Skip to main content

Isahaya Boys and Girls Vow to Give It All at National High School Ekiden

http://www.nagasaki-np.co.jp/news/kennaitopix/2014/12/17090524015995.shtml

translated by Brett Larner

With a student body of 833 led by Principal Kenji Tamashima, Nagasaki's Isahaya H.S. held a pep rally at the school Dec. 16 for its boys' and girls' ekiden teams who will be competing in Sunday's National High School Ekiden Championships in Kyoto.  The entire student body turned out to show its support for the school's athletes.

The pep rally was held in the school gymnasium.  Special guest Mayor Akio Miyamoto told the teams, "There are a lot of returning members from last year's [National Championships] team, so our hopes for you are high.  Please give it your best."

Boys' captain Hiroyuki Sakaguchi, 17, told the assembled students, "We will run with the feeling that you are all sharing here today within our hearts."  Girls' captain Sakura Kawakami, 18, added, "With our running we want to show our thanks for the support of every person here."  Pep rally committee chairman Hidehiro Funakoshi said, "We want you to run with confidence and give it all that you have!"  After Funakoshi's comments the school cheerleaders took the stage to lead the school's support for its athletes.

Translator's note: The Isahaya H.S. boys finished 14th last year, while its girls were 22nd.  Isahaya H.S. alumni include London Olympian and 2:07:48 marathoner Arata Fujiwara and 1999 World XC junior bronze medalist Yoshiko Fujinaga.  The National High School Ekiden Championships will be broadcast live nationwide commercial for 4 1/2 hours this Sunday on NHK starting at 10:05 a.m. Japan time.  Follow @JRNLive for live coverage.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

M.I.A.

Sorry to have been silent for a while. JRN associate editor Mika Tokairin  was in Taiwan for Ironman Penghu, where she won her age group to qualify for Kona for the first time. Right after that we moved for the first time in 14 years, and immediately after that I headed to the U.S. to help Keita Sato  get settled in his new training base in Flagstaff. We'll be resuming normal operations shortly with a big roundup of results over the last 2 weeks. Brett Larner

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...