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Sapporo Kokusai Women and Sapporo Gakuin Men Win Hokkaido University Ekiden

The 32nd Hokkaido University Ekiden took place Aug. 15 on a 3.26 km loop course inside Sapporo's Moerenuma Park. In the six-stage, 35.86 km women's race, which served as the regional qualifier for the Oct. 25 Morinomiyako Ekiden national championships in Sendai, Sapporo Kokusai University swept all six stage bests to win in a new event record of 2:06:13.

Overcoming the challenges of the coronavirus era, it was Sapporo Kokusai's fourth-straight win. Captain Reo Aoyama lit the fuse when she took the lead on the 6.52 km First Stage. At last year's Nationals she was responsible for the First Stage but finished last in 25th, the team only managing to pull itself up to 22nd by the end of the race. "I wanted to get rid of last year's disappointment with this run and get our season off the ground with some momentum," she said. Aoyama succeeded in that goal, handing off with a margin of almost 4 minutes on 2nd place.

Head coach since the team was founded, Kenji Yoshizawa, 67, commented, "We haven't really been able to train as a team much during the coronavirus crisis, but you could see that the situation has brought out the athletes' autonomy, especially among the seniors." Sapporo Kokusai was only able to resume training earlier this month. While the university was shut down they weren't able to use the 900 m cross country loop on campus, but athletes continued to train on their own. Yoshizawa's wife Eiko has worked hard to support the team, handling instruction in proper disinfection techniques and other duties.

On May 15, Hiroaki Ueno, an advisor to the team since its launch, passed away abruptly at age 78. The team's athletes will compete at Nationals in mourning. Up to now its best-ever placing at Nationals was 18th in 2018. As captain since her first year at the school, Aoyama showed determination as she said, "We're going to make top 15 for the first time. I want to pay back everything I've earned over the last four years."


The eight-stage, 101.06 km men's race likewise served as the regional qualifying race for the Nov. 1 National University Men's Ekiden. Sapporo Gakuin University ran an event record 5:23:49 to score its third-straight win and trip to Nationals. It was Sapporo Gakuin's 27th time winning the race.

In the absence of star third-year Lawrence Ngure, who was back home in Kenya at the start of the coronavirus crisis and remains unable to return due to Japan's immigration restrictions, two first-years who competed at last year's National High School Ekiden stepped up to take leadership roles. Rival Sapporo Kokusai University led on the First Stage, but on the Second Stage Junya Tanigawa, a former junior teammate of Ngure's at Sapporo Yamanote H.S., overtook Sapporo Kokusai with a stage-winning run.

On the anchor stage Hokkaido Sakae H.S. graduate Aoto Miyamoto delivered a powerful run to seal Sapporo Gakuin's win. Miyamoto's mother Megumi passed away at age 46 on July 27 after battling illness. "I hope mom saw us win from up in heaven," he said after the race.


source articles:
https://hochi.news/articles/20200816-OHT1T50129.html
https://hochi.news/articles/20200816-OHT1T50136.html
translated and edited by Brett Larner

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