Skip to main content

About World XC - Yuki Sato (updated)

http://ameblo.jp/gogoyuki1126/

translated by Brett Larner

This is a post Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) made on his blog on Mar. 15.

Because of the recent major earthquake in northeastern Japan I've decided not to run in the World Cross Country Championships in Spain.

Japan will be sending a team to the championships but they've left it up to us to decide individually whether or not we run. I just don't feel like I want to, and my legs are not 100%, so taking it all into account I've decided to scrap the idea of going.

I wanted to go and run a race that would give the people back home at least a little good news, but in my current condition I don't think that's the kind of race it would end up as.

My goal now is to do the work I can to heal my spirit so that in my next race I can give everyone my share of the good news they need.

Translator's note: Junior team members Yuma Hattori and Natsumi Yoshida are both students at Sendai Ikuei H.S. in one of the area hardest-hit by last week's earthquake and tsunami, and their participation at this point looks unlikely. Senior women's team leader Hitomi Niiya (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) is based in Sakura, Chiba, another area badly damaged by the disasters, and it would be surprising if she joined the team in Spain. Senior women Yuko Shimizu and Korei Omata (both Team Sekisui Kagaku) and junior woman Yuriko Kosaki (Narita H.S.) are also based in Chiba. Junior women's team leader Katsuki Suga (Kojokan H.S.) is confirmed to be running.

Update: Yusuke Takabayashi (Team Toyota) has confirmed to JRN that he is running despite injury troubles.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Why not just raise Japan's spirit by going anyway, and bringing back a medal?
March 17, 2011 at 12:42 AM
Anonymous said…
It's not that simple. It might seem the more 'heroic' option is to go, but Sato might have family and friends who need him now.

And even if there isn't anyone relying on him back home, i can only imagine it'll be hard to raise your spirits for a race, given what has happened.

At the end of the day, it's only just running.
March 17, 2011 at 9:46 PM
Brett Larner said…
My take on his comments is that he wanted to go over and do something big but is injured. World XC team member Yusuke Takabayashi told JRN yesterday that he is also having injury troubles but has gone to Spain and will give it a shot.
March 18, 2011 at 9:35 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...
82 comments
Read more

Batt-Doyle and Strintzos Break Records at Launceston Half

Australians Isobel Batt-Doyle and Haftu Strintzos turned in record-breaking performances to win the McGrath Launceston Running Festival Peppers Silo Half Marathon in Tasmania. Running with a private male pacer, NR holder Batt-Doyle dusted the field with the fastest half marathon ever by an Australian woman on Australian soil, a 1:08:46 CR that put her 2 and a half minutes ahead of runner-up Genevieve Gregson . Last year's runner-up Yumi Yoshikawa was almost a minute back from Gregson in 3rd in 1:12:03, but was almost run down by club runner Ayaka Shimoyamada . Starting slow in her international debut, Shimoyamada moved up from 7th over the 2nd half of the race to finish 4th in 1:12:06, kicking hard in the home straight to try to catch Yoshikawa and momentarily blacking out after finishing. Kaho Onishi was 7th in 1:12:45 in her own international debut. The men's half had pacing set at 2:53/km to try to deliver the first-ever sub-61 half marathon on Australian soil. CR holde...
Post a Comment
Read more

CHN and JPN National Records Go Down - Weekend Track Update

There weren't any Japanese athletes in action at the Rabat Diamond League meet Sunday, but 2 lower-tier domestic meets produced new national records. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama, Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) led the top 5 in the men's 10000 m under 28 minutes in 27:39.97. In 3rd, China's Wenjie Wang took just over a second off his own NR from the same meet last year, setting a new record of 27:47.53. His teammate Haoran Tang was 6th in a 28:27.44 PB, with the top Japanese time in the race being a 28:33.39 for 8th from Jin Yuasa (Toyota). Amazingly, Wang and Tang were back the next day on day 2 of the Nittai meet, Wang running a PB of 13:35.58 for 4th in the A-heat and Tang winning the B-heat in a PB of 13:38.80. Isaac Ndiema took the A-heat in 13:26.49, with the fastest Japanese time going to Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) with a 13:35.94 for 5th behind Wang. Other Nittai highlights: Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) won a photo finish against Yua Nagamori ...
Post a Comment
Read more