Prior to her world 5km title win in Riga, Chebet also claimed the world cross country crown in Bathurst in February and won world 5000m bronze in Budapest in August.
Given all that, there's a case to be made that the 2024 Hakone Ekiden could be considered its 99th running, its 100th running, or its 102nd running. It's not hard to see the logic in saying it's the 100th, but with that decision Gono, Teshima, Nagano, and the rest of the early 1940s Nihon University...
But whatever the questions about Hakone's legacy for the African athletes who spend four of their best years in pursuit of a 100-year-old vision, with more of them than ever coming into the circle of Hakone alumni there will always be the hope that one of them will break through to the kind of glory...
In its formative first 25 years, the Hakone Ekiden was enriched by the Korean athletes who lined up alongside their Japanese teammates, and in turn the golden years of Korean marathoning were enriched by the experience and knowledge they gained and brought back home. It's not a consequence that when...
You could argue that the Hakone Ekiden has the same potential, and you could argue that a range of factors would prevent that from ever happening. But as it turns 100 the Hakone Ekiden stands alone, for good or bad, as the Holy Grail of the sport, as a major achievement of world culture, as the worl...
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