His legs were no longer able to hold their ground. Even though the downhill was getting tougher and tougher, he could not afford to lose speed.

I could not give up,” he said. I desperately chased the front and passed Aoyama Gakuin, so I was determined to just keep my position.

As they finished the descent, the supervisor’s car (management vehicle) started to pull up behind them with about 3 km to go, and Maeda shouted loudly, “We’ll make up for Kisuke, and we’ll keep up with the rest of the field.

＜Let’s run for Kisuke and Taisho. The pain of running is much better than the pain of not being able to run last year.

The passionate words of his coach, who had guided him for about five years, resonated in his heart, and he was able to muster all the strength he could. By the time I jumped into the Odawara relay station, my legs were in tatters. He fell to the cold asphalt and was unable to stand on his own, but he could clearly hear the voice of the supervisor in the coach’s car telling him how he had done his best.

I was told, “You did a good job,” and I was able to finish in 12th place in the race, with a time of 59 minutes. I finished 12th in the section, with a time of 59:59. I was much slower than I had set, and my running was ‘not good,’ but I received nothing but positive encouragement.

When he returned to Otemachi with a limp in his left leg, he looked refreshed. He is proud that he has become stronger through friendly competition with Kiyosumi Hirabayashi (7th in the 2nd section) and Ayumu Yamamoto (5th in the 3rd section), both of whom finished in the outward race.

No one in my junior year blamed me, but said, “That was cool. They said, ‘Thank you very much for holding the tasuki together so well. To be honest, the past year was difficult for me. Even though I did well in practice, I could not produce results in games, and I was really frustrated. But with the support of coach Maeda, my juniors, and my parents, I was able to overcome the hardships. The support of my former classmates also gave me strength. Once again, it was a year in which I realized that what I take for granted is not the norm. I am not satisfied with the results of Hakone, but I have no regrets.

Director Maeda, who has seen Shimazaki struggle on his own at times, is aware of his own mixed emotions.

He understood everything that was going on and communicated well with us,” he said. There were times when he spun out of control, but he did a great job until the end. I think it was a year in which we were able to see glimpses of his humanity. I would like to thank him for standing on the starting line of the 6th section with the regrets of last year. It is a testament to his effort. Out of respect for that, I called out to him from the coach’s car.”

Kizuke, Shimazaki’s best friend and former captain, who had been his classmate until last year, watched quietly as Shimazaki gritted his teeth and raced down the Hakone road.

I know how hard he has worked over the past year to get to this day, so I would like to thank him for his hard work as a fifth-year student, no matter what the outcome. Last year, both of us finished the race with incomplete results, but now our Hakone races have finally come to an end. I am relieved. Once again, I felt the importance of sticking to one thing.

Although he may not have been rewarded for his last run in Hakone, he will leave Kokugakuin with a refreshed feeling. After graduating from college this spring, he will continue his track and field career with SunBerks, an industrial company. Although the company to which he has been offered a job has changed, and his life has also changed, he says he has no regrets. He will continue his efforts to run in next year’s New Year’s Ekiden, hoping for better results the next time.