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Ekiden Great Naoki Okamoto to Retire in January at Age 40

 

The Chugoku Denryoku men's corporate team has announced that team member Naoki Okamoto, 40, will retire in January. Born in May, 1984, Okamoto went to Tohaku J.H.S. and Yura Ikuei H.S. before enrolling at Meiji University. His 2nd year at Meiji he helped it make it through the Hakone Ekiden qualifying race for the first time in 14 years and ran Hakone at the end of that season in 2005. He went on to run it his 3rd and 4th years too, placing 6th on the First Stage and 9th on the highly competitive Second Stage.

After graduating in 2007 he joined Chugoku Denryoku. He was a regular on its team at the New Year Ekiden, winning the Fifth Stage in 2010. But where he really made his name was the National Men's Ekiden, held every January in Hiroshima where Chugoku Denryoku is based. Running it 19 times, he passed a total of 134 competitors in his career there and came to be recognized as one of the event's icons. He also won its Seventh Stage in 2009.

In the marathon, he was 10th in the 2019 MGC Race Olympic marathon trials. At the 2022 Osaka Marathon he ran a PB 2:08:04 while dueling head-to-head with fellow veteran and Hakone uphill legend Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu). That qualified him for the 2023 MGC Race, where he was 16th among the Paris hopefuls.

Okamoto is on Chugoku Denryoku's entry list for the 2025 New Year Ekiden, but he has made the decision to retire. According to team management, his last race will be the Jan. 26 Osaka Half Marathon. After retiring he will continue on working in the office at Chugoku Denryoku.

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