Skip to main content

Kawauchi Wins Honjo Waseda no Mori Half Despite Going Off-Course

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20130414-1112410.html
http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20130414-OHT1T00219.htm

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Probable Moscow World Championships marathon team member Yuki Kawauchi (26, Saitama Pref. Gov't) ran the Apr. 14 Honjo Waseda no Mori Half Marathon, winning in 1:06:28.  With the cancellation of last weekend's Satte Sakura 10-Miler due to bad weather it had been three weeks since his last race, the Mar. 24 Saitama City Half Marathon, a long time off for someone who has raced almost every weekend since the start of the year.  The result of this break?  Only 1.5 km into the race Kawauchi went the wrong way and ran off the course.  "I hadn't properly researched the course and lost about 30 seconds.  It happens a lot," he said with an embarrassed laugh.

The Honjo Waseda no Mori Half Marathon was Kawauchi's tenth race of the year, coming on the heels of a minor hip injury after the Mar. 14 Seoul International Marathon.  "Since I do my own thing it's easy for me to take time off when I need to," he said.  "My hip is fine now."  Today's race also marked the beginning of an eight-week stretch that will see Kawauchi run nine races.  His next race is the Apr. 21 Nagano Marathon, his first full marathon since setting his 2:08:14 PB in Seoul.  "My goal in Nagano is to not take a wrong turn," he deadpanned.  With one marathon a month on his schedule so far this year Kawauchi has set himself a challenging program, but if he is successful in Nagano he will become the first Japanese man to win in the event's 15-year history.

Beyond Nagano, Kawauchi plans to prepare for August's World Championships by running the June 2 Chitose JAL International Marathon for the first time, the June 16 Okinoshima 50 km Ultramarathon for the third-straight year, and the July 7 Gold Coast Marathon for the second-straight year, with additional overseas races in the fall.  "I want to prove that Japanese runners can win outside Japan too," he said.  "Last year I won Sydney, so to begin with I want to become famous in Australia."

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters