Skip to main content

Komazawa Ace Junior Kubota Aiming for Hakone Win, World Championships Qualification in Marathon Debut at Lake Biwa

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/p-sp-tp0-20121215-1059960.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Their ace is leading the way to the crown.  Aiming for their first Hakone Ekiden win in five years at the 89th running of the race on Jan. 1-2, national champions Komazawa University held a public training session on Dec. 14 in Tokyo.  Having turned heads in November by running down leader Toyo University on the anchor stage to bring Komazawa its tenth National University Ekiden title and giving Beijing Olympics 5000 m bronze medalist Edwin Soi a run for it at the International Chiba Ekiden, junior Shinobu Kubota is now aiming for his second-straight Hakone stage win.  "Last time we weren't even close to being able to compete with Toyo," he says.  "The disappointment hasn't faded a year later.   If you're not #1 in Hakone then you can't really be called the best.  That's what I want to become."

He has further ambitions to appear in Moscow next year.  "I want to run the World Championships," he nods, confirming that after Hakone he plans to make his marathon debut at March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon.  Facing off against the likes of Yuki Kawauchi, Kubota hopes to do the exceptional and qualify for the Japanese World Championships marathon team as a student.  His goal time is a sub-2:10 clocking, a mark which would better the former national collegiate record of 2:10:07 set by Komazawa's Atsushi Fujita as a senior.  Fujita later went on to run a then-national record 2:06:51.  "I'm already doing longer runs in training," says Kubota, "but for the time being the focus is Hakone.  We are going to win."

Shinobu Kubota - Third-year, Komazawa University.  Born 12/12/91 in Fukui.  
5000 m: 13:49.53   10000 m: 28:07.01   half-marathon: 1:01:38

 Translator's note: Aoyama Gakuin University junior Takehiro Deki and Waseda University junior Shota Hiraga debuted at the 2012 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon.  Deki ran 2:10:02 for 9th, with Hiraga running 2:16:30 for 32nd.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Rui Aoki and Shunsuke Kuwata Making U.S. Debut at United Airlines NYC Half

When the National University Half Marathon was canceled in 2011 after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan 2 days before the race, JRN talked to the New York Road Runners about bringing 2 collegiate runners to the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon the next weekend as a show of support. It wasn't possible to pull it together in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, but a year later we brought 2 young 2nd-years from Hakone Ekiden CR breaker Toyo University , Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara , who had been the top 2 Japanese collegiate finishers at the Ageo City Half Marathon in November before Hakone. Shitara ran 1:01:48, at the time the fastest-ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, with Otsu running a solid 1:03:15. Thanks to that great start the Ageo-NYC partnership became a regular thing, and except for the pandemic it's continued every year since, expanding this year to June's New York Mini 10 km when 2 runners from Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden runne...
2 comments
Read more

Kuwata Runs Fastest-Ever Half Marathon by Japanese Man Outside Japan at United Airlines NYC Half

When the NYRR changed the United Airlines NYC Half course back in 2018 to more or less its current Boston-style hilly one-way version it seemed like it had been repurposed from a fast course to something more tactical. That went out the window last year with new course records of 59:09 and 1:07:04 from Abel Kipchumba and Sharon Lokedi , and this year's results backed that up. Hellen Obiri ground Lokedi down and took over 30 seconds off her CR, winning in 1:06:33 with Lokedi only 6 seconds off what she ran in 2025 but a distant 2nd in 1:07:10. British road 10 km NR holder Megan Keith rolled up hard late in the race to finish 3rd in 1:07:13 less than 10 seconds off old CR too. The men's race saw a big group of 18 attack the hilly first half on sub-59 pace, American Joe Klecker leading through 5 km in 13:57 and Houston Marathon winner Zouhair Talbi through 10 km in 27:56. Right up in it was Shunsuke Kuwata , a 20-year-old 2nd-year at 2025 National University Ekiden champ Koma...
Post a Comment
Read more

More Changes Coming to the New Year Ekiden

The national corporate federation announced on Mar. 16 that beginning with the 71st edition of the New Year Ekiden men's national championship race on Jan. 1, 2027, teams will have a choice of stages that non-Japanese team members are eligible to run. The lengths of some stages will also be changed. Teams competing in the New Year Ekiden are restricted to fielding one non-Japanese athlete, and since 2009 foreign athletes have been restricted to running the event's shortest stage, the so-called "International Stage." Until 2023 that was the race's 2nd leg, but since 2024 it has been on its 7.6 km 4th stage. The federation had already announced the introduction of a seeded bracket like other major ekidens to improve the competition by creating deeper racing for place, not just for the lead, over the 2nd half of the race. Teams will now be able to choose whether to position their non-Japanese athletes on the 4th or 6th legs, increasing the opportunities for Japanese...
Post a Comment
Read more