Skip to main content

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

Comments

Anonymous said…
Turati Silvano is from SWITZERLAND!!!
Anonymous said…
It does not matter.

Most-Read This Week

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .

'Kobe 2024: Monday Sees Shocking Wins on the Track and the Field'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-monday-sees-shocking-wins-track-and-field Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships  are here .

Five New Championship Records at Japanese Olympic Trials Day Two

Great conditions on the second day of Japan's National Track and Field Championships , U20 National Championships and Paris Olympics trials helped athletes set new National Championship meet records in the women's pole vault, men's 400 mH, men's and women's 1500 m, and men's 5000 m, with three of the five record setters and guaranteeing themselves places on the Paris Olympics team. Complete results here . Women's Pole Vault Final National record holder Misaki Morota cleared her minimum goal, the win in 4.31 m to score enough points to move from 33rd to 32nd in the 32-deep Paris Olympic quota. Morota took two attempts to get over 4.30 m, but on her first try at a Japanese National Championships meet record 4.41 m she got it done. That gave her enough points to move to 30th, but it would take clearing 4.50, 2 cm higher than Morota's NR, to move to 29th. That proved to be out of range, leaving Morota in good position but still waiting to see the outcome of...