Skip to main content

Kawauchi Breaks World Record for Half Marathon in a Suit by 18 Minutes

by Brett Larner


A week after his Olympic dreams ended with a 2:11:53 finish at the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) took to the streets of his hometown of Kuki, Saitama to run the Kuki Half Marathon.  A special guest of race organizers, Kawauchi treated local fans by portraying his role as the Civil Servant Runner in a literal way, running the race wearing a full suit including tie, vest, belt and dress socks.


The official Guinness World Record for a half marathon in a suit is 1:24:41 by American Gihan Amarasiriwardena last December.  Dueling with his longtime friend and rival Saeki Makino (DNPL), runners from Heisei Kokusai University and his younger brothers Yoshiki and Koki, Kawauchi ran 1:06:42 for 3rd behind Makino and one HKU runner.  "Kuki isn't a certified course, so this won't be an official Guinness World Record," Kawauchi told JRN post-race.  "But I'm glad that I could break the Guinness World Record unofficially.  I got pretty sweaty and tired out there, but the people along the course loved it."


Race organizers also set up a display of Kawauchi's bib numbers from his races around the world to showcase a local boy's achievements for his fans. Two bibs from his youngest brother Koki also made the display.


Left two columns, top to bottom: "From Hakone to the World."
  • 2011 Daegu World Championships, South Korea
  • 2012 Kavarna World Half Marathon Championships, Bulgaria
  • 2013 Moscow World Championships, Russia
  • 2014 Incheon Asian Games, South Korea
  • 2007 and 2009 Hakone Ekiden, Japan
 Third column, top to bottom: "America and Africa"
  • 2013, 2014 and 2015 New York City Marathon, U.S.A.
  • 2015 Cape Town Marathon, South Africa
  • 2013 Luxor Marathon, Egypt
Fourth column, top to bottom: "Australia"
  • 2013, 2014 and 2015 Gold Coast Marathon
  • 2012 Sydney Marathon
  • 2014 City to Surf Perth Marathon
  • 2013 Melbourne Marathon
Fifth and sixth columns: "Europe and Asia"
  • 2015 Zurich Marathon, Switzerland
  • 2014 Hamburg Marathon, Germany
  • 2013 Great North Run half marathon, U.K.
  • 2014 Athens Classic Marathon (Koki Kawauchi), Greece
  • 2015 Ankor Empire Marathon (Koki Kawauchi), Cambodia
  • 2015 Bitburger Silvesterlauf 8 km, Germany
  • 2013 Seoul Marathon, South Korea
  • 2012 Dusseldorf Marathon, Germany
  • 2013 San Silvestre Vallecana 10 km, Spain
  • 2014 Cursa dels Nassos 10 km, Spain
Kawauchi's next addition to that board comes next weekend at Taiwan's New Taipei City Wanjinshi Marathon.

© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Anonymous said…
I wish I were fast enough to attempt something so funny!

Most-Read This Week

Takei Breaks Gold Coast Marathon CR in Dominant Japanese Run

Japanese men showed up in force at the 45th ASICS Gold Coast Marathon Sunday in Australia, taking the top 6 spots and 8 of the top 10 led by a 2:07:33 course record by Yuki Takei . Expert pacing by World Marathon Majors-bound Tsubasa Ichiyama and Masato Arao kept things on track to break the 2:07:40 CR by 30 seconds until Arao stepped off at 30 km, a 30 km that saw at least two falls, one by 2:08:40 runner Ryoma Takeuchi at 23 km and another by debuting 61-minute half marathoner Tatsuya Tsunashima at 27 km. In Tsunashima's case it was enough to knock him out of the race when he hit his head on the pavement, send to the hospital post-race for examination. When Arao stepped off former Aoyama Gakuin University ekiden specialist Aoi Ota went straight to the front, looking to make up for a stellar and predictable DNF at this year's Tokyo Marathon in prep for Berlin by getting an easy finish under his belt. Right on him was Yuki Takei , 2:08:06 in Osaka the week before Tokyo. ...

Gold Coast Marathon Elite Field (updated)

Australia's Gold Coast Marathon is back for its 45th running with title sponsorship from longtime partner ASICS. Two-time winner Rodah Tanui is the top name in the women's race with a 2:23:14 in Copenhagen two years ago, with her strongest competition coming from Olympian Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh , who set a Mongolian NR of 2:26:32 in Tokyo last year. Zerihun Alemtsehay and Caroline Kilel both have recent sub-2:30 times, and debuting Ethiopian Tegest Ayalew looks to have a sub-2:30 in her too. Pacing is planned to be a 1:12:00 first half, an ambitious goal for pretty much everyone except maybe Tanui. Up front in the men's race are a solid trio of 2:07 runners made up of Ethiopians Gizealew Ayana and Japan-based Derese Workneh , and Kenyan Mathew Samperu . The top tier of Japanese men come in at the 2:08 level, including Mizuki Higashi , Yuki Takei , and Ryoma Takeuchi , a pacer at Gold Coast last year. Past winner Yuki Kawauchi has only run under 2:20 once in 2024 a...

Buchanan Breaks Australian All-Comers Record at Gold Coast Half

For the second time in a month Australians Andy Buchanan , Isaac Heyne , Sam Clifford , Ryan Gregson and Brett Robinson faced off against a big group of 60-61 minute Japanese men pulled in from a big February half marathon, and for the 2nd year in a row Buchanan outkicked them all for the win at the China Airlines Gold Coast Half Marathon . Robinson, 3rd at last month's Launceston Half Marathon , got things moving with a fast start that put the race on pace to go just over 60 minutes, well under Pat Carroll 's 1:01:11 Australian all-comers record that Launceston winner Teruki Shimada missed by just 1 second. Yuma Nishizawa , 1:00:29 at February's National Corporate Half Marathon where most of the Japanese men in the field ran, took over to keep it moving, then handed over to Launceston runner-up Isaac Heyne . Heyne did most of the work the rest of the way, the pace gradually slowing and incrementing over Carroll's record, until a move from 2:07 marathoner Naoya Sakud...