japan running news

Sponsored by 100 yen shop chain Daiso Sangyo, in its second season the Hiroshima-based Daiso women's ekiden team has added four new members this season to bring its roster to eight athletes. The team has cleared the minimum number needed to enter the corporate ekiden championships, six, and is ready to go. Despite their training opportunities being limited, with intensive training camps canceled and other restrictions in place, the team members are doing the work needed for the team to make the big jump in its second season. The Daiso team was founded in April last year under the leadership of Shinya Iwamoto, 54, who lead Sera H.S. to five boys' and one girls' National High School Ekiden Championships titles. The team began with five athletes and from the start was outfitted with a team dormitory featuring the latest training equipment. One of the initial members unfortunately had to leave the team due to illness. But as a new team it hasn't been easy to make quick...

At a press conference in Hiroshima on Mar. 20 national 100 yen shop chain Daiso Sangyo announced its sponsorship of the new Daiso women's ekiden team beginning Apr. 1 this year. The new team's inaugural head coach will be local Sera H.S. coaching legend Shinya Iwamoto , 53. The team's initial roster will include five 18-year-old athletes who graduated from high school this month, three of them from Sera including the team's star runner Koto Hiramura . Iwamoto was born in Higashi Hiroshima. As a senior at Sera H.S. he won the Fourth Stage at the National High School Ekiden, going on to attend Fukuoka University. After graduating he became a junior high school teacher before becoming head coach of the Sera boys in 2004. In 2006 Sera won the National High School Ekiden for the first time in 32 years. In 2010 Iwamoto became the Sera girls' head coach as well, and in 2015 the school became only the second in history to win both the boys' and girls' nati...