Skip to main content

A Report From Rikuren's New Zealand Training Camp

http://www.asahi-kasei.co.jp/asahi/jp/csr/sports/rikujo/result/2009/090408.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner
click thumbnails for full-sized photos via Team Asahi Kasei

Atsushi Sato leads Tomoya Shimizu, one of the Matsumiya twins, Satoru Sasaki and Seiji Kobayashi.

Japan's top male marathoners departed on Mar. 30 for a Rikuren-sponsored training camp in New Zealand. Lasting until Apr. 15, the training camp is taking place at the northernmost tip of New Zealand's southern island, in the town of Nelson. 2009 Berlin World Championships marathoner Masaya Shimizu (Team Asahi Kasei) is taking part in the camp along with his junior teammate Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei). Also at the camp are prospective World Championships team members Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku), who is training for this month's London Marathon, and Seiji Kobayashi (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki), who was 2nd in February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon. Others in the training group include Shimizu's twin brother Tomoya (Team Sagawa Express), the Matsumiya twins Yuko and Takayuki (Team Konica Minolta), and Atsushi Sato's teammate Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku).

L-to-R: Seiji Kobayashi, Satoru Sasaki, Masaya Shimizu, Atsushi Sato, Tomoya Shimizu and a Matsumiya.

Deep in the heart of the Nelson area's epic wilderness the Japanese athletes are training three times a day. Receiving motivation from training with runners from other teams, the members of the training camp hope to return to Japan exhibiting all-around growth and development.

Tomoya Shimizu leads the pack with his twin brother Masaya on his right shoulder and a Matsumiya on his left.

Masaya Shimizu commented, "I'm feeling good and I've really been piling on the workouts! Since Rikuren is sponsoring us this time I've been able to get extra motivation from working out together with some different people, and it's been a really satisfying way to spend my training time. Thanks to the staff at the place we're staying, the Sakura B&B, and the fantastic Japanese food they've been cooking us, I've been able to get through three workouts a day, one early in the morning, one late morning, and one in the afternoon. As we're going into the second half of the camp, I think that if I can stay healthy the experience and results I'm getting here are going to pay off at the World Championships this summer."

L-to-R: Masaya Shimizu, Tomoya Shimizu, Atsushi Sato, Naoki Okamoto, Seiji Kobayashi (almost invisible), Satoru Sasaki and a Matsumiya.

Satoru Sasaki agreed, saying, "I've been feeling great too and think that practice has been going well. Before we came to New Zealand I was worried about what the food was going to be like, but it's all been delicious so now I'm looking forward to every meal. I've been learning a lot from the other runners and will keep soaking it all up in the rest of the workouts."

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance?  Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance.  This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere.  It was put into place in 1986.  In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made.  Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km.  When a bicycle is u...

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .