Skip to main content

Sera H.S. Unveils Monument Commemorating Seventh National Title

http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/News/Tn201207150105.html

translated by Brett Larner

At a ceremony at Sera H.S.' campus in Seramachi Hongo, Hiroshima on July 14, a monument was unveiled commemorating the Sera boys' seventh national title at last December's National High School Ekiden Championships.  Made of solid granite, the monument is 90 cm tall, 120 cm long and 30 cm deep, the latest addition to the six monuments already standing in the campus' front gardens.  Under the title "Victory Memorial" the front of the monument records the winning time, date of the race and other information, while the names of the coach and all ten team members are inscribed on the back.

Organized by ekiden team and school administration officials, the ceremony hosted around 100 alumni.  Six of the winning team members including captain Naruhei Daikuya (17) were present to represent the team, posing for commemorative pictures lined up on either side of the monument, a donation from the school's alumni association.  Association director Toshifumi Kojima (61) commented, "We hope that this reminder of the school's glorious history will excite future students and motivate them to actively take part in adding to that history."

Translator's note: Sera H.S. is the alma mater of future Kenyan greats Bitan Karoki and Charles Ndirangu among others.  Ndirangu ran on last year's winning team, just missing Samuel Wanjiru's stage record.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters