HAKONE (Kyodo) -- Defending champion Aoyama Gakuin University had a 1-minute and 47-second lead over second-place Chuo University after Day 1 of the two-day Tokyo-Hakone collegiate ekiden road relay Thursday.

Five Aoyama Gakuin runners covered the 107.5-kilometer course from Tokyo's Otemachi business district to the mountainous spa resort of Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture in 5 hours, 20 minutes, 1 second.

In the 101st edition of the race, Chuo led from the first to fourth leg before Aoyama Gakuin's Hiroki Wakabayashi overtook Chuo's Daito Sonoki midway through the fifth leg on his way to setting a new fifth-leg record of 1:09:11.

Waseda University placed third, 2:29 behind Aoyama Gakuin.

Kokugakuin University will try to bounce back from sixth place in Friday's return leg in a bid to complete the triple crown of collegiate road relays after winning the Izumo Ekiden in October and the national championship in November.

Tokyo International University's Richard Etir from Kenya clocked a second-leg record of 1:05:31, pulling up his team from 14th to second. The school finished the first day in 11th out of 21 teams.

The top 10 teams at the end of Friday automatically qualify for next year's Tokyo-Hakone race.