As the Tokyo-Hakone Round-Trip College Ekiden Race has grown into one of Japan's biggest sporting competitions, the event has increasingly become somewhat of a showcase event for running shoe manufacturers.
Tokai University captured its first-ever Hakone title, dethroning four-time reigning champion Aoyama Gakuin University with a tournament record time of 10 hours, 52 minutes, 9 seconds in the 95th edition of the New Year's tradition last week.
The footwear sported by most of Tokai's athletes also drew some attention. They were wearing Nike's Zoom Vaporfly 4%, which has drawn global attention from long-distance runners in recent years.