Chuo’s alumni and alumnae enjoy Homecoming Day

Hakumon Ekiden Meet held for the first time

中大ホームカミングデー、世代を超えて盛り上がる

 

初の「白門駅伝大会」も実施

Fathers and children line up for the start of a family run.
Fathers and children line up for the start of a family run.

Chuo University carried out its 25th Homecoming Day at the Tama campus on October 23. Full of colorful stalls put up by alumni and alumnae, it was very much lively. Events organized by them included a talk show featuring Makoto Shinkai, a graduate of the Faculty of Literature who produced a movie, Your Name, which proved a blockbuster hit this summer, and an open interview of Kaoru Hasuike, one of the Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea, by senior NHK news commentator Toshio Shimada. Both Hasuike and Shimada are Chuo graduates. The organizers of the Homecoming Day planned the Hakumon Ekiden Meet, a long-distance relay race, for the first time this year.

 

 今年で25回目を迎える中央大学ホームカミングデーが10月23日、多摩キャンパスで開催された。卒業生らによる出店が立ち並び、この夏ヒットした映画『君の名は』の制作者で、中大文学部OBの新海誠氏のトークショー、北朝鮮拉致被害者の蓮池薫氏とNHK解説副委員長の島田敏男氏による公開インタビューが開かれるなど、大いに盛り上がった。その中で、今年初めて実施されたのがマラソンの「白門駅伝大会」だ。

Chuo University Track & Field Club head coach Masakazu Fujiwara (right) addresses Hakumon Ekiden Meet participants.
Chuo University Track & Field Club head coach Masakazu Fujiwara (right) addresses Hakumon Ekiden Meet participants.

The school’s athletics field at the Tama campus was picked as the venue of the meet, which consisted of two races, a family run and a three-hour marathon relay race. Futoshi Gomamoto, a member of the Chuo Alumni Association Secretariat who organized the event, told Hakumon Herald, “We targeted graduates in their 20s-40s who rarely turn out each year in a bid to give a boost to the Homecoming Day.”

 

この大会は中央大学多摩キャンパスの陸上競技場を使用して行われ、親子ランと3時間のリレー・マラソンの2種目で競われた。大会を企画した中央大学学員会本部事務局の胡麻本太氏は「ホームカミングデーをより一層盛り上げるために、参加者が少ない20~40代のOB・OGをターゲットに企画を練った」と語った。

 

The meet started with an inaugural address by Masakazu Fujiwara, the head coach of the Chuo University Track & Field Club. Members of the club gave a lesson on track and field for the participants and members of the Chuo Cheering Club gave their performance on the sidelines of the event. Gomamoto said he had been worried if there would be a sufficient number of participants and if the weather would be fine on the day of the event. But his concern proved unfounded. The meet drew more than 1,000 participants including 560 runners. Among them were many community residents who are not Chuo graduates. Gomamoto said, “We organized the Ekiden Meet as part of our policy to keep Chuo open and strengthen its ties with the local community. I think we had a good response because we had so many local participants.”

 

中大陸上競技部監督の藤原正和氏の挨拶で大会はスタート。現役陸上部員による陸上教室や、中大応援団の演技も披露された。胡麻本氏によると、当日まで十分な数の参加者が集まるか、天気は大丈夫かなど、不安があった。しかし、ふたを開けてみれば、参加したランナーは560人、全参加者は1000人を超す大盛況だった。地域住民の参加も多く、「地域に根差し、開かれた大学を目指す1つのきっかけとして、白門駅伝を位置付けていましたので、地元の人が多く参加してくれて手ごたえを感じました」と胡麻本氏は言う。

Kids play with Chuo's mascot character Chu-Oji.
Kids play with Chuo's mascot character Chu-Oji.

He added he will aim to make next year’s meet more attractive and bigger in scale. It was pity that few incumbent students took part in the inaugural race. Let us hope that the Alumni Association will urge more students to take part in it so that it will develop into an all-Chuo event not just for the alumni and alumnae.

 

来年はさらに大規模で、魅力あるマラソン大会を目指とのこと。ただ残念ながら現役学生の参加が少なかった。現役生の参加を促し、OB・OGのためのイベントからオール中大のイベントとして発展していってもらいたいものだ。(Written by: Hideki Kato)(加藤英樹)