The rowing club competed in the 101st All Japan Rowing Championships held at Sea Forest Waterway (Koto City, Tokyo) from May 18 to 21, and the men’s coxed four, consisting of KANAZAWA Haruto (3rd year in the School of Commerce), JOTO Keita (3rd year in the School of Law), NAKAJO Sennosuke (3rd year in the School of Commerce), MATSUKAWA Sosuke (3rd year in the School of Law), and SHIKAGAWA Gota (2nd year in the School of Agriculture), finished first.
In the finals of the same event held on the final day of competition, which included Chubu Electric Power and other corporate teams, the team won by a narrow 1.61-second margin over second-place Nihon University to be crowned Japan champions. Moreover, the women’s coxed four and men’s quadruple sculls took second place, and the lightweight women’s double sculls took third.
The team aims to win the overall men’s and women’s championships at the All Japan Intercollegiate Rowing Championships (Intercollegiate Championship) in the fall, using the confidence gained from the many top finishes in this tournament, which also included corporate teams.
Comment from MATSUKAWA Sosuke
I am very happy to have won the All Japan Rowing Championships on the back of a short two weeks of training with my crew. I also feel that this win was the result of making the extra efforts of each member of the team, who always set their sights on winning the championship, and the “ALL MEIJI” support by the staff, alumni, and everyone.
We will do our best to once again be the first to show the bluish purple blades to our supporters at the All Japan Intercollegiate Rowing Championships in September, and we ask for your continued support.
Comment from Head Coach HOSHI Ryo (graduated from the Graduate School of Political Science and Economics in 2016)
This year’s All Japan Rowing Championships was a competition that each of us had trained diligently for and performed well in training for, despite the short period of time since the end of the NRM Regatta in April. The crew of the coxed four in particular have been working hard to win and always striving for boat speed in training, and I think this was the result of their efforts.
In addition to naturally getting the influence of individual ability on rowing speed, the crew of multiple rowers must also be able to achieve consistency in movement and unify and share the same goals. We would like to use this result as momentum to unify and share our goals once again, not only with the winning crew but also with the team as a whole, and to face the All Japan Intercollegiate Rowing Championships in September.
The finals of the All Japan Intercollegiate Rowing Championships will be on Sunday, September 10, so please come to the Toda Boat Course. Let us all share the victory and sing the school song.
≪Japanese version≫
