Skip to main content

Two-Time Olympian Hanada to Step Down as Jobu University Head Coach

http://www.jomo-news.co.jp/ns/2014532978453725/news.html
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20160121-00000179-sph-spo

translated and edited by Brett Larner

After leading Jobu University to eight-straight Hakone Ekiden appearances, head coach Katsuhiko Hanada, 44, has announced that he will step down from his position and leave Jobu University at the end of March following the end of the academic year.  In an interview with the Jomo Newspaper coach Hanada said, "In the future I would like to continue to be involved with developing athletes," but he declined to discuss the reason for his resignation or his specific future plans. Jobu finished last at this year's Hakone Ekiden.

During his time as an athlete at Waseda University Hanada set the stage record on the Hakone Ekiden's Fourth Stage, contributing to Waseda's overall win.  At the S&B corporate team he ran the 10000 m at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 2000 Sydney Olympics.  After his retirement as an athlete Hanada left athletics, but after receiving an email from the student manager of Jobu University's track and field team asking if he would become their coach Hanada began leading the team in April, 2004.  In 2008 a Jobu runner made Hakone for the first time as part of the Kanto Region Select Team, and the following year Jobu finished 3rd at the Yosenkai qualifier to seal its first Hakone appearance.  Hanada developed a reputation for enthusiastic leadership and for being able to turn athletes who had been nobodies in high school into solid Hakone runners.

Following Hanada's departure assistant coach Shigekatsu Kondo, 41, will take over as head coach.  At Kanagawa University Kondo ran the Hakone Ekiden's uphill Fifth Stage all four years, winning the stage twice and helping Kanagawa score its first-ever overall Hakone win his senior year in 1997.  After running for S&B he worked as head coach at Shoin University from 2005 to 2011 before joining the Jobu coaching staff in 2012.  In an unusual step, Jobu University is publicly advertising an opening for a new assistant coach to work alongside Kondo.  A university spokesperson commented, "Kondo is looking for someone with a similar positive mindset.  Looking at a wide range of people will help find the best talent and bring the best support to the team."


Translator's note: One of the most dramatic parts of this year's Hakone Ekiden was when Jobu University first-year Yuya Tanaka nearly collapsed on the Seventh Stage.  Tanaka's alarming struggle was omitted from the "Mo Hitotsu no Hakone Ekiden" documentary, suggesting it may have had a serious impact on Hanada's future at Jobu.  Jobu's Hollywood sports movie plotline rise partially inspired the movie adaptation of "Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru," with real footage of Jobu's 2009 Hakone debut used for scenes of the fictional team running in the movie.  When Jobu qualified for the 2009 Hakone Ekiden at the Yosenkai it was the first team to have its top ten cross the finish line.  On the broadcast when someone told Hanada this he giddily answered, "What!?!  Seriously?  This is a dream, right?"

Hanada was greatly respected by other coaches and runners.  Following the news of his stepping down Kansuke Morihashi, a senior at Daito Bunka University, tweeted: "Hanada is retiring?  Man, it's a tough world out there.  At Hakone this year he called out to me, a rival team's runner, over his coach's car loudspeaker and said, 'Come on, Morihashi, this is your last Hakone too!  Don't leave any regrets behind!  Run!'  I'll never forget him saying that."

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...