Skip to main content

New Year Ekiden Entry Lists Released

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/news/20081218k0000m050058000c.html

translated by Brett Larner

The Jitsugyodan Track and Field Federation released the entry lists on Dec. 17 for the upcoming 53rd New Year Ekiden, the championship event for Japan's professional male runners.

This year's roster is packed with Beijing Olympians. Defending champion Team Konica Minolta's squad includes 5000 m and 10000 m runner Takayuki Matsumiya. 2007 winner Team Chugoku Denryoku will field marathoners Tsuyoshi Ogata and Sato Atsushi. The third Beijing marathoner, Satoshi Osaki, who withdrew from the Olympic marathon with an injury, is back in form to lead Team NTT Nishi Nihon. Team Fujitsu's lineup features 3000 m steeplechaser Yoshitaka Iwamizu, a newcomer to the team in 2008.

Team Kanebo is led by Satoshi Irifune, who was the top Japanese finisher and 2nd overall at the Fukuoka International Marathon earlier this month, becoming the first man to be named to the Japanese national marathon team for next summer's World Track and Field Championships. Satoru Kitamura, the top Japanese finisher in September's All-Japan Jitsugyodan Track and Field Championships 10000 m, joins Team Nissin Shokuhin as its star rookie after graduating from Nittai University earlier in the year.

The New Year Ekiden begins at 9:05 a.m. on Jan. 1. The 7-stage, 100 km course traverses much of Gunma Prefecture. Start lists and team order details will be released on Dec. 31.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more

Keita Sato on Training with OAC, Breaking NR in the USA, and the Road Ahead

Translator's note: Over his 2nd year at four-time national champion Komazawa University , 1500 m, 3000 m, indoor 3000 m and 5000 m U20 NR holder Keita Sato spent a total of three months training with OAC with support from JRN, one week in Boulder last spring, three weeks in St. Moritz during the summer, and the last two months back in Boulder. During that time he ran the equivalent of a 27:57 road 10 km and 59:22 half marathon in ekidens and U20 Asian area best 27:28.50 for 10000 m, all at age 19, and since turning 20 in January an indoor 5000 m NR of 13:09.45, an indoor 3000 m NR of 7:42.56, and an Asian area best 8:14.71 for 2 miles indoor. This interview by journalist Tatsuo Terada took place in late February before The TEN, where Sato ran 27:34.66. Komazawa University 2nd-year Keita Sato had a great indoor track season. On January 26 in Boston just after his 20th birthday he ran a 13:09.45 indoor 5000 m national record, the 2nd-fastest time ever by a Japanese man behind o...
1 comment
Read more

Restaurant Owner Selected as Olympic Torchbearer Dies in Fire After Becoming Despondent Over Impact of Coronavirus Crisis (updated)

On the evening of Apr. 30, the 54-year-old male owner of a restaurant in Tokyo's Nerima ward specializing in tonkatsu deep fried pork cutlets died from full-body burns in a fire at the restaurant. The man had been one of the people chosen as a torchbearer for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics torch relay. With the coronavirus crisis causing both the postponement of the Olympics and a loss of business at the restaurant, the man had recently started talking pessimistically about the future to those around him. With evidence of the man's body having been doused in tonkatsu cooking oil, metropolitan police from the Hikarigaoka Police Station are carefully examining the cause of the fire. At around 10:00 p.m. on the 30th, the fire broke out in the tonkatsu restaurant on the first floor of a three-story building. A neighborhood resident who noticed smoke called the fire department. Firefighters found the floor and part of a wall burning, with the man lying on the floor in the customer seat...
Post a Comment
Read more