Aoyama Gakuin University won the first leg of the two-day Tokyo-Hakone collegiate ekiden road relay Monday, taking the outward half of the race for the third straight year.
Five runners from Aoyama Gakuin, aiming for its third consecutive overall title, clocked a combined 5 hours, 33 minutes, 45 seconds over 107.5 km from Tokyo's Otemachi business district to Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Waseda University, looking to claim its first overall victory in six years, was runner-up, 33 seconds behind, while Juntendo University was third.
Twenty-one teams from the Kanto region are competing in the event's 93rd edition.
Aoyama Gakuin's third runner, Yuhi Akiyama, started his segment in second place with a 38-second deficit, but overtook Kanagawa University to take the lead. Aoyama's fourth man, Homare Morita, widened the lead to nearly 1½ minutes before handing the sash to anchor Ryusuke Sadanaga.
Toyo University, the 2014 overall winner and last year's second-place finisher, was fourth after the first day, followed by Komazawa University and Kanagawa.
Tuesday's return leg from Hakone to Otemachi will be contested in five more segments over 109.6 km.