His final-leg runner Keigo Yuhara was still on the road running. But Aoyama Gakuin head coach Susumu Hara was already high-fiving his other athletes at the finish line in Tokyo¡¯s Otemachi district, being certain his team would be back on top.
The school racked up its first Hakone ekiden title in two years with a meet record of 10 hours, 45 minutes, 23 seconds in a convincing victory on Friday.
Aoyama Gakuin built an advantage of 3:02 over the runner-up and reigning champion Tokai University. Tokai¡¯s time was 10:48:25, which also eclipsed the previous meet record of 10:52:09, which the Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture-based school set in the 2019 competition.
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