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Showing posts with the label Kenji Moriwaki

Mo Farah Scores Greatest Victory of His Career

by Brett Larner
photos by Tsukasa Kawarai


In a career teeming to overflow with double medals at the Olympics and World Championships and an unprecedented triple crown of Great North Run wins earned to varying degrees, Great Britain's Mo Farah staked the ultimate claim to the title of Greatest of All Time with the single most important victory of his career, a win at Saturday's Akasaka 5-Chome Mini Marathon.


Running on a hilly 900 m four-loop course around and through broadcaster TBS' Akasaka studios as part of its semi-annual All-Star Kanshasai variety show, Farah overcame a 5 minute, 55 second handicap start to run down a cavalcade of Japan's finestmodels and comedians for the win, catching the last trio led by entertainer Kenji Moriwaki on the final uphill run up to the studio.

【オールスター感謝祭 TBS】

ファラー速い！💨💨💨🏃
やっぱりファラーはロードでも強かった！😊 pic.twitter.com/tFdpxEXT3K — NOBUKI T&F (@hagechabin123) October 8, 2016
Farah covered the 3.6 km course in roughly 13:40.  His win w…
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Ueda Over Kamino at Akasaka 5-Chome Mini Marathon

by Brett Larner

神野大地(コニカミノルタ)@赤坂5丁目ミニマラソン pic.twitter.com/sM95E0dMdN — EKIDEN_MANIA (@ekiden_mania) April 9, 2016
Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage star Daichi Kamino made his pro debut for the Konica Minolta team in surprising style, running Saturday night as part of the 50th edition of the All-Star Kanshasai variety show's twice-annual Akasaka 5-Chome Mini Marathon.  Broadcast live during the show, the race covers four laps of a twisting 900 m course with a steep downhill start, two 180-degree turns, a 200 m-long uphill with a nearly 10% grade, and a section through the TBS studios in front of the hundred or so comedians and TV personalities assembled for the variety show.  Each edition features a well-known pro runner racing several dozen other comedians and celebrities, each carefully handicapped for the staggered start to make the outcome as close as possible.  Past editions have featured Olympic and World Championships medalists including Joan Benoit Samuelson, Masako Chiba, Meseret…
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Joan Benoit Samuelson Appears on Japanese Game Show (updated)

by Brett Larner

1984 Olympic marathon gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson (U.S.A.) took time out from her preparations for next month's New York City Marathon to appear on Japanese broadcaster TBS' All-Star Kanshasai variety game show on Oct. 3. On the biannual five-hour show, a panel of 200 celebrities compete for cash prizes by trying to predict the winners in a series of contests starring other celebrities. Samuelson appeared on the Akasaka Go-Chome Super Ekiden segment running a relay with two-time World Championships medalist Masako Chiba and marathon great Mari Tanigawa before running in the show's climax, the Akasaka Go-Chome Mini-Marathon.

A handicap race on a hilly 3-loop course around and through TBS' Akasaka studio, the Mini-Marathon saw Benoit Samuelson square off against Chiba, Tanigawa, defending champion and two-time Olympic marathon medalist Erick Wainaina (Kenya), Wainaina's 'Zeitoku Marathon' TV spot co-star Hiroshi Neko, 'Running Man…
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Phuket Marathon Helping to Rebuild Local Economy

by Brett Larner

photos by Mika Tokairin and Brett Larner

Runners at the 5:00 a.m. start.

The island of Phuket on the west coast of Thailand used to be one of the big three overseas tropical resort destinations for Japanese tourists. When the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami hit the island over 5000 people were killed, including both local residents and foreign tourists. Foreign tourism dropped precipitously, causing more damage to the local economy which was already struggling to cope with the direct effects of the tsunami. In 2006 the Laguna Phuket association of resorts began holding a marathon in an effort to bring people back. Along with the full marathon, organizers included half marathon and 10.5 km distances along with a 5 km walk and a 2 km kids' race, all featuring a seaside start and finish in the heart of the Laguna Phuket resort district. Out of the 2038 entrants in the first edition of the combined races, 571 came from overseas.

The view on the way back.

Now in its fourth running, th…
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