Skip to main content

Hakone Ekiden Kanto Select Team to Return Without Results Being Counted

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20140303-OYT1T01115.htm
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2014/03/04/kiji/K20140304007705930.html
http://www.kgrr.org/event/2013/kgrr/90-hakone/91gakuseirengouteam_kirokunotoriatsukai.pdf

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Mar. 4 the Inter-University Athletic Union of Kanto [KGRR] announced rule changes for the 91st Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2-3, 2015 regarding the Kanto Region University Select Team, made up of top-placing individuals at October's Yosenkai 20 km Road Race from universities that do not qualify for Hakone as teams.  The Select Team was eliminated for this year's 90th Hakone Ekiden but will return next year with its name changed to the Kanto Region University Student United Team.  Along with the name, changes include:
  • only one runner is allowed from any single university
  • people may run on the team a maximum of twice
  • the team's results will not count in the official Hakone Ekiden team standings
  • individual placings will not count in the official individual stage standings
  • individual times will be recorded and are eligible for stage records
The new changes mean that the Kanto Region University Student United Team and its members will not be named the official winners even if they run the fastest time overall or on any individual stage.

Translator's note: Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), a member of the 2009 Hakone Ekiden Kanto Region University Select Team that included four of Japan's other current best young distance runners, Aritaka Kajiwara (Team Press Kogyo), Norimasa Nishina (Team Fujitsu), Hiroaki Sano (Team Honda) and Hidehito Takamine (Team Fujitsu), has written a rebuttal of the KGRR's decision on his blog dedicated to saving the Select Team.  JRN will publish a translation tomorrow.  And happy 27th birthday to Kawauchi.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Takeshi Soh Reflects on 54 Years in the Sport on His Retirement as Asahi Kasei Head Coach

After 54 years at the Asahi Kasei corporate team, first as athlete and then as coach, Takeshi Soh will retire at the end of this month. Together with his twin brother Shigeru Soh they formed a duo who were icons of the Japanese marathoning world and went all the way to the Olympics. After retiring from competition Takeshi devoted himself to coaching young athletes and came to play a primary role in the leadership of Japanese long distance. His list of achievements is long, and so is the list of those he influenced and inspired. His twin Shigeru was chosen for three Olympic teams in the marathon, Montreal in 1976, Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984. Takeshi was named to the Moscow and Los Angeles teams, placing 4th in L.A. to confirm his position as one of the greatest names in the sport in that era. After becoming a coach the twins helped lead Hiromi Taniguchi to gold at the 1991 Tokyo World Championships, Koichi Morishita to silver a year later at the Barcelona Olympics, and o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Japan Names Marathon Teams for Tokyo World Championships

On Mar. 26 the JAAF named its women's and men's marathon teams for September's Tokyo World Championships. On the women's side the team has veterans Sayaka Sato and Yuka Ando off the strength of a runner-up finish for Sato in Nagoya this year and a win in Nagoya last year by Ando, and newcomer Kana Kobayashi , 23, who has risen quickly from being a fun runner at Waseda University last year to a 2nd-place finish in Osaka Women's this year. Paris Olympics 6th-placer Yuka Suzuki was named alternate after finishing 3rd behind Kobayashi in Osaka Women's. On the men's side the team is led by last year's Fukuoka International Marathon CR breaker Yuya Yoshida and this year's Osaka runner-up Ryota Kondo . The 3rd spot on the team is reserved for JMC Series winner Naoki Koyama , who hasn't cleared the 2:06:30 World Championships qualifying standard and has to wait for the May 4 qualifying deadline for confirmation that the 1184 points he has in the Roa...
1 comment
Read more

Tokumoto and Yamakawa Take Over at Shibaura Kogyo in Quest for Hakone Debut

In a quest to make its first Hakone Ekiden, Shibaura Kogyo University announced this week that former Surugadai University head coach Kazuyoshi Tokumoto , 45, and former Reitaku University head coach Tatsuya Yamakawa , 40, will take over as head and assistant coach starting in April. In a statement issued by the university Tokumoto commented, "I'm pleased to have been named head coach of Shibaura Kogyo University's track and field team. When they came to feel me I could feel their passion about achieving their dream of becoming the first science and technology university to compete in the Hakone Ekiden. I was happy to accept because I felt that this was an environment in which I could grow too. It's my responsibility to help them become the 45th university ever to compete in Hakone. I hope that you'll enjoy Act II of the Tokumoto Show and cheer us on as Shibaura Kogyo heads down the road to Hakone." Yamakawa's comments read, "I arrived early in Feb...
1 comment
Read more