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Ueno Solos Second-Straight Fuchu Tamagawa Half Win

http://www.komaspo.com/4157

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The 35th Fuchu Tamagawa Half Marathon took place Nov. 23 in Tokyo's western suburb of Fuchu.  In their last road race before the Jan. 1-2 Hakone Ekiden, defending Fuchu Tamagawa winner Wataru Ueno and teammate Toshiaki Nishizawa of 2012 National University Men's Ekiden champion Komazawa University went 1-2.  Both athletes ran well from the start, running together through 10 km before Ueno made a move to go alone into the lead just before 13 km, leaving Nishizawa behind to fade away.  Looking calm and composed he ran as though there was nothing else, taking the win in 1:05:01.  At the other end of the spectrum, Nishizawa's face showed the strain of the second half of the race and he drifted to a distant 2nd in 1:06:20.  In terms of their placing they showed the characteristic Komazawa strength, but neither athlete was able to reach his time goal.  Both athletes gave comments after the race.

Wataru Ueno
I was still tired from our latest training camp but the conditions were great after the rain let up and it was easy to run.  I dug deep on this one.  Coach (Hiroaki Oyagi) had given me some advice, so I picked things up at 5 km, but even so I was aiming for 64 flat and I ended up a minute short of that.  Since I ran a fair amount of it alone I think it was good mental training (for the Hakone Ekiden).  This is going to be my last Hakone so I want to win my stage and help get the overall win.

Toshiaki Nishizawa
I'm still recovering from the last training camp, so in running with Ueno he was really pushing it and I was just trying to stay with him.  But, I found that I was more fatigued than I expected and after 10 km I started to fade back and was soon by myself.  (Coach Oyagi told me that) this was my last race before Hakone and that I should work on speeding up in the second half, but I couldn't do anything to impress him in this race.  I guess I have to impress him in practice now.  I have to try to overcome my own weakness.

35th Fuchu Tamagawa Half Marathon
Fuchu, Tokyo, 11/23/12

Men
1. Wataru Ueno (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:05:01
2. Toshiaki Nishizawa (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:06:20
3. Suguru Abe (Kanagawa Univ.) - 1:07:21
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