Skip to main content

Nagano Higashi Girls Regroup Under Leadership of New Ekiden Coach

After the departure of their longtime coach, top high school girls' ekiden program Nagano Higashi H.S. has regrouped and set off in pursuit of a place at Nationals. Training starts in the early morning. A highly ranked program nationally, Nagano Higashi has finished 2nd two years in a row at the National High School Ekiden, but last year the team finished only 9th. "We really tasted disappointment," said captain Kyoka Gomi. "But that disappointment is what's driving us now."

This year the team's coaching staff has changed dramatically. After having developed the Nagano Higashi program into a national-level power, head coach Ryoji Tamaki departed to take over at Nittai University. Taking his place is Fumio Yokouchi, a coach with experience at the high school level elsewhere in Nagano. Coach Yokouchi is also director of the Nagano Athletics Association's promotional committee. "I'm fortunate to inherit a superb team with a group of well-prepared and highly motivated student athletes, and it is my responsibility to help them develop."

Nagano Higashi's roster this year features 14 athletes, including 8 first-years. Holding back plans for the young new team's growth is the shadow of the coronavirus crisis. The National High School Track and Field Championships were canceled, and the team was unable to do its regular summer away training camp. The fate of the season's major goal, December's National High School Ekiden in Kyoto, remains unclear. All the team can do is believe the race will happen and train their best for it. "I really believe we can make top 8 at Nationals," said Gomi. "Now's the time to put in the work to make it happen." Coach Yokouchi agreed, saying, "What we do on a day-to-day basis is what counts, and we just have to have faith that the payoff will come."

source article:
https://this.kiji.is/668054056821589089
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...
3 comments
Read more

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...
1 comment
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...
Post a Comment
Read more