Skip to main content

Women 's Long Distance Coach Manabu Kawagoe Passes Away Suddenly at 63


Primarily known for his work in women's long distance, coach Manabu Kawagoe passed away suddenly on Aug. 22 after suffering a stroke. He was 63. A native of Kagoshima, in his days as an athlete Kawagoe ran at Kagoshima Minami H.S. and Waseda University. He was a member of 2 Hakone Ekiden champion teams at Waseda and won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the National University Championships.

After graduating from Waseda Kawagoe joined Shiseido, going on to serve as assistant coach and then head coach. He coached top female athletes like 2008 Chicago Marathon 3rd-placer Kiyoko Shimahara, 10000 m national champion Yoshiko Fujinaga and marathoners Yuri Kano and Akemi Ozaki, and in 2006 led Shiseido to its first National Corporate Women's Ekiden victory.

In 2007 he left. Shiseido to form the Second Wind pro team, a new model that brought together his top pro women together with amateurs and junior athletes. In 2011 he became head coach of the Edion corporate team, and in 2017 he returned to Shiseido. Under his leadership Shiseido scored a podium finish at the 2017 National Corporate Women's Ekiden.

In 2021 he once again left Shiseido to go back to Edion, where he took over coaching international-level race walker Nanako Fujii. In April, 2024 he was appointed professor of humanities at Tokai University's Shizuoka campus and took over as head of its new women's ekiden team with the goal of qualifying for the Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden national championships.

Even after leaving Edion for Tokai Kawagoe continued coaching Fujii. At February's 20 km Race Walk National Championships Fujii set a national record of 1:26:33 to score her third-straight national title, with Kawagoe smiling at the finish line as he welcomed her home. According to an involved party, Kawagoe was with Fujii on a training camp at the time of his death.

source article:

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Nagoya Asian Games Test Event Canceled After Insulation Falls From Venue Ceiling

A section of insulation material fell from the ceiling of Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena, the official venue for squash competition at September's Nagoya Asian Games. There were no injuries, but the city suspended use of the arena until its safety could be guaranteed, resulting in the cancelation of the Asian Games squash test event which was scheduled to have begun on May 14. It is not yet clear whether the arena will be usable for the Asian Games as planned. According to city officials, arena staff found that the insulation material had fallen onto a work walkway 13 m above the ground on the night of May 11. The fallen material was 3.6 m long, 50 cm wide and 2.5 km thick, and was found to be waterlogged. The cause of the accident is unknown, but it is possible that it was caused by rainwater leaking in from the roof. The same insulation material is installed across the entire ceiling, and the city plans to check for the extent of the possible flooding. Asked whether the arena will be re...
1 comment
Read more

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...
41 comments
Read more

Chisato Fukushima Selected as First Women`s 100 m Olympian in 56 Years

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20080706-00000027-yom-spo http://www.47news.jp/CN/200807/CN2008070601000467.html translated and edited by Brett Larner On July 6 Rikuren announced that it has added women`s 100 m runner Chisato Fukushima (20, Hokkaido HiTec AC) to the Beijing Olympic team. Fukushima will become the first Japanese woman to compete in the Olympic 100 m since Ayako Yoshikawa ran in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Fukushima broke the Olympic B-standard of 11.42 with her national record-tying 11.36 mark at April`s Oda Memorial Meet. Although she won June`s National Track and Field Championships, Fukushima was not initially selected for the team as she did not meet the Olympic A-standard. In light of her victory at today`s Nambu Memorial Meet in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Rikuren reversed its decision and added her to the Olympic team lineup. Fukushima reacted to the news of her Beijing ticket by saying, "It hasn`t really hit me that it`s real yet. I would be honored to be the tri...
Post a Comment
Read more