GMO ATHLETES will Participate in the New Year Ekiden 2020

Tokyo, Japan – July 24, 2019 – GMO Internet (https://www.gmo.jp/en/ ) today announces that GMO ATHLETES, which focuses on raising No. 1 athletes in the world, will participate in the Ekiden. All of 10 runners as one run toward the first victory for the 64th All-Japan Men’s Corporate Team Ekiden Championships, which is as known as “New Year Ekiden”, held on January 1, 2020, in their debut race. GMO ATHLETES will participate in the Ekiden, challenging itself in new ways to become No. 1 not only as an individual but also as a team.

Background of Participation for Ekiden

GMO ATHLETES was established in 2016 with the aim of “Developing the world-class No.1 athletes” and team members have been improving their ability in the past four years. As a result, Ryo Hashimoto and Tadashi Isshiki are qualified for the Marathon Grand Championship (MGC), which is the Tokyo Olympic Marathon’s preliminary race held on September 15, 2019. Besides that, Hiroki Yamagishi has been elected as a Japanese representative in the World Athletics Championships held this fall in Qatar, Doha.

Furthermore, Homare Morita, Kensuke Hayashi, Shuichi Kondo and KIPLORIO VICTOR KORIR from Kenya joined the team and it currently consists of 10 runners with bench strength.

The team has grown, so it has decided to participate in the Ekiden, which is a team game, challenging itself in new ways to become No. 1 not only as an individual but also as a team. The GMO ATHLETES will aim to win its first Ekiden "East Japan Men's Corporate Team Ekiden Championships" scheduled on Sunday, November 3, 2019.

Katsuhiko Hanada: Head Coach of GMO ATHLETES

We, GMO ATHLETES, are steadily working toward our aim “Developing the world-class No.1 athletes” and our team members have improved who can compete worldwide. We also welcomed three newcomers and a foreign runner for the first time this year. If individuals who have a high ability gather, the overall strength of the team will increase. The GMO ATHLETES has grown enough to challenge itself in new ways to become No. 1 as a team. We are going to do our best to win All-Japan Men’s Corporate Team Ekiden Championships for the first time in our debut match under our mission “No.1 for individuals and No.1 for teams”. I would like to ask for your continuous support for GMO ATHLETES who strive to make their dreams come true.

About GMO ATHLETES

GMO Internet Group supports and cosponsors various cultural and sports activities to create smiles and excitement for many people. As part of that, “GMO ATHLETES” was established on April 1, 2016, to “Develop world-class No.1 athletes” and is currently supporting athletes in men’s athletics (long-distance). For further information please visit

・Official website: https://athletes.gmo.jp/
・Athletes Profiles: https://athletes.gmo.jp/athletes/
・Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gmoathletes/

GMO Internet Group

GMO Internet Group is an Internet service industry leader, developing and operating Japan’s most widely used domain, hosting & cloud, ecommerce, security, and payment solutions. The Group also includes the world’s largest online FX trading platform, as well as online advertising, Internet media, and cryptocurrency related services. GMO Internet, Inc. (TSE: 9449) is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. For more information, please visit https://www.gmo.jp/en/