Graduating Fourth Years Decide to Company League Groups

With the calendar ticking over into October, firms throughout the nation are holding employment provide ceremonies for school college students who will be part of their ranks after graduating subsequent March. 4th-year runners from prime universities are additionally deciding their roads forward. Having run the fastest-ever time on the Hakone Ekiden’s Third Stage and taking part in a key position in Aoyama Gakuin College‘s general win on the one hundredth Hakone this previous January, Aoi Ota, 22, is ready to affix the GMO company staff. His teammates Akimu Nomura, 21, and Kosei Shiraishi, 22, plan to affix Sumitomo Denko. Former 5000 m highschool document holder Kosuke Ishida, 22, who missed all three huge faculty ekidens final 12 months however has made a stellar restoration this season, will be part of Subaru after graduating from Toyo College. With the fates of their groups of their fingers, they and different 4th-years will give all of it of their last seasons earlier than transferring on to the following stage of their lives.

On the one hundredth Hakone Ekiden Ota delivered a run that may stay in historical past. With a forty five m web downhill, he ran 59:47 for the 21.4 km Third Stage, quicker than the Japanese nationwide document of 1:00:00 for the 21.0975 km half marathon distance. It was the run that drove AGU to take its seventh Hakone title. Ota had deliberate to go the route of the impartial professional athlete after graduating, however after lengthy dialog with AGU head coach Susumu Hara, 57, he determined to affix GMO, the place Hara additionally serves as director of ekiden operations. The deal makes allowances for Ota’s preferences in what he does, and it is doubtless that followers will see him within the New Yr Ekiden as he focuses on taking over the highest degree of the game globally within the marathon.

Having gained consideration as one of many leaders of his era in junior highschool and highschool, Ishida has chosen Subaru for his company league house. Whereas at Fukuoka’s Asakawa J.H.S. he broke three center and lengthy distance junior excessive information, and at Gunma’s Tokyo Nogyo Daini H.S. he broke the highschool 5000 m document which had stood for 16 years. Final 12 months he had harm setbacks and missed the Izumo Ekiden, Nationwide College Ekiden and Hakone Ekiden, however this 12 months he has made a full comeback. At Might’s Kanto Regionals he ran a 10000 m PB of 28:08.29, ending Sixth. He obtained affords from a number of groups, however Subaru received a spot in his coronary heart by persevering with to pursue him even when he was injured.

Subaru’s present lineup contains Paris Olympics 3000 m steeplechase Eighth-placer Ryuji Miura, 22, the favored Ryo Kuchimachi, 30, and 26:55.09 man Benson Kiplangat, 21. In recent times it has develop into a well-liked alternative for prime graduating athletes. Primarily based in Ota, Gunma, Subaru hopes to attain its first-ever nationwide title at its hometown New Yr Ekiden within the subsequent few years.

Toyo has different athletes graduating subsequent spring. Sixth on Hakone’s aggressive Second Stage this 12 months, staff captain Ren Umezaki, 22, will be part of Otsuka Seiyaku, whereas Third Stage Sixth-placer Ryo Kobayashi, 22, will go to Toyota. Ninth Stage runner-up Shu Yoshida, 21, will be part of Chudenko, and Ryota Masuda, 22, 14:06.06 for 5000 m, has opted for Tokyo Higashi Shinyo Inko.

From Hakone Third-placer Josai College, Ninth Stage Tenth-placer Itsuki Hirabayashi, 21, is sure for Fujitsu, Seventh Stage Fifth-placer Koyo Hayashi, 21, for Komori Company, and Sixth Stage 13-placer Yuto Kubote, 21, hopes to affix Chugoku Denryoku. With a PB of three:39.96 for Sixth on this 12 months’s Nationwide Championships 1500 m, Nao Kurihara, 21, is ready to affix the M&A Greatest Companions staff led by Daichi Kamino, 31.

Third at Izumo and Nationals and Fifth at Hakone final season, Koku Gakuin College sees 1:00:43 half marathoner Ayumu Yamamoto be part of the powerhouse Asahi Kasei secure. With a top quality 1:02:15 half marathon greatest, Genta Tsuru, 22, can be part of the SID Group staff. This 12 months’s Osaka Marathon winner in 2:06:18, Kiyoto Hirabayshi, 21, has been working intently with KGU head coach Yasuhiro Maeda, 46, and others to create an setting during which he can pursue spots on the nationwide groups for subsequent 12 months’s Tokyo World Championships and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Having made its first Hakone podium look in 9 years with a Tenth-place end this 12 months, Daito Bunka College expects Seventh Stage Sixth-placer Kyohei Ota, 21, and Fourth Stage 18th-placer Yugo Nishidai, 21, to affix NTN, with Ninth Stage Ninth-placer Yukihiro Otani, 22, going to YKK.

Lacking the rostrum in eleventh, Tokai College‘s captain Yuto Kajitani, 21, will go to Sumitomo Denko alongside AGU’s Nomura and Shiraishi. Fourth Stage Sixteenth-placer Kenta Nojima, 22, has been recruited by Logisteed, with Kyudenko selecting up Takanobu Igarashi, 22.

It has been over a century because the Hakone Ekiden was launched in 1920 with the objective of creating internationally aggressive athletes. For this season’s 4th-years and everybody who runs Hakone’s roads, the pursuit of that very best continues even after their 4 years have handed.