Skip to main content

Hakone Ekiden 4th-Placer Toyo University Recruits Strong Incoming Class

4th overall at the 100th Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2nd and 3rd, Toyo University has recruited a strong incoming class featuring the 2nd and 3rd-placers on the 10.0 km First Stage at December's National High School Ekiden, Kaito Matsui (Saitama Sakae H.S.) and Yu Miyazaki (Toyo Ushiku H.S.).

At the National High School Ekiden, Sota Orita (Suma Gakuen H.S.) ran 28:48 to tie the fastest-ever Japanese time on the stage set in 2019 by Yachiyo Shoin H.S. athlete Issei Sato, now a member of Aoyama Gakuin University's 2024 Hakone Ekiden champion team. Right with Orita until the very last straight, Matsui and Miyazaki ran excellent times of 28:54 and 28:57. Matsui and Miyazaki preceded that performance with a 1-2 on the 10.0 km First Stage at November's Kanto Region High School Ekiden, Matsui in 29:10 and Miyazaki in 29:16. Third on the same stage in that race, Yu Uchibori (Koma H.S.) is also Toyo-bound, a major recruiting coup for Toyo to pull in the top three.

At both Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. and at the Konica Minolta corporate team, JR Higashi Nihon assistant coach Tadakatsu Mukae, 47, was teammates with Toyo head coach Toshiyuki Sakai, 47. Having finished 8th on the Kanto Region High School Ekiden First Stage in 29:45, Mukae's son Haruto Mukae will also join the Toyo roster and can look forward to further growth under the leadership of his father's longtime friend. Other top recruits include Sendai Ikuei H.S. captain Sota Sugiura, 14:13.35 runner Angelo Baba (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.), and 2023 National High School Ekiden Second Stage 3rd-placer Shion Jinnai (Kobayashi H.S.) and Fourth Stage 6th-placer Yusuke Fujimoto (Kobayashi H.S.).

At the 100th Hakone Ekiden earlier this month Toyo University overcame low expectations with a great team performance that landed them 4th overall, Toyo's 19th-consecutive finish on the 10-deep podium. Returning members of that team include Second Stage 6th-placer Ren Umezaki (3rd yr.), Third Stage 6th-placer Ryota Kobayashi (3rd yr.), uphill Fifth Stage 10th-placer Renato Ogata (2nd yr.), Sixth Stage 8th-placer Mashu Nishimura (2nd yr.), Ninth Stage 2nd-placer Shu Yoshida (3rd yr.) and anchor stage winner Ryotaro Kishimoto (2nd yr.). Bolstered by the strong incoming 1st-year class, Toyo can be expected to be in contention for the top places at the 101st Hakone Ekiden next January.

source article:
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Australian Male Arrested on Drug Smuggling Charges After Entering Japan for Osaka Marathon

On Apr. 9 the Kinki Region Bureau of Health, Labor and Welfare's Drug Control Division arrested Matthew Inglis Fox , 38, an Australian business owner of no known fixed address, on charges of violating the importation regulations of the Narcotics Control Act by smuggling tablets containing marijuana elements from the United States. The suspect had entered Japan in February to run in the Osaka Marathon . The suspect was arrested on suspicion of smuggling approximately 12 pills containing marijuana by sending them from a U.S. airport to Osaka's Kansai Airport using an international courier service on Feb. 19. The Osaka branch of the Customs Service discovered the tablets in arriving cargo and suspected them to be narcotics. Customs contacted the Narcotics Control Division, which then began its investigation of the case. According to the Narcotics Control Division, the suspect denies the charges.  Translator's note: Fox, who received a lifetime ban from the Ageo City Half Mara...
1 comment
Read more

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...
12 comments
Read more

Kanakuri Memorial Meet and 10000 m National Championships Preview and Streaming

Saturday is the first big meet on Japan's outdoor middle and long distance circuit, the Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto. This year it's also hosting the 10000 m National Championships , making for an extra-long and extra-quality field overall. Top finishers will pick up places on Japan's team for next month's Asian Championships in South Korea, a key step in earning world rankings points to get onto the home team for September's Tokyo World Championships that makes Kanakuri more valuable than ever. Streaming is scheduled to be here and will run through most of the day, with the meet-closing men's and women's 10000 m having a separate broadcast on NHK BS starting at 19:30 local time. Start lists for most events are here . 10000 m start lists are here . Live results are here . A-heat event previews: Women's 800 m  - 11:00 High schooler Rin Kubo  is the only Japanese woman to have broken 2 minutes, with a 1:59.93 last July. Is she going to get any fast...
1 comment
Read more