Thanks so much for your coverage of Ekiden. I've thorouhgly enjoyed watching the series. I stumbled upon your content after watching "Run With The Wind" the anime which is all about Hakone Ekiden. It made me fall in love with running and I regularly train now to hopefully run a 10k in the next year or two! Watching how hard these Ekiden athletes train is super inspiring.
There's an anime series called run with the wind (available on crunchyroll with Eng subtitles) about running/hakone ekiden. Capture the whole vibe + culture of the race, pretty accurate visually and the routes (even from the qualifying race).
As a normalized race event I agree and think it could be difficult to organized. As an Olympic event? It 100% should be. Once every 4 years to watch national ekiden teams compete each other in a similar format (5 x 13.1 miles/ 21 km) point to point event would be a legendary spectacle. Even to stretch it out to a full ekiden event (2 day 5x half marathons) would be such a fun freaking event to watch and root for.
Total trailblazing, opening up the secret world of Japanese running to the English speaking and international community. I've lived and worked in Japan for years and I'm married to a Japanese and spend time there annually and I thought you did a fantastic job presenting Ekiden to the running world. The college coach and athlete interviews were fantastic! Well done!!!
Most team events (I took part in 2 so far) outside Ekiden are not as competitive (very few are in fact) but the concept is a lot of fun. When you travel with 10 runners along a 250km+ route you really become a team :). That explains why the footage was taken down :(.
Watched it live (in between falling asleep) during the winter vacation. The Japanese commentary brought me back to my teenage days of devouring animes at night hahah. Absolutely loved the event!
Honestly your channel added such an awesome bts look at some of the teams. Seeing Yamamoto killing himself with hypoxic training in the Josai episode, then watching him crush the mountain stage… it’s those bts stories that make Hakone Ekiden so popular for the Japanese people, and you brought some of that to us westerners with the series this year. Thank you 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
I'm not surprised the coaches weren't more forthcoming about their training methods. Aoyama Gakuin University is obviously doing something that even powerhouses like Komazawa University haven't yet figured out. I suspect it basically comes down to training through the other ekidens and peaking for Hakone every year, but it might also have something to do with training specifically for the Hakone distances, which on average are around twice as long as those of the other college ekidens.
Interesting series! Well done Sweat Elite! Not at this scale whatsoever, but there is a similar annual event in New Zealand in which both club runners and community runners participate in a relay race. Teams complete the ~70km course in the popular 8-person team with laps varying from 6km to 11.5km. There is also 2-person and 4-person options.
Too bad you couldn't show any images of the 3rd leg, in particular. That was head-to-head racing at its best, pitting a young Komazawa Univ. athlete who is considered Japan's best collegiate runner (PRs ranging from 3:37 to 27:28), Keita Sato, against an incredibly in-form Aoi Ota from Aoyoma Gakuin Univ. Ota ended up the winner, reaching the handoff point (which is in my neighborhood, BTW) around 4 seconds ahead of Sato -- after starting the leg 23 seconds behind Sato. Ota's time for the 21.4 km leg, 59:47, represented the first time a Japanese runner had broken 60 minutes (former Kenyan exchange student Vincent Yegon set the leg record, 59:25, in 2020). Here's a clip that shows Ota catching Sato: ua-cam.com/video/RuBnz2ErH5Y/v-deo.html. And here's another showing Ota taking the lead (temporarily): ua-cam.com/video/HxFuzGGXCEo/v-deo.html.
They could have an international one as part of the Bahama Relays event as qualifying for the Olympics! They already have similar style cross country relays, admittedly on laps.
Hmm…making running a team sport. Now there’s a thought 🤔 I think it’s fairly obvious that if you look at other successful sports, all the biggest sports are team sports.
Matt. Now I’ve listened to the podcast I’m even more frustrated that, despite a wealth of content (admittedly in t😢he Japanese language but you had a fluent Japanese speaker in Sebastian) including the excellent も一つの箱根駅伝 One More Hakone Ekiden, you almost totally missed the cultural and historical context of the event. The back stories of the individual athletes and teams, the several instances of brotthers, fathers, sons and even, in some cases, three generations of one family competing makes for a truly unique event. Even the characteristics of the individual stages, the whitewash start etc contribute to a unique competitive environment. Regarding the media rights it’s maybe not surprising that Japan holds firm given that looking at Hakone asa financial opportunity is slightly disrespectful. There are quite a few people around with great knowledge of the event and who also understand the cultural narrative. Please let us help.
Content shouldn’t make one frustrated. The best way is to stop watching/listening and engage with something else. There may be a reason nobody has dived into what you’re suggesting, it may not be overly interesting to most. I would argue most would dis engage if talking about specific people and history like that they’ve never heard before and will never hear again. Why not go and make a video and podcast the way you like?
In Japan, the Hakone Ekiden relay race is popular, but for some reason, track and field events are not. Even at the Japanese track and field championships, the stadiums are not filled to capacity. Even if it were the World Championships in track and field, the stadiums would not be packed. The Hakone Ekiden is a culture that goes beyond track and field events, so I think there are many aspects that are difficult for foreigners to understand. Even Japanese people cannot understand why the popularity of Ekiden does not lead to the popularity of track and field events. I envy the Diamond League.
"Even if it were the World Championships in track and field, the stadiums would not be packed." I beg to differ. I covered the 1991 IAAF World Championships in Tokyo for a Japanese newspaper, and the stands certainly were packed. And the packees were well rewarded: A 100m WR from Carl Lewis and a still-standing LJ WR from Mike Powell. It was an incredible meet. I think next year's WA champs in Tokyo will be at least as good.
thanks for this amazing series! actually i disagree to your opinion that Ekiden should open up for foreigners/foreign markets. There is something to it, that you keep specific events within your culture instead of pursuing the idea of opening up for new markets. you can see what this idea made to european football for example, its just money ball. I think sometimes it might be more valuable to keep something within your culture and stick to tradition. i hope my point is clear. However: Nice videos!
Thanks for the kind words. A few ways to view it. Football is enormously popular with thousands of huge salaries and hundreds of millions tuning in resulting in millions of kids inspired to play, etc.. compared with running? Most elites struggle, probably less than 200 globally earn a full time wage... So not sure the point makes complete sense? It’s more about allowing the rest of the world to view it, not so much opening it up to a new market.
Thanks so much for your coverage of Ekiden. I've thorouhgly enjoyed watching the series. I stumbled upon your content after watching "Run With The Wind" the anime which is all about Hakone Ekiden. It made me fall in love with running and I regularly train now to hopefully run a 10k in the next year or two! Watching how hard these Ekiden athletes train is super inspiring.
I think you have done an amazing job. Keep it up!
Thank you for the kind words
There's an anime series called run with the wind (available on crunchyroll with Eng subtitles) about running/hakone ekiden. Capture the whole vibe + culture of the race, pretty accurate visually and the routes (even from the qualifying race).
As a normalized race event I agree and think it could be difficult to organized. As an Olympic event? It 100% should be. Once every 4 years to watch national ekiden teams compete each other in a similar format (5 x 13.1 miles/ 21 km) point to point event would be a legendary spectacle. Even to stretch it out to a full ekiden event (2 day 5x half marathons) would be such a fun freaking event to watch and root for.
In Bulgaria we have an Ekiden marathon held on a national holiday that consists of 6 runners doing 5, 10 and 7.195 km legs.
At my club (AV PEC 1910) in Zwolle/Netherlands we have every year a simulair event. But what Matt allready say it is a very social event😉
Total trailblazing, opening up the secret world of Japanese running to the English speaking and international community. I've lived and worked in Japan for years and I'm married to a Japanese and spend time there annually and I thought you did a fantastic job presenting Ekiden to the running world. The college coach and athlete interviews were fantastic! Well done!!!
Fantastic work Matt, I’ve enjoyed the whole series. Thank you very much.
Most team events (I took part in 2 so far) outside Ekiden are not as competitive (very few are in fact) but the concept is a lot of fun. When you travel with 10 runners along a 250km+ route you really become a team :). That explains why the footage was taken down :(.
Exactly
Loved this series! Thank you for the hard work!
Watched it live (in between falling asleep) during the winter vacation. The Japanese commentary brought me back to my teenage days of devouring animes at night hahah. Absolutely loved the event!
Honestly your channel added such an awesome bts look at some of the teams. Seeing Yamamoto killing himself with hypoxic training in the Josai episode, then watching him crush the mountain stage… it’s those bts stories that make Hakone Ekiden so popular for the Japanese people, and you brought some of that to us westerners with the series this year. Thank you 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
For anyone who enjoys anime check out the show “Run With the Wind” which is about the Hakone Ekiden and is a really good watch.
Absolutely incredible! Amazing job
What a great series. Top notch!
Awesome end to an epic series!! It’s a shame that we don’t have many relay races here in Portugal 😢
Fantastic content👏
Recently ran the Cabot Trail relay and seems to be the closest thing to Ekiden in North America. 17 leg, 270 kms.
I really enjoyed this.
Nice work Matt
I'm not surprised the coaches weren't more forthcoming about their training methods. Aoyama Gakuin University is obviously doing something that even powerhouses like Komazawa University haven't yet figured out. I suspect it basically comes down to training through the other ekidens and peaking for Hakone every year, but it might also have something to do with training specifically for the Hakone distances, which on average are around twice as long as those of the other college ekidens.
Interesting series! Well done Sweat Elite! Not at this scale whatsoever, but there is a similar annual event in New Zealand in which both club runners and community runners participate in a relay race. Teams complete the ~70km course in the popular 8-person team with laps varying from 6km to 11.5km. There is also 2-person and 4-person options.
Great work
Thank you Andy! Cheers!
Too bad you couldn't show any images of the 3rd leg, in particular. That was head-to-head racing at its best, pitting a young Komazawa Univ. athlete who is considered Japan's best collegiate runner (PRs ranging from 3:37 to 27:28), Keita Sato, against an incredibly in-form Aoi Ota from Aoyoma Gakuin Univ. Ota ended up the winner, reaching the handoff point (which is in my neighborhood, BTW) around 4 seconds ahead of Sato -- after starting the leg 23 seconds behind Sato. Ota's time for the 21.4 km leg, 59:47, represented the first time a Japanese runner had broken 60 minutes (former Kenyan exchange student Vincent Yegon set the leg record, 59:25, in 2020). Here's a clip that shows Ota catching Sato: ua-cam.com/video/RuBnz2ErH5Y/v-deo.html. And here's another showing Ota taking the lead (temporarily): ua-cam.com/video/HxFuzGGXCEo/v-deo.html.
thanks for sharing!
Loved the series. Wish you had more access for filming the event
Thank you. Next time we hope.
They could have an international one as part of the Bahama Relays event as qualifying for the Olympics! They already have similar style cross country relays, admittedly on laps.
I've been looking for a channel that covers this😍
do you know where we can watch the hakone ekiden (in full) thnaks
It’s hilarious hearing the music that was in Billy Yang’s film from UTMB 2017 (I think it was 2017?) on here though still fitting
after watching anime named as "RUN WITH THE WIND" I am very curious about all these things, from now I love running.
Also
Love from india🏃♂️💙
Hmm…making running a team sport. Now there’s a thought 🤔 I think it’s fairly obvious that if you look at other successful sports, all the biggest sports are team sports.
👏👏👏
USA running scene be a lot different if there is USA version of Ekiden among high school/colleges
Matt. Now I’ve listened to the podcast I’m even more frustrated that, despite a wealth of content (admittedly in t😢he Japanese language but you had a fluent Japanese speaker in Sebastian) including the excellent も一つの箱根駅伝 One More Hakone Ekiden, you almost totally missed the cultural and historical context of the event. The back stories of the individual athletes and teams, the several instances of brotthers, fathers, sons and even, in some cases, three generations of one family competing makes for a truly unique event. Even the characteristics of the individual stages, the whitewash start etc contribute to a unique competitive environment.
Regarding the media rights it’s maybe not surprising that Japan holds firm given that looking at Hakone asa financial opportunity is slightly disrespectful.
There are quite a few people around with great knowledge of the event and who also understand the cultural narrative.
Please let us help.
Content shouldn’t make one frustrated. The best way is to stop watching/listening and engage with something else. There may be a reason nobody has dived into what you’re suggesting, it may not be overly interesting to most. I would argue most would dis engage if talking about specific people and history like that they’ve never heard before and will never hear again. Why not go and make a video and podcast the way you like?
In Japan, the Hakone Ekiden relay race is popular, but for some reason, track and field events are not.
Even at the Japanese track and field championships, the stadiums are not filled to capacity.
Even if it were the World Championships in track and field, the stadiums would not be packed.
The Hakone Ekiden is a culture that goes beyond track and field events, so I think there are many aspects that are difficult for foreigners to understand.
Even Japanese people cannot understand why the popularity of Ekiden does not lead to the popularity of track and field events.
I envy the Diamond League.
"Even if it were the World Championships in track and field, the stadiums would not be packed." I beg to differ. I covered the 1991 IAAF World Championships in Tokyo for a Japanese newspaper, and the stands certainly were packed. And the packees were well rewarded: A 100m WR from Carl Lewis and a still-standing LJ WR from Mike Powell. It was an incredible meet. I think next year's WA champs in Tokyo will be at least as good.
Fuck yes.
Oh metaspeed edge3 ? 6:24
thanks for this amazing series! actually i disagree to your opinion that Ekiden should open up for foreigners/foreign markets. There is something to it, that you keep specific events within your culture instead of pursuing the idea of opening up for new markets. you can see what this idea made to european football for example, its just money ball. I think sometimes it might be more valuable to keep something within your culture and stick to tradition. i hope my point is clear. However: Nice videos!
Thanks for the kind words.
A few ways to view it. Football is enormously popular with thousands of huge salaries and hundreds of millions tuning in resulting in millions of kids inspired to play, etc.. compared with running? Most elites struggle, probably less than 200 globally earn a full time wage... So not sure the point makes complete sense?
It’s more about allowing the rest of the world to view it, not so much opening it up to a new market.
Japan is the only place could work. Their culture allows for it. In the west we are too focused on money!!