The long-distance road-running relay sport of ekiden is a national institution in Japan, where New Year’s races command massive TV audiences and turn unknown athletes into overnight stars.
Now ekiden’s greatest modern coach believes it can also become a global event on the Olympic stage — and even contribute to world peace.
Ekiden involves teams of runners covering long-distance relay stages of varying lengths, and has been held in Japan for more than a century.
Photo: AFP
The event took its inspiration from the samurai-era couriers who carried messages between Tokyo and the former imperial capital, Kyoto.
Ekiden is virtually unknown outside of Japan, but Susumu Hara, head coach of the all-conquering Aoyama Gakuin University team, believes it can become popular around the globe.
“Connection, is a word that resonates throughout sports around the world,” he said. “A lot of places still have social conflict, but connecting people like we do in ekiden can play a part toward world peace.”
Photo: AFP
The sport’s flagship race is the Hakone Ekiden, contested by 21 university teams over two days on Jan. 2 and 3 each year.
Races for professional teams also exist, but it is the student event that really captures the public’s attention, with millions watching on TV and more lining roads along the route.
Each of the teams’ 10 runners completes a section of the 217km return trip between Tokyo and the resort town of Hakone, handing over a colored sash to their teammate at each checkpoint.
Like cycling’s Tour de France, stages vary in length — some are flat and others involve punishing climbs up mountain roads.
The Hakone Ekiden is open only to universities in the greater Tokyo area, but its prestige is such that students from all over Japan choose to study at schools in the capital just so that they can compete in the race.
“I used to be in my primary school baseball team, but then I watched the Hakone Ekiden with my family and I wanted to run in it, too — that’s why I took up running,” said Takayuki Iida, captain of the Aoyama Gakuin University team.
“Every time I run in the race, I want to run in it even more the next year. It really is the stuff of dreams,” Iida said.
Some people have even been known to quit their jobs and return to university so they can run again, said Takeshi Nishimoto, a journalist at Ekiden News.
He said the team nature of ekiden strikes a chord with many Japanese.
“People say the Japanese don’t have individuality, but I think one thing people like about the race is that within a team, their personalities come out,” Nishimoto said. “Having the right person in the right position is something that really resonates with Japanese people.”
Reports say last year’s race was watched on TV by almost 65 million people — the biggest audience since live broadcasts began in 1987.
For runners like Ryuji Kashiwabara, who became known as “the God of the Mountains” after helping Tokyo University win the race three times between 2009 and 2012, it can be a life-changing experience.
“People suddenly started speaking to me on the train or when I was out for dinner, and people would take pictures of me when I went back to my home town,” Kashiwabara said. “I realized it wasn’t just me thinking about what I had done — everyone was going crazy about it.”
The advent of social media has brought even more attention to today’s athletes, but their fame can be fleeting and few go on to become Olympic stars, Kashiwabara said.
Many quit running after reaching their life’s goal of competing in the Hakone Ekiden, Nishimoto said.
Others find it difficult to make the transition to the individual marathon or long-distance track events.
Hara, who coached Aoyama Gakuin University to their sixth title in eight years yesterday, would like to see ekiden included in the Olympic program one day, but first he wants to see reforms in Japan, starting by opening up the Hakone Ekiden to universities from around the country as well as professional teams.
“First we need to make sure we do it right at home,” he said.
“If we do that, a bigger effort to take it to the Olympics and make it a global event will follow as a matter of course.”
BASEBALL LEGEND: Sadaharu Oh, who flew against his doctor’s advice to throw the first pitch at the Taipei Dome, said he had high expectations for baseball in Taiwan Taiwan yesterday defeated South Korea 4-0 in the opening game of the Asian Baseball Championship in front of a crowd of more than 16,000 at the newly opened Taipei Dome. The team was led by a starting pitcher Hsu Ruo-hsi, who in a dominant performance recroded 10 strikeouts and allowed only two hits in seven scoreless innings on the mound. Eighteen-year-old Sun I-lei came to close out the final two innings, ensuring that Taiwan hung on to their four-run lead, after scoring three runs in the third inning and another in the fourth. The eight-day championship is to take place
NIGHT OF FIRSTS: In the first official game at the Tapei Dome on Sunday, not only did Taiwan notch a win over South Korea, they also recorded the stadium’s first hit and RBI The Philippines yesterday dominated Thailand 14-4 at the Taipei Dome in the opening game of Group B on the second day of the Asian Baseball Championship, while Palestine pipped Hong Kong 3-1 in Taichung in Group A. World No. 35 the Philippines put themselves on the board early, racking up two runs in the first inning, followed by two in the third, one each in the fourth and fifth, and three in the sixth. Thailand, ranked 43rd in the world, did not get on the board until the top of the seventh inning, when they tried to stage a comeback, putting up
TROUNCED: Taiwan beat Palestine in six innnings on day three of the Asia Baseball Championship, while it took just five innings for Japan to defeat Thailand Taiwan yesterday beat Palestine 19-0 at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium on the third day of the Asian Baseball Championship. The Group A game was over in six innings after a 6:03pm start. Taiwan went on the offensive from the first inning, scoring three runs, but the real damage was done in the third inning, when they scored seven. The Palestine players are all studying or working in the US. In another duel between two unevenly matched teams, Japan thrashed Thailand 16-0 in their late Group B game at the Taipei Dome. They won in five innings thanks to the mercy rule, which states
NATIONS LEAGUE: England crushed Scotland 6-0, but their Olympic hopes were ruined when the Netherlands beat them on goal difference with a 4-0 win against Belgium Germany and the Netherlands on Tuesday booked their places at the UEFA Women’s Nations League finals , where they are also to fight for spots at next year’s Paris Games, but there was heartbreak for England whose hopes of competing in the Olympics were dashed, despite beating Scotland 6-0. Germany drew 0-0 in Wales, but secured their passage thanks to Iceland’s 1-0 win over Denmark. The Netherlands needed a 95th-minute goal from Damaris Egurrola to see them to a 4-0 win over Belgium which meant they edged England on goal difference in Group A1 after the FIFA Women’s World Cup runners-up hammered