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Two-Time National Champion Osaka Kunei Gakuin Girls Restart Team Practices



Two-time National High School Girls Ekiden champion Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S., alma mater of Tokyo Olympics marathon trials winner Honami Maeda, trained as a team June 16 at their home base in Osaka. Team members said, "We want to run Nationals again."

This summer's National High School Track and Field Championships have already been canceled due to the effects of the coronavirus crisis. The National High School Ekiden takes place in Kyoto every December. Team captain Mahiru Kobayashi was nervous about the chances of it happening. "If things keep going like this I don't know what I'll do if the ekiden is canceled," she said. "I've put the last three years into my last Nationals. I really hope it's held."

The Osaka Kunei girls resumed training as a team on June 15. "We can't take it to the next level alone," said Kobayashi. "But we can get there if we all work together."

source article:
https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2020/06/17/kiji/20200617s00063000091000c.html
translated by Brett Larner

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