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'Chiba Upsets Form Book and Wins Riga Marathon With Course Record'

http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/yu-chiba-nordea-riga-marathon
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Anonymous said…
This is huge news isn't it? Can't recall the last time a Japanese male won an overseas marathon.
May 22, 2014 at 7:58 PM
Brett Larner said…
As far as I'm aware the last time a Japanese man won an overseas marathon was Masataka Uchino's win at the Rotorua Marathon on May 3 this year. Yuki Kawauchi also won the 2013 Gold Coast Airport Marathon, the 2013 Egyptian Marathon and the 2012 Sydney Marathon, along with Arata Fujiwara's course record win at the 2010 Ottawa Marathon and Toyokazu Yoshimura's 2009 Copenhagen Marathon win among others. It's not that common but it does happen somewhat regularly.

Chiba was the right guy in the right race. If more Japanese athletes and coaches made similarly good choices about where to run instead of fixating on London, Berlin and Chicago it would happen more frequently. Congratulations to him and his backers.
May 22, 2014 at 9:02 PM
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