Japan's biggest sports event during the new year holiday is university students' "Hakone Ekiden". Ekiden is a long-distance relay race.
On Jan. 2nd the first half of the race starts from the city center of Tokyo and at finishes at Hakone, famous for its scenic spa in the west end of Kanagawa Prefecture. The next day the relay starts from Hakone and ends at the same of spot of the previous day's start point.
I took these pictures near Hodogaya Station in Yokohama city. The runners ran through the ninth leg, the second leg from the last one.
Twenty university teams are qualified to participate in the race, ten of which are seeded according as the previous year's result: From the first to the tenth place teams.
I took these photos from the driver's seat of my car; I was lucky because I had to have my car halted just before the race course.
Winning team is Aoyama Gakuin University that achieved a feat, three years consecutive victories.
The ninth runner of Aoyama Gakuin's team is running in front of Hodogaya Station.
