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Kawauchi Wins Satte Sakura 10-Miler, Talks About Dream Plan for Using $1 Million NR Bonus

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2015/04/06/kiji/K20150406010120930.html

translated by Brett Larner

On April 5 Yuki Kawauchi (28, Saitama Pref. Gov't) ran the Satte Sakura 10-Mile Road Race in Satte, Saitama, finishing 1st in 49:20.  Still recovering fitness from time lost to a sprained ankle he suffered at the end of last year, he said, "I pushed it right on my target pace."  After the race he also ran as a special guest in the 2 km family run.

In interviews post-race Kawauchi talked about his dream plan for using the new 100 million yen bonus [~$1 million USD at normal exchange rates] for a Japanese marathon national record.  "If I won 100 million yen," he said, "I would use it to establish an athlete support fund."  Kawauchi declared that through his funding initiative he would help support talented amateur runners and university students who do not attend powerhouse ekiden schools, saying, "If I helped ten runners with 500,000 yen [~$5000] each per year it would last for 20 years.  The money would go to help fund them racing overseas and such."  With this dream he is poised to help support future generations of runners and to back Japan's next great amateur runner.

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