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Togami Denki and Hiramatsu Byoin Teams Pick Up New Talent On Road to New Year


Two corporate men's teams based in Saga have gotten fresh reinforcements for their quests to make it to the New Year Ekiden national championships in Gunma on New Year's Day. Togami Denki has recruited two new members, while Hiramatsu Byoin has brought in four. Both teams will be spending the year building themselves up in hopes of scoring a hard-to-come-by ticket north come the new year.

New to Togami Denki, which has qualified for the last three years, are Kokushikan University graduate Kazuya Mishiro, 22, and Saga native Taiki Ueda, 19, a grad of Tosu Kogyo H.S. Mishiro, who has Hakone Ekiden experience to his name, has a reputation for pushing through when things get hard, is enthusiastic about his new team. "I want to be part of the action right from my first year," he says. Always stable in his races, Ueda said, "To start off I want to improve on the track and roads and get closer to some of the senior guys on the team in ability."

Hiramatsu Byoin missed out on the New Year Ekiden last time around. 22-year-old Yeneblo Biyazen of Ethiopia brings 13:13 speed for 5000 m to the table. Of his goals he says, "Making it to the New Year Ekiden and breaking my PBs." Suguru Otaguro, 25, ran Hakone while at Jobu University. "My goals are to run 13:50 for 5000 m and make it to the starting lineup," he says. Both Yeneblo and Otaguro previously ran for the Yachiyo Kogyo team, which disbanded at the end of March.

A transfer from the Konica Minolta team, Kazuma Ganaha, 28, is setting his goals at the top. "Road racing is where I'm best," he says. "I'm aiming to make the single-digits on my New Year stage." Naoya Kamimura, 23, a transfer from the Athlete Agent team, is focused on the track en route to making the ekiden roster. "I'm focused on going sub-14 and sub-29," he says.

source article:
translated and edited by Brett Larner

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