Skip to main content

Aiming for 2015 New Year Ekiden, Bel'x Supermarkets Adds Hakone Ekiden Stars to Its Team

http://www.ayomi.co.jp/sports/detail.php?eid=02412&sports-kind=00

translated and edited by Brett Larner

During a visit to Adachi Ward mayor Yayoi Kondo, senior managing director Yuki Suzuki and ekiden team head coach Makoto Suzuki of the Adachi-based Sun Bel'x corporation, operators of the Bel'x Supermarkets chain, announced the addition of exciting new athletes to the company's team in April.  Nine athletes accompanied them to the meeting, among them 2014 Hakone Ekiden stars Duncan Muthee (Takushoku Univ., 2nd Stage), Yuya Yamashita (Juntendo Univ., 5th Stage), Takahiro Kato (Asia Univ., 7th Stage), Junpei Miyazawa (Juntendo Univ., 7th Stage) and Shota Takatsudo (Jobu Univ., 7th Stage).  During the chat with the mayor Coach Suzuki introduced each of the promising new athletes while watching video of them on a DVD of this year's Hakone Ekiden and talked enthusiastically about the team's goal of a breakthrough at November's New Year Ekiden regional qualifier.

In just its second year, a total of eleven athletes joined the Bel'x team this season.  The new athletes were formally hired by Sun Bel'x on Mar. 27.  After going through its training program they were each assigned to Bel'x supermarkets, where for the immediate future they will work while doing ekiden training.  The team will have four morning practice sessions and two target workouts a week, making use of Adachi's Toneri Park and other area facilities.  After their target workouts they will refuel with athlete-specific meals prepared for them by Sun Bel'x, the company's commitment to its athletes extending even to supporting their nutritional needs.

Comments

Brett Larner said…
Thanks to Michael Peters for sending me this story.

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis

Saturday at Kanaguri and Nittai

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet , Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back from a DNF at last month's The TEN to take the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 13:24.57. The B-heat was also decently quick, Shadrack Rono (Subaru) winning in 13:21.55 and Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) running a 10-second PB to get under 13:30 for the first time in 13:29.29 for 6th. Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was 9th in 13:30.62. South Sudan's Abraham Guem (Ami AC) also set a meet record in the men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:38.94. 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura made his debut with the Subaru corporate team, running 3:39.78 for 2n

93-Year-Old Masters Track and Field WR Holder Hiroo Tanaka: "Everyone has Unexplored Intrinsic Abilities"

  In the midst of a lot of talk about how to keep the aging population young, there are people with long lives who are showing extraordinary physical abilities. One of them is Hiroo Tanaka , 93, a multiple world champion in masters track and field. Tanaka began running when he was 60, before which he'd never competed in his adult life. "He's so fast he's world-class." "His running form is so beautiful. It's like he's flying." Tanaka trains at an indoor track in Aomori five days a week. Asked about him, that's the kind of thing the people there say. Tanaka holds multiple masters track and field world records, where age is divided into five-year groups. Last year at the World Masters Track and Field Championships in Poland he set a new world record of 38.79 for 200 m in the M90 class (men's 90-94 age group). People around the world were amazed at the time, which was almost unbelievable for a 92-year-old. After retiring from his job as an el