People :
An Ace of the Collegiate Cycling World!
Mr.Takashi Kawamura

Mr.Takashi Kawamura Born in Tokyo, 1984. Graduated from Tokyo Denki College High School. Junior at the School of Human Sciences. A member of Prof. Takahiro Takarada’s seminar. His hobbies are cooking, motoring, listening to music, and theatergoing. He started cycling when he was a junior in high school. As a college student, he was the only specially appointed athlete in the Athens Olympics. A winner of the Intercollegiate Cycling Championship.

Kawamura is the champion of the collegiate cycling world, but he has a friendly, pleasant smile. He had to settle for 2nd place at the national championship due to his missetting the gear. However, he came in 1st in the Intercollegiate cycling championship and many amateur championships. Sometimes, he surpasses even professional players. Because he is such a talented athlete, he sometimes runs against a psychological wall. “At first, I was happy when I won championships or I was told ‘you are talented’. But now, I am not sure what I want to win for. I am not able to motivate myself well enough. I do not only want to win races, but also to ride a special race which the spectators would remember forever. I want to do something that moves people. For that reason, I am going to participate in a show race and sweepstakes which will be held in Australia until next month. I'm interested in races that are held for show and as entertainment, unlike in Japan, where races are just gambling. And I would like to experience these events in Australia.” said Kawamura, ambitiously searching for new goals every day.

“I can say that I have been training on my bicycle more than other players and making more of an effort. Unlike the players who always had an inside track to the top, I started with an environment that was not good enough for training. I made practice schedules by myself. And I have come to this position. These are my strengths. I used to play tennis when I was in junior high school, but I found that I was not a good player. So, I started to think that I want to reach the top with other things. At that time I happened to read a triathlon magazine, and I saw a picture of someone doing a cycling race. ‘This is it’, I thought”, he says, looking back over his past and his entry into the sport.

Now, he expands the range of his friends through organizing some study group for job hunting. “Until now, I hated to do what everybody else is doing. But recently I've been thinking that people who aren't always concerned about winning may be on to something too. I enjoy meeting people who have different values. I still have some desire to compete in Japanese professional cycling, but I do not want to narrow my options too much. So I am going look for a job just like everybody else”. Now that Kawamura has reached the top of the collegiate cycling world, he might start looking for a new goral.