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Kiwi Wyatt Wins Fuji Mountain Race

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2012/07/28/kiji/K20120728003776590.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

3676 runners took part in the two divisions of the 65th Fuji Mountain Race on July 27.  Making his Mt. Fuji debut, Jonathan Wyatt (39, New Zealand) won the summit course in a strong 2:33:59, with Mina Ogawa (37, Amino Vital AC) taking the women's race in 3:07:51 for her second-straight summit win.  Toru Koide (30, Salomon) and Maki Hagiwara (37) won the men's and women's Fifth Stage course wins in 1:25:42 and 1:45:17.

With a margin of 17 minutes over the runner-up, Wyatt's win was definitive.  A two-time Olympian for his native New Zealand with appearances in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic 5000 m and 2004 Athens Olympics marathon, Wyatt pulled clear into the lead after crossing into the purest mountain running section of the course after the Sixth Stage.  "My win today is one of the biggest honors in my long career," said a happy Wyatt.  "In New Zealand we are lucky to have a lot of good places to train."

Women's summit winner Ogawa was equally delighted with her title defense.  "I wanted to run under 3:10 no matter what," she said of her assertive performance in which she pushed the pace from the start and succeeded in meeting her sub-3:10 goal.  She was also well under her winning time from last year, 3:10:45.  A former corporate runner for the Hitachi team until 2000, Ogawa had plenty of credentials to make her the favorite.  "The Fuji Mountain Race is totally different from other races," she said with deep emotion.  "It just keeps going up and you can feel it getting harder and harder to advance to the next stage.  It has helped me to grow emotionally."

65th Fuji Mountain Race
Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, 7/27/12
click here for complete results

Summit Course - Men
1. Jonathan Wyatt (New Zealand) - 2:33:59
2. Sota Ogawa - 2:50:58
3. Satoshi Kato - 2:52:36
4. Turati Silvano (Italy) - 2:55:05
5. Takahito Kondo - 2:55:14

Summit Course - Women
1. Mina Ogawa - 3:07:51
2. Yoshimi Hoshino - 3:25:14
3. Keiko Nagasaka - 3:30:42
4. Kayo Shibuya - 3:40:33
5. Tomoko Oba - 3:46:26

Fifth Stage Course - Men
1. Toru Koide - 1:25:42
2. Jun Kaise - 1:26:20
3. Yasutomo Takenaka - 1:27:45

Fifth Stage Course - Women
1. Maki Hagiwara - 1:45:17
2. Mitsuko Hirose - 1:46:23
3. Satoko Uehara - 1:53:24
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Turati Silvano is from SWITZERLAND!!!
January 13, 2015 at 9:14 PM
Anonymous said…
It does not matter.
July 21, 2023 at 1:36 PM
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