Skip to main content

Kawauchi Outkicks Asai to Win Satte 10-Miler in Final Boston Tuneup

Under piercing sunlight on a warmer-than-usual day, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) won the Satte Sakura 10-Miler in Satte, Saitama in his final tuneup for this year's Boston Marathon.

The last time Kawauchi ran Satte back in 2012 he lost to a local Toyo University third-year by the name of Yuta Shitara. This time Kawauchi found himself up against another Toyo runner, second-year Ryoga Asai. In their last meeting at November's Ageo City Half Marathon Kawauchi outkicked Asai on the track to beat him by two seconds. This time the pair remained locked together almost the entire way, Asai doing most of the work with Kawauchi a step behind.


On the course's narrowest and most scenic stretch Kawauchi opened a gap on Asai, but in the final kilometers Asai worked his way back into contention. Coming onto the track with 300 m to go Asai made a move to get away, but Kawauchi responded with a sustained surge that carried him to the win in 49:17. Outkicked again, Asai was 8 seconds back in 49:25, the only other runner to clear 50 minutes.


After a quick cooldown Kawauchi returned to the track to cheer on finishing amateur runners, hi-fiving people coming onto the track for over half an hour before posing for pictures with a long line of fans. Post-race a pair of journalists from France's L'Equipe magazine who had travelled to Japan to interview Kawauchi talked to him in-depth, the first-ever foreign journalists to attend the rural Satte 10-Miler, much to the bemusement of race officials.


With a week and a half of training left before departing to the U.S. Kawauchi now turns his attention to the main race of his spring season in his upcoming appearance as part of the John Hancock Elite Athlete Team for this month's Boston Marathon.

text and photo © 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hello,

I really enjoy reading your coverage of such passion that is known as Japanese running. I have noticed (Tokyo, lake biwa) several Japanese wearing the Nike Vaporfly. However I don't believe Yuki races in those as I believe those are Asics Stripes. Would you know what (model) Asics Yuki wears? I really wonder why a Sporting goods company doesn't market such a profound story like Yuki?? Thank you for your great efforts and coverage!
April 3, 2018 at 1:20 PM
Brett Larner said…
Kawauchi typically races in ASICS Sortie RP4. Due to his status as a government employee he is unable to have a contractual relationship with any sponsor. i'm sure ASICS and others would love to have that kind of relationship with him.

I strongly recommend following @Rolows_13 on Twitter for Japanese shoe-related info.
April 3, 2018 at 1:34 PM
pedro serra said…
if you want to get a pair of one of that shoes just forget it if you want to run more that 10k. i order one pair in the black friday and try them on a 10k race. excelent i beat my time with 37min for 10km (was 38:10 min). than i try it with 21k after 11km i had to give up. it was hurting my legs and knee.

Brett i read that he doesnt want to have a sponsor so that he can buy what he want. but since he is in the national team he have to use asics :P

do you know what shoes he use in boston? it was not sortieMagic it another model. i went to asics website but i didnt saw any similiar model.

here is the photo of the shoes he used.

http://espn991.com/desi-linden-yuki-kawauchi-win-boston-marathon/
April 17, 2018 at 8:25 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Australian Male Arrested on Drug Smuggling Charges After Entering Japan for Osaka Marathon

On Apr. 9 the Kinki Region Bureau of Health, Labor and Welfare's Drug Control Division arrested Matthew Inglis Fox , 38, an Australian business owner of no known fixed address, on charges of violating the importation regulations of the Narcotics Control Act by smuggling tablets containing marijuana elements from the United States. The suspect had entered Japan in February to run in the Osaka Marathon . The suspect was arrested on suspicion of smuggling approximately 12 pills containing marijuana by sending them from a U.S. airport to Osaka's Kansai Airport using an international courier service on Feb. 19. The Osaka branch of the Customs Service discovered the tablets in arriving cargo and suspected them to be narcotics. Customs contacted the Narcotics Control Division, which then began its investigation of the case. According to the Narcotics Control Division, the suspect denies the charges.  Translator's note: Fox, who received a lifetime ban from the Ageo City Half Mara...
1 comment
Read more

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...
12 comments
Read more

Tokyo Olympics Marathon Trials Winner Nakamura Enters Waseda Grad School

An Olympian in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics, Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) announced on his social media that he has entered Waseda University 's Graduate School of Sport Science with the start of the new academic year this week. A graduate of Mie's Ueno Kogyo H.S. , Nakamura went to Komazawa University before joining Fujitsu in 2015. His senior year of high school he was 3rd overall and 2nd Japanese in the 5000 m at the National High School Track and Field Championships, and in the fall the same year he ran what was at the time the 7th-fastest high school mark ever, 13:50.38. At Komazawa he scored four individual stage wins across the three big university ekidens. In 2019 he won the MGC Race, Japan's marathon trials for the Tokyo Olympics, where he was 62nd in 2:22:23. Nakamura indicated that he would be studying "top sports management" under professor Takeo Hirata . "I'll be balancing competition and academics," Nakamura wrote. "I'm r...
Post a Comment
Read more