Toyo University held on to its overnight lead to win the Tokyo-Hakone men's collegiate ekiden road relay for the first time in two years on Friday.
Starting with a 59-second lead over Komzawa University after the first leg on Thursday, Toyo completed the 217.9-km round trip between Tokyo's Otemachi business district and the spa resort of Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture in 10 hours, 52 minutes, 51 seconds for its fourth overall title.
Toyo never surrendered its lead and took the seventh, eighth and 10th legs en route to victory in a new record return-leg time of 5:25:38.
Komazawa, which was aiming to complete a hat trick of ekiden titles after winning the national university championship and national invitational crown, was second, over 4 minutes back.
Last year's champion, Nippon Sport Science University, was third.