Skip to main content

Aoyama Gakuin University Junior Takehiro Deki on 2:10:02 Marathon Debut: "For a Second There I Thought About the Olympics"

translated by Brett Larner
photos by Dr. Helmut Winter


Aoyama Gakuin University junior Takehiro Deki ran a 2:10:02 debut for 9th at the Mar. 4 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the all-time #3 Japanese collegiate time and all-time #9 Japanese debut.  After briefly leading the race at 30 km on 2:06:55 pace he faded to 12th but came back to outkick Nairobi Marathon winner Ernest Kebenei and Daegu WC 7th and 8th placers Hiroyuki Horibata and Ruggero Pertile. Afterwards Deki told JRN about his race.

This was my marathon debut, so I wanted to give it a go and see how far I could make it.  I ran keeping things under control in the first half.  At 30 km I was running up in the lead pack and was really happy, and just for a second there I caught myself thinking about the Olympics.

But it didn't end up being that easy, and around 33 km the harshness of the marathon started to catch up with me.  In the last 5 km I was targeting breaking 2:10, but I just missed it by a tiny bit.  That was really disappointing.  But considering that I only ran up to 30 km in my training I'm satisfied with this result.

On the other hand, as far as my future marathon career I could tell that if I trained more seriously I'd be able to be competitive, so this gave me a lot of confidence in that respect.  Next month I start my senior year, so in my final Hakone Ekiden and the Olympics four years from now I want to use this experience to help me be my best.  Thank you.


photos (c) 2012 Dr. Helmut Winter
all rights reserved

Comments

Brett Larner said…
Aoyama Gakuin Univ. team manager Naoya Hashimoto said that he wrote "From Hakone to the world!" on Deki's 40 km drink bottle as an inspirational message. Looks like it worked.

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

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr