Komazawa University, second at the halfway point after Thursday’s race, came from behind to win back-to-back titles in the Tokyo-Hakone collegiate ekiden road relay Friday.
Kiyotaka Shimamura overtook Tsuyoshi Seike of first-day leader Yamanashi Gakuin University during the penultimate leg and Komazawa went on to secure its third victory in the annual New Year event with a two-day total time of 11 hours, 3 minutes, 47 seconds over 10 legs and 216.4 km.
Eighth-leg runner Takayuki Ota narrowed the gap to 58 seconds for Komazawa to set the stage for the heroics of senior Shimamura, who overtook Seike with 7 km left in the 23-km ninth leg.k
Anchor Masashi Kitaura cruised over the final 23.0 km in a leg record and crossed the finish line 4:41 ahead of Yamanashi Gakuin.
Nihon University finished third another 4:24 behind.
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