The fruits of tenacity and self-discipline — Passion of Shiki Senior High School Running Team for the Ekiden

In December 2012, the running team at Keio Shiki Senior High School won first place in the high school boys category of the 74th Okutama Valley Ekiden, a long-distance relay race with a long history. We were lucky since there weren’t as many high school teams in the race this year as usual, but we still had to defeat a number of strong high school teams in order to win. The past winners of the category are all high schools in the Tohoku and Kanto region that are famous for their ekiden teams, and I feel that is a real honor and a historic milestone for the running team of Shiki Senior High to rank among the best of them.

All six stages of this ekiden course are both physically and mentally challenging for high school students, with long distances of each stage and many significant changes in elevation, and they demand even students to prepare thoroughly through daily training. Even with this training, students are required to have tenacity and a single-minded focus on reaching their goal. One reason for our victory on such a difficult course was that other teams’ runners began to slow down while all six runners of the Shiki Senior High School team were able to keep running at their usual paces.

It isn’t that strong runners capable of competing in nationals attend our school. Since the ekiden for junior high school students is interscholastic, students from any sport can participate, from running team to baseball or soccer. The only way to rank highly in ekiden is for high schools to use the athletics recommendation system as incentive to gather students who did well in such ekiden in the past, and then train them to also do well in high school. At Shiki Senior High, there are only beginners or runners who failed to receive offers from other high schools, so it is no small feat to win a long-distance race. Even under such difficult circumstances, I believe that in a simple sport such as running, differences in ability have nothing to do with the individual value of breaking a personal record and the sense of satisfaction you gain from it. This requires a sense of self-discipline, which often serves as students’ greatest motivation to continue running, And after a full three years of training, most students break their previous personal records by a long shot and proudly graduate with a sense of achievement. Members even begin to think about competing against stronger teams in an ekiden. In an ekiden race, runners are required to make snap judgments according to their circumstances. They allocate their power differently based on situations which involve their position compared to other runners, course environment, and condition. Therefore, runners are tested not only for strength but also for the strong awareness developed through daily practice. Since the Okutama race has a tough course, I believe that the students who kept practicing steadily were able to shine. Although there are differences in ability among the students, I feel that the Shiki Senior High running team’s tradition of making the best of whatever possible led us to this victory.

This year, although our biggest target is to qualify for the All-Japan High School Ekiden Championship, the goal for all high school long-distance runners, we also seek to defend our title as champion at the Okutama Valley Ekiden Race. We look forward to our results.