Skip to main content

Marugame Overseas Elites Hold Running Sessions With Local Children

http://www.sankei.com/region/news/150131/rgn1501310073-n1.html

translated by Brett Larner

Overseas elite athletes scheduled to run the 69th edition of the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon on Feb. 1 took part in sessions at elementary schools in Utazu and Marugame on Jan. 30, talking with local children and offering them advice and guidance in their running.  The sessions were part of the schools' "Real Experience" program, seeking to increase children's interest in activities like sports by letting them interact directly with athletes from around the world.

2014 Continental Cup women's 5000 m 4th-placer Eloise Wellings (32, Australia) visited Utazu Elementary School, taking questions from the children about how to develop fast form and proper breathing.  "Relax when you run," she told them.  "Inhale through your nose and try to exhale from both your nose and mouth."  Afterwards, students enjoyed the thrill of racing Wellings in short sprints in the school gymnasium, full of smiles for the valuable experience.  Sixth grader Hidema Enami, 12, said, "It was inspiring to have such a rare opportunity.  Ms. Wellings' advice about running will be very helpful in my future in athletics."

At the same time, 2014 World Half Marathon Championships silver medalist Samuel Tsegaye (26, Eritrea) did a demonstration session at Joto Elementary School in Marugame, running and interacting with representative children from the school.  The children warmly wished Tsegaye good luck in Sunday's race.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Team Performance at World U20 Championships

There wasn't much surprise in the events where Japan did well at the Oregon World U20 Championships , with medals in the men's 110 mH, 400 mH and 3000 m, and top 5 finishes in the women's and men's 5000 m race walks, men's 4x100 m relay, men's pole vault and long jump, men's 200 m, women's 800 m and 3000 m, and women's javelin throw. Jeremy Koga ran a 12.95 (+0.3) Asian U20 AR in the men's 110 mH semifinals, then came back in the final with a 12.97 (+0.7) in the final to take silver behind a brilliant 12.72 U20 WR by American Le'Ezra Brown . Taiju Goto was expected to medal in the men's 400 mH, but after leading the semifinals the best he could do was silver in 49.23, gold going to the Czech Republic's Michal Rada with a 48.59 European U20 AR. Expected to do better in the 1500 m, Ojiro Honda ran a 7:48.49 U20 NR in the men's 3000 m final to score bronze, only to come in near the back of the field in the 1500 m final at 14th in...

Komazawa University One Step Away From Perfect Season With Hakone Ekiden Day One Win

Already the course record-breaker at the Izumo Ekiden and National University Ekiden this season, 2021 Hakone Ekiden champion Komazawa University came one step away from its first-ever triple crown of single-season ekiden wins as it won a highly competitive 2023 Hakone Ekiden Day One over defending champ Aoyama Gakuin University and last year's 6th placer Chuo University . Things got off to an unexpected start when Select Team runner Hayate Nitta of non-qualifier Ikuei University decided to take his one and only Hakone shot and run it up to his ability on the 21.3 km 1st leg even though the rest of the field opted to jog. At one point Nitta had a lead of almost a minute and a half, but as beautiful as it would have been for him to pull it off, Meiji University 's Shunpei Tomita and Komazawa's Kensuke Tsubura still managed to run him down in the final kilometer. Tomita took the stage win in 1:02:44, 1:02:08 half marathon pace vs. his 1:02:10 PB despite the slow s...

"Hell Running" - Chinese Site Calls Japanese Women's Distance Running Too Cruel

http://www.yukawanet.com/archives/5166613.html translated by Brett Larner High schooler Yumika Nagahama leading the Jan. 15 National Women's Ekiden for the Kanagawa team. Since the start of the month it's been cold in Japan.  A record-breaking kind of cold that has seen snow piling up even on the Pacific side of the country, and for better or worse that word "snow" has been generating buzz around the world.  Yes, it has been a cold winter, and now that fact has become a hot topic in China.  Particularly in relation to women's distance running. The picture above is from the " National Women's Ekiden " that took place in Kyoto on Jan. 15.  Kyoto experienced a blizzard, even "whiteout" conditions.  Far too harsh to go ahead with staging a running race in conditions like that.  It's natural to wonder why the race wasn't cancelled, but it seems likely that they weren't expecting the snow to escalate to the point that it wo...