Skip to main content

Takushoku University Names Ethiopian Derese Captain of Ekiden Team



It's been a month since the 94th Hakone Ekiden wrapped up. Every university is busy piecing together its new team. After making the seeded top ten for the first time in four years, Takushoku University, alma mater of Olympic marathoners Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki) and Arata Fujiwara (Arata Project) has named third-year Derese Workneh its team captain for the 2018-19 season. Under the leadership of this exceptional foreign student athlete the team aims to beat its best-ever Hakone placing, 7th. The clock is already ticking to the 95th running.

Veteran head coach Masahiro Okada, 72, is confident in his choice of captain. "The only one who can lead the new Takushoku is Derese," said Okada. He informed the team of his decision at its first meeting on Jan. 4, a day after Takushoku returned to the seeded bracket with an 8th place finish at this year's Hakone.


It has only been three years since Derese came to Japan from Ethiopia. His initial reaction to the announcement was, "I think my language ability will be too much of a problem," but his teammates all overruled him with a warm round of applause. Accepting the position, he already showed the dignity of a true leader as he told them, "There are things I can't say with words, but those things I will try to communicate by leading the team from the heart."

It's unheard of for a non-Japanese student to be named captain. Coach Okada again showed confidence in his decision as he explained, "I've been thinking about who I would name as the next captain since last summer. Derese always led the team in the hard workouts, and sometimes he would drop back to give encouragement to teammates who had fallen behind. Sometimes he would bring donuts for the others when they worked hard at a session. He is the man on the team who best understands the meaning of teamwork. All he needs to do as captain is what he has already done naturally."


Leading the team on the track, Derese always wants to enter the world of the marathon. From Jan. 9 to 14 he took part in a marathon training camp in Okinawa doing 35 km and 40 km training runs. At the time he planned to run the Feb. 25 Tokyo Marathon, but after getting sick upon his return to Tokyo he decided to shift his debut to the Apr. 15 Nagano Marathon. "My goal in my first marathon is 2:08 to 2:10," Derese said. "There are a lot of very strong athletes in Ethiopia, but I am aiming to make the 2020 Tokyo Olympic team. I think I have a chance."

Heading into his final Hakone season, the targets are already in place, both for Takushoku as a team and for Derese as an individual. Takushoku's best-ever 7th-place Hakone finish came in 2011. For the last three years Derese ran Hakone's most competitive stage, its 23.1 km Second Stage. Now, he says, "I want us to leave our best-ever result as a team. To help make that happen, I'm going to run 66 minutes on the Second Stage."


"My hobby is learning," Derese says. Like a true student, this 22-year-old has had a dream since the beginning. "I want to invite my mother Wanda to my graduation ceremony." To show his mother how much he has grown during his four years in Japan, as both Takushoku University's star runner and captain, the coming year will be the biggest of Derese's life so far.

Derese Workneh - born July 23, 1995 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 22 years old. Began running in elementary school. Entered Takushoku University in 2015 after graduating from Medhani Alem H.S. Has run the Hakone Ekiden Second Stage three times, finishing 11th as a 1st-yr, 2nd as a 2nd-yr, and 5th as a 3rd-yr. 10000 m PB: 28:19.16. 169 km, 51 kg.


source article: 
http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/feature/hakone/20180130-OHT1T50157.html
translated and edited by Brett Larner
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

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
Post a Comment
Read more

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
1 comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more