Skip to main content

Ten Members of Sendai Ikuei H.S. Ekiden Team to Transfer to Toyokawa H.S.

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120221-906707.html
http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/news/20120221ddm035050006000c.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

With nine boys' and girls' National High School Ekiden Championships titles to its name, Sendai Ikuei H.S. (Miyagi Pref.) announced on Feb. 20 that ten members of its ekiden team will be leaving together and transferring to three-time girls' national champion Toyokawa H.S. (Aichi Pref.) for the new school year.  Sendai Ikuei's graduates include Beijing Olympics men's marathon gold medalist Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya) and 5000 m national champion Megumi Kinukawa (Mizuno).  The school's training facilities were seriously damaged in last year's natural disasters, and the announcement of the resignation of head coach Junichi Seino (27) following the boys' team's 12th-place finish at last year's National High School Ekiden Championships spread discontent and agitation throughout the team.

A Toyokawa H.S. spokesperson said that the school had offered to take in the students as part of an effort to provide relief to those in the disaster-stricken areas.  "We decided that this was what we could do to support students from the affected region," explained the spokesperson.  "We will do everything we can to help them, including providing mental care for those students who have experienced profound hardship."  The ten students involved in the transfer, all first and second-years, include seven boys and three girls.  Excluding foreign students, all three first and second-year boys and two girls who ran in last year's National High School Ekiden Championships are part of the transfer.  All took Toyokawa's entrance exam and were approved for admission on Feb. 18.  The transfer to Toyokawa's ekiden team is expected to be effective Mar. 1.

The Sendai Ikuei H.S. girls' team finished 3rd at Nationals but the boys' team was only 12th, leading to discussion of head coach Seino's departure.  According to the involved source, in addition to Seino's impending resignation, the damage and effects of last March's earthquake and tsunami and the necessity of being in an environment in which student athletes can train and focus properly given the high level of competition in Japan were the primary reasons for the students' request for the transfer.  With regard to the unusual situation of a large number of top-level athletes seeking to transfer between national champion high schools together, the national high school federation commented, "There is no precedent.  We ask the local high school federations in both prefectures to investigate and confirm the facts of this case."

Athletes are restricted from competing in national events such as the National High School Track & Field Championships and National High School Ekiden Championships for six months after a transfer, but given the special circumstances of the natural disasters and other factors the athletes have not yet been sanctioned in this instance.  A spokesperson for the national high school federation commented, "It will be necessary to make a final decision before the [National H.S. T&F Championships] Aichi Prefecture qualifiers in May."  The Aichi prefecture high school federation said, "This action was undertaken out of a desire to provide relief to victims of the disasters.  We will have to consider it carefully."

When Sendai Ikuei H.S. disbanded its table tennis program in 2008, eight members of the team including students from the school's related junior high school transferred to a private high school in Yamaguchi prefecture.  A Sendai Ikuei spokesperson said, "We respect the personal decisions of all the students involved.  Our track and field program will have to rebuild from zero."

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...

Tokyo Marathon Top Japanese Man Tsubasa Ichiyama Works 4 Days a Week, Walked On in College

38,000 people ran the 2025 Tokyo Marathon . Every runner had their own story, but one of the most special was Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx). Despite being on almost nobody's radar, he outran some of the best in the country to finish as the top Japanese man. Ichiyama ran most of the race in the 3rd pace group, going through halfway in 1:02:44 and 30 km in 1:29:13. When the pacers stopped, he showed what he could really do. "I'm not good at downhills, so in the first part it was hard to run smoothly," he said at the post-race press conference. "But after the downhill part ended I got into my rhythm, and I think that helped me over the 2nd half." After dropping Asian Games gold medalist Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) and others, he quickly bore down on the Japanese athletes who had gone out faster in the 2nd pace group. Overtaking Paris Olympics 6th placer Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu), at 39.8 km he caught all-time Japanese #2 man Yohei I...