Jul 25 2019

The men's Athletics Club of Niigata University successfully won the championship at the North-Shinetsu preliminary session of the All Japan University Road Relay held at the Nagano City Athletics Stadium in Nagano Prefecture on Saturday, July 13. This is our first time in two years and the 12th time to participate.

This year's All Japan University Road Relay will be held on Saturday, November 13. A total of 27 universities that won the preliminary sessions throughout Japan will compete in a race of 106.8 km in total from Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture to Ise Shrine in Ise City, Mie Prefecture.

At the preliminary session this year, 10 runners were selected from each university and all were divided into three groups to run 10,000 meters. The total times of the top eight runners were compared to choose a university from the North-Shinetsu region. When the second group finished, Shinshu University, our rival, was leading the race, but when the third group competed, Niigata University flipped the tables to clinch victory. Although we lost the chance to attend the All Japan Race last year by a narrow margin of 26 seconds (three seconds per runner), we were able to clear our name this year.

Yuto Mori, captain of the Athletics Club's middle- and long-distance block, showed his enthusiasm before the race, saying, "We are going to compete with strong private universities in the Kanto and Kansai regions. We would like to show what we can do before a big audience. Summer, time to practice a lot and determine our destiny, is coming soon. We will work hard and show how much we've grown. We will fight with the pride of national and public universities to shine on stage!"

At present, 42 male students are in the middle- and long-distance block. They are proceeding with student-centered practice every day, emphasizing four mornings and six afternoons a week. We ask for your kind support for our Athletics Club on Saturday, November 13 at the All Japan University Road Relay.