Skip to main content

Kawauchi Wins Nijuken Doro Half Marathon, Set to Decide Olympic Trial Plans in Cape Town

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20150906-00000122-nksports-spo
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/1534420.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Sept. 6 Rio Olympic team hopeful and amateur running hero Yuki Kawauchi (28, Saitama Pref. Gov’t) galloped through the home of the thoroughbred. Kawauchi won Sunday’s Nijuken Doro Half Marathon in Shin-Hidakamachi, Hokkaido, crossing the finish line in 1:05:32. With the town famous for producing thoroughbred racehorses, ranches filled the area around the course. “I come to Hokkaido a lot but this is my first time in the Hidaka region,” Kawauchi said. “Even when I was running I noticed horses all around. It was a lot of fun to run somewhere with a feeling of wide open space. I haven’t run very good times lately so I’m happy with my time here today.”

Kawauchi also talked about his plans for the lead-up to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, saying that he is currently considering running one of two Rio selection races, either the Dec. 6 Fukuoka International Marathon or the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon. He will make a decision about which race to run based on his performance at the Sept. 20 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon in South Africa. “If I clear my target there then I’ll run Fukuoka,” he said. “My target time is between 2:10 and 2:12. In Fukuoka if I can’t run 2:07 then I won’t be able to be competitive in the race. As a step toward that, 2:10 to 2:12 in Cape Town. If I can’t clear that then I’ll run Lake Biwa.” With regard to his reasons for running Cape Town Kawauchi cited his Olympic ambitions, saying, “It’s in the southern hemisphere, it’s a long flight there and there’s a significant time difference. It’s an ideal rehearsal for Rio.”

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Takeshi Soh Reflects on 54 Years in the Sport on His Retirement as Asahi Kasei Head Coach

After 54 years at the Asahi Kasei corporate team, first as athlete and then as coach, Takeshi Soh will retire at the end of this month. Together with his twin brother Shigeru Soh they formed a duo who were icons of the Japanese marathoning world and went all the way to the Olympics. After retiring from competition Takeshi devoted himself to coaching young athletes and came to play a primary role in the leadership of Japanese long distance. His list of achievements is long, and so is the list of those he influenced and inspired. His twin Shigeru was chosen for three Olympic teams in the marathon, Montreal in 1976, Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984. Takeshi was named to the Moscow and Los Angeles teams, placing 4th in L.A. to confirm his position as one of the greatest names in the sport in that era. After becoming a coach the twins helped lead Hiromi Taniguchi to gold at the 1991 Tokyo World Championships, Koichi Morishita to silver a year later at the Barcelona Olympics, and o...

Evaluating the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV Awards

  The JAAF held the award ceremony for its Japan Marathon Championship Series IV last night in Tokyo, the whole thing streamed live on Youtube. The two-year series, in this case running from April, 2023 to March, 2025, scores marathoners on time and place in domestic races and high-level international races, with athletes' two best performances combining to give them their series rankings. Series winners score guaranteed places on the 2025 Tokyo World Championships team , with the top 8 women and men earning prize money: 1st: ¥6,000,000 (~$40,000 USD) 2nd: ¥3,000,000 (~$20,000) 3rd: ¥1,000,000 (~$6,700) 4th: ¥800,000 (~$5,300) 5th: ¥700,000 (~$4,700) 6th: ¥500,000 (~$3,300) 7th: ¥300,000 (~$2,000) 8th: ¥200,000 (~$1,300) Points for time are scored according to World Athletics scoring tables, with placing points based on races' designated level. Given the JAAF's financial interests in the big domestic races and the income stream from their TV broadcasts, the scoring system ...

Weekend Road and Track Roundup

A roundup of the main road and track action on the last weekend of Japan's 2024-25 academic and fiscal year: Doubling off a 2:07:06 PB at the Tokyo Marathon 4 weeks ago, Tatsuya Maruyama took bronze at the Asian Marathon Championships in Jiaxing, China in 2:11:56. Gold went to North Korea's Il Ryong Han in a breakaway 2:11:18, with silver medalist Tianyu Chen of China just ahead of Maruyama in 2:11:50. Japan's Shungo Yokota was a distant 4th in 2:14:00, with Japan-based Mongolian NR holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir 6th in 2:15:14. Japanese women Kaede Kawamura and Natsumi Matsushita were 5th and 6th in 2:31:26 and 2:34:40, with medals going to China's Bing Wu , gold in 2:26:01, North Korea's Kwang-Ok Ri , silver right behind her in 2:26:07, and defending gold medalist Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh landing in bronze this time in 2:28:56, her third sub-2:29 performance so far in 2025. Back home, four men broke 2:20 at the Fukui Sakura Marathon . Ko Kobayashi from the Shi...