Skip to main content

Canada at 150



The first race I ran in Japan was the 1997 Terry Fox charity run at the Imperial Palace a month after I moved to Tokyo. At that race I met people from the running club where seven years later I met my future wife and associate editor Mika Tokairin, who in 2007 suggested I start JRN.

My mother was the daughter of immigrants, the first one in her family who was genuinely a product of Canada. As I've lived most of my life, part of my childhood and my entire adult life, outside of the country the connection I feel to Canada is tenuous at best, but if there is one thing that makes me proud to still have Canadian citizenship it is Terry Fox. Three days past the 36th anniversary of his death at age 22, long may his legacy live, and congratulations to his country on the 150th anniversary of its confederation.

Comments

Patrick Voo said…
Once a Canuck, always a Canuck - happy Canada Day Brett!
sanrensho said…
Happy Canada Day (well, two days late)! Always enjoy the blog, keep up the great work.
Unknown said…
The Spirit of Terry Fox was carried through to Australia. As a young up-and-coming runner, I marvelled at his story and was moved and inspired by his extraordinary courage. I'm proud to say I won the first Terry Fox Fun Run in Brisbane Australia, run during World Expo 88 in Brisbane.

Most-Read This Week

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd

3rd last year, Waseda University  scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda  made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei  (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki  broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year  Haruki Niizuma  and Shunpei Yamaguchi  put anchor Shinsaku Kudo  out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University  struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in th...

April's Kasumigaura Marathon Canceled

The organizing committee of the 31st Kasumigaura Marathon and International Blind Marathon has been working hard to develop safety and health protocols adequate to mitigate the risk of spreading the coronavirus at the event. But with increased case numbers in recent months and a number of prefectures remaining under an extended state of emergency declaration, the future outlook for the organizers' ability to hold the race safely remains uncertain. As a result, the decision has been made to cancel this year's race, originally scheduled for Apr. 18. The popular Kasumigaura Walking event held in tandem with the marathon has also been canceled due to the pandemic situation. We thank you for your understanding.  Translator's note: The Kasumigaura Marathon had 10,096 finishers in its last running in 2019. Its cancelation follows those of March's Tokushima Marathon and April's Nagano Marathon  earlier this week. The only major spring Japanese marathons still on the calen...

2026 Izumo Ekiden Preview

We're at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii where JRN associate editor Mika Tokairin is making her debut here as an athlete after having come to Kona for years as a journalist. Next to Kona the most eyes worldwide will be on the Chicago Marathon , where a solid Japanese contingent is lining up including men's marathon NR holder Suguru Osako and half marathon NR holder Tomoki Ota , Kiyoshi Koga , and the other power couple in Japanese marathoning, last year's Berlin Marathon runner-up Akira Akasaki and Paris Olympics 6th-placer Yuka Akasaki . Osako's manager told JRN that he is going for the Asian Record of 2:04:43 held by Moroccan-born Bahraini El-Hassan El-Abbassi who was served up a 4-year suspension not long after setting the record. Last year's Warsaw Marathon winner Ryoma Takeuchi is at the Perth Running Festival marathon in Australia where he hopes to add a CR win to his PB at July's Gold Coast Marathon. On the home front Keita Satoh i...