Combination of quiet and dynamic

There was difficulty deciding on a co-captain. Masahiro Kotani (4th-year student in the Faculty of Economics) broke the silence by raising his hand. To Captain Fujii, it appeared that Kotani was declaring his intention to serve as co-captain.

Kotani had a plan for becoming co-captain. “Since Fujii is quiet, I thought that the co-captain should be someone more talkative.” When compared to a family, the taciturn Fujii is like the father and the caring Kotani is like the mother.

When greeted by younger students at the dormitory entrance in the morning, smiling Kotani responded to the nervous expressions of first-year and second-year students by giving short messages of encouragement. In some cases, he offered advice on training or lifestyle, or just engages in small talk.

“After training, I tried to pick up the spirits of younger runners by giving messages of encouragement,” says Kotani. “I think that doing so would help bring the team together.”

Kotani focused on keeping the team upbeat. He was quick to discover physical injuries or mental uneasiness in early stages and prevent them from becoming serious.

“I tried to keep an eye on how younger runners are doing,” he says. “I had gone through some difficult times myself. I wanted to keep the team unified as we trained for the Hakone Ekiden.”

His daily effort at communication has fostered an atmosphere in which younger students feel comfortable speaking with older students. At the dinner table, the team discusses the day’s events and seems like a warm family.

After the spring track season and the summer camp, October bring the important event of the Hakone Ekiden Preliminaries (Tachikawa).

Captain Fujii was forced to withdraw from the preliminaries due to a leg injury. It was his third consecutive withdrawal, dating back from his second year at university. This left Fujii feeling frustrated. Although he preferred to lead by example, he was unable to compete.

After Chuo University passed the preliminaries in 8th place, Fujii received encouragement from Kotani. “Let’s run together at Hakone,” said Kotani.

Fujii appeared to be recovering from his injury, and his name was listed among the 16 runners on the team entry sheet which was submitted on December 10. However, he was omitted from the list of competing runners when entries for specific stages of the race were submitted on December 29. He had run the third stage when he was a third-year student, and was scheduled to run the third stage again in this year’s race before being forced to withdraw. “I want to compete,” said Fujii. “But I am not physically able.”

“Give everything that you have!”

The first half of the Hakone Ekiden began on the morning of January 2, 2016. Kotani was scheduled to run in the fifth stage and was warming up at the Odawara Relay Point. For the third consecutive year, he would run the mountain-climbing stage of the course. “The fifth stage is one stage that I have always wanted to run since I entered university,” he says.

During his second year, Kotani performed well in practice and earned the right to compete in the Hakone Ekiden. For three years since then, he went on many trial runs and focused on acclimatizing his body to the mountainous course.

When Kotani first competed in the Hakone Ekiden during his second year at university, his goal was to finish the stage. “I wanted to show that I could successfully run the stage,” he says. Ultimately, he was the thirteenth runner to cross the finish line for the first half of the ekiden. During the previous year’s ekiden, the Chuo team had dropped out during the fifth stage. Kotani’s ability to complete the fifth stage was like the return of a missing piece to the team’s puzzle.

In his third year, Kotani ran the fifth stage for the second time and finished in seventh place by improving time by nearly two minutes compared with the previous year. There were great expectations for Kotani’s performance on the mountainous fifth stage during the final official race of his final year at university.

Kotani ate one hour prior to beginning his warm-up. He had decided on the pre-race menu by himself: nutritional jelly, two rice balls, and two pieces of sponge cake. He also made sure that the contents of the rice balls were things that he had eaten before. The time immediately before the race is very important for obtaining peak condition.

Shuhei Suzuki (3rd-year student in the Faculty of Law), who ran the fourth stage for the Chuo team, appeared at the relay point. Kotani thanked him for passing on the sash, expressed his gratitude for the labor of Suzuki, and started the mountainous stage with an elevation difference of 864 meters. During his run, Kotani was troubled by sudden gusts of wind through the mountains. His 162-centimeter, 48-kilogram frame was in danger of being blown away.

At the final downhill stretch of the stage about 300 to 400 meters from the finish line, Coach Haruo Urata gave Kotani a message of encouragement through the microphone of the administrative vehicle driven behind the runners. “Kotani! This is your last Hakone Ekiden! Give everything that you have!”

“Coach Urata was always with me throughout the day of the race, and he watched over me for four entire years,” says Kotani. “I can never express the depths of my gratitude.”

Overwhelmed with emotion, Kotani fell into the arms of his teammates waiting at the finish line. Although he finished in fourteenth place, he was satisfied with his final race.

Overflowing with the joy of running

The morning of January 3 arrived. Due to a substitution which was made that morning, Captain Fujii had been entrusted with the seventh stage.

The night before the race, Fujii had eaten a rice-filled omelet at a casual restaurant. On the day of the race, he had two rice balls and three pieces of sponge cake. His beverages were water or sports drinks. This was the usual menu for Fujii. “This food gives me enough energy for 20 kilometers,” he says. “I don’t want to eat too much.”

The second half of the ekiden started with the sixth stage. As Fujii watched Takumi Tanimoto (3rd-year student in the Faculty of Economics) running down the mountainous course, Fujii could see that Tanimoto was exhausted. Fujii congratulated him on his efforts and patted him on his shoulder. As soon as Tanimoto returned the favor by patting Fujii on his shoulder, Fujii was off and running.

Fujii passed three other runners. “Take it easy on the first half and then pick up the pace on the last half,” directed Coach Urata from the administrative car. His coach’s advice matched Fujii’s own strategy.

Remembering the days during which he had struggled with injury, Fujii’s body overflowed with the joy of running. Perhaps he was running too fast a pace? Again, he heard advice from Coach Urata. “Don’t run using just your thighs. Use your butt and hamstrings, too!”

Fujii ran a strong race and soon sighted the Hiratsuka Relay Point which marked the beginning of the eighth stage. First-year student Takahiro Naemura (Faculty of Literature) was waiting with a tense expression. Long before he passed the sash to Naemura, Fujii was already shouting advice.

“Don’t be nervous!” Fujii shouted. The rookie runner Naemura simply nodded and then began his run. During the seventh stage, Captain Fujii had passed three runners and moved Chuo up to twelfth place. An automatic qualification (top-ten finish) for next year’s Hakone Ekiden was in sight. Fujii had finished in sixth place for the seventh stage. As always, he led by example.

◇

Chuo University finished in fifteenth place and missed an automatic qualification for the fourth consecutive year.

At the reporting session held near the second-half finish line, Captain Fujii burst into tears. The road was lined with fans of Chuo University. Even after the end of the race, ardent fans and supporters were still gathered. “I feel so bad that we were unable to obtain automatic qualification for next year’s race, despite the support of so many fans,” said Fujii, crying his first tears since entering university.

A sash filled with feeling

Overall Results for 2016 Hakone Ekiden

Place	University	Hours・Minutes・Seconds
1	Aoyama Gakuin University	10・53・25
2	Toyo University	11・0・36
3	Komazawa University	11・4・0
4	Waseda University	11・7・54
5	Tokai University	11・9・44
6	Juntendo University	11・11・24
7	Nippon Sport Science University	11・11・32
8	Yamanashi Gakuin University	11・11・51
9	Chuo Gakuin University	11・13・31
10	Teikyo University	11・15・21
＜Universities finishing in the top 10 automatically qualify for next year’s ekiden＞
11	Nihon University	11・16・50
12	Josai University	11・20・6
13	Kanagawa University	11・20・7
14	Meiji University	11・20・39
15	Chuo University	11・21・48
16	Takushoku University	11・23・54
17	Tokyo International University	11・24・0
18	Daito Bunka University	11・28・45
19	Hosei University	11・31・12
20	Jobu University	11・36・46

Runners returned to the dormitory on the evening of January 3. The entire team gathered together in the cafeteria for dinner. After the meal, fourth-year students took turns expressing their gratitude and giving advice to younger runners.

A new team would now start led by third-year students. They would begin practicing from the morning of January 4. The fourth-year students gathered together in a room. This ended the time that the fourth-year students would be responsible for monitoring the condition of rooms of the younger students.

The Hakone Ekiden is a nationally-loved event in Japan. The television rating approaches 30% every year. Teams are judged by results. The Chuo runners received both praise and criticism. They responded by gritting their teeth, motivating themselves, and attempting to respond to criticism. Their races were filled with a variety of emotions.

“I tried to communicate with and encourage all runners, from first-year students to fourth-year students,” says Co-Captain Kotani. “Although we failed to achieve the desired results, I am happy with how the team came together.”

“I felt that showing discipline and hard work was the only way to lead the team,” says Captain Fujii. “I developed a strong sense of responsibility.”

The Chuo University Ekiden Team has one traditional gift which is given to the captain only. It is a red sash on which the other runners and coaches have written their names.

Captain Fujii, Co-Captain Kotani and the other fourth-year students stared at the sash, the only of its kind in the world. The sash was filled with the myriad of emotions which the team had shared.