Skip to main content

Memolead Announces New Women's Corporate Team With Eye to 2020 Tokyo Olympics

http://bit.ly/1mP9Kti

translated by Brett Larner

On June 30 the Memolead Group wedding and funeral ceremony management and production company based in Seihi Nagayomachi held a press conference to announce its sponsorship of a new women's athletics team.  It is the first new women's corporate team to be based in Nagasaki since the launch of the Juhachi Ginko team two years ago.

Appearing at the press conference in Nagasaki were corporate representatives and new head coach Yuki Mori.  Mori joined Memolead the year before last and, remaining active as a runner, captained the Nagasaki prefecture team at last year's final Grand Tour Kyushu ekiden.  Based on his performance and leadership there, corporate management took an interest and agreed to fund a new women's team.  The team will focus on women interested in the marathon and other long distances.

With a planned team start date at the beginning of the new fiscal year next April, Mori intends to retire from his current position by the end of the current year to take on the head coach's duties.  "My aim is to develop athletes who will go from Memolead to the national team," he said of his goals.  Senior Managing Director Kosei Fukuda commented, "As Nagasaki prefecture looks far ahead to the Tokyo Olympics, we want to do our part to help the development of the athletics world."  The new team's scouting activities before April will focus on young, developing athletes, with a planned initial lineup of at least three runners.

Comments

TokyoRacer said…
Another crazy Japanese company name. If you started a wedding and funeral ceremony company (which is itself strange), you would name it Memolead, right?

Anyway, nice of them to sponsor a running team.

Most-Read This Week

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."

Fukube Breaks 100 mH NR at All-Star Night Games - Japan's Olympians Make Final Tune-Ups

Getting stuck in the shinkansen cancelation headaches yesterday means we're a day late getting to the weekend's track roundup, but better late than never. At the top of the list, women's 100 mH national record holder Mako Fukube (NKK) took 0.04 off her own record to win in 12.69 (+1.2) at the All-Star Night Games in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa in her last race before the Paris Olympics. Other Paris team members won their races too: 4x400 m squad member Takuho Yoshizu (GK Line) took the win in the men's 400 m in 45.89. Men's 400 m hurdler Daiki Ogawa (Toyo Univ.) set a meet record 49.09 for the win. Sumire Hata (Sumitomo Denko) set a women's long jump MR of 6.61 m (+0.8). Marina Saito (Suzuki) and Momone Ueda (Zenrin) both threw over the old MR held by world champion and Paris teammate Haruka Kitaguchi , Saito getting the win with a final attempt of 58.45 m, Ueda next at 57.93 m and 3rd-placer Yuki Yamamoto (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) also going over the old MR at 57

Police Arrest 20-Year-Old Man Charged With Assaulting Female Runner at Popular Tokyo Running Spot

A 20-year-old man has been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a female runner along the banks of the Tama River in Ota Ward, Tokyo. "I've been stuck at home because of the coronavirus, so I wanted to go for a walk and move my body a bit," the man told police. Local resident Hirai Muroyama , 20, of no known occupation, was arrested on charges of sexual assault. He is accused of acts including grabbing the breasts of a woman in her 20s at around 10 p.m. on May 31 along the banks of the Tama River. According to police, the woman was taking a break in her run when Muroyama approached her silently from behind and grabbed her breasts before running away. Under police interrogation Muroyama told investigators, "I've been stuck at home because of the coronavirus, so I wanted to go out for a walk and move my body. I'd had a few drinks and was feeling pretty hype. She was totally my type." source article: https://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newsey