Hakone Ekiden Hopeful Kanto Gakuin University Appoints Female Coach

On Mar. 26 it was learned that Kanto Gakuin University, which last qualified for the Hakone Ekiden in 2004, has hired female IAAF-certified coach Akari Kishikawa, 33, to join its coaching staff beginning Apr. 1. The Daiichi Seimei women's corporate team is led by head coach Sachiko Yamashita, 54, and the Ritsumeikan University and Josai University women's ekiden teams by assistant coaches Miyuki Tokura, 45, and Yukiko Akaba, 39, but it is virtually unheard of for a woman to be appointed to a university men's ekiden program staff.

Kishikawa, who is qualified as a senior psychology counselor among other things, has a proven track record with two national titles to her name in the 800 m in 2010 and 2011. She will support Kanto Gakuin head coach Yoshitaka Nakagawa, 43, and is expected to play a key role in shaping a stronger team.

At last October's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race Kanto Gakuin University finished only 23rd. Missing a qualifying spot by a wide margin, it finished 21 minutes behind the final qualifier, 11th-place Jobu University. It's no easy task to bridge that gap and make it back to Hakone after a 15-year absence, but the appointment of Kishikawa as assistant coach will mark Kanto Gakuin as a program to watch in coming seasons.

Akari Kishikawa - born Sept. 13, 1985 in Yokohama. 33 years old. Graduated from Shinei H.S. and joined Nittai University in 2004. Starting that year she qualified for the National Championships 800 m for 10 years in a row. After graduating from Nittai in 2008 she ran for the Noritz and Hasegawa Taiikushisetsu teams, winning the 800 m national title in 2010 and 2011 and representing Japan at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games where she was 4th in the 800 m. Her PB of 2:03.34 ranks her at all-time Japanese #9. Retiring in 2016, Kishikawa earned certification as an IAAF CECS Level 1 coach and as a senior psychology counselor.

source article:
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20190226-00000162-sph-spo
translated by Brett Larner

Comments

Andrew Armiger said…

Cool news, great to see doors opened like this!

February 27, 2019 at 9:05 AM

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that Sis

Saturday at Kanaguri and Nittai

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet , Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back from a DNF at last month's The TEN to take the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 13:24.57. The B-heat was also decently quick, Shadrack Rono (Subaru) winning in 13:21.55 and Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) running a 10-second PB to get under 13:30 for the first time in 13:29.29 for 6th. Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was 9th in 13:30.62. South Sudan's Abraham Guem (Ami AC) also set a meet record in the men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:38.94. 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura made his debut with the Subaru corporate team, running 3:39.78 for 2n

93-Year-Old Masters Track and Field WR Holder Hiroo Tanaka: "Everyone has Unexplored Intrinsic Abilities"

In the midst of a lot of talk about how to keep the aging population young, there are people with long lives who are showing extraordinary physical abilities. One of them is Hiroo Tanaka , 93, a multiple world champion in masters track and field. Tanaka began running when he was 60, before which he'd never competed in his adult life. "He's so fast he's world-class." "His running form is so beautiful. It's like he's flying." Tanaka trains at an indoor track in Aomori five days a week. Asked about him, that's the kind of thing the people there say. Tanaka holds multiple masters track and field world records, where age is divided into five-year groups. Last year at the World Masters Track and Field Championships in Poland he set a new world record of 38.79 for 200 m in the M90 class (men's 90-94 age group). People around the world were amazed at the time, which was almost unbelievable for a 92-year-old. After retiring from his job as an el

japan running news

Search This Blog