Overseas viewers should be able to watch the 2009 Hakone Ekiden live online through this site. The race will be broadcast on NTV beginning at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on both Jan. 2 and 3. Each day will begin with a 1-hour preview show with the race starting at 8:00 a.m.
With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that Sis
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I read on NHK that Yuki Yagi is in the "backup" group for Waseda...is he hurt?
Glad to hear it. Kashiwabara was something else.....
I haven't heard that Yagi is injured. Schools often don't include their big stars in the initial start list in order to hide their strategy. Yuki Sato, for example, wasn't listed until they announced the changes this morning. Waseda will probably announce Yagi as a replacement tomorrow morning.