Skip to main content

Kawauchi Struggles in Heat at Kasukabe Odako Half Marathon

2018 Boston Marathon winner Yuki Kawauchi (31, Saitama Pref. Gov't) ran Saitama's Kasukabe Odako Half Marathon on May 4. Running 1:05:45, Kawauchi lost to training partner and fellow amateur Saeki Makino (DNPL). "Things have been hectic since Boston and that's had an impact on me," Kawauchi said ruefully. "It feels like my friend here was saying, 'Snap out of it!' as he was knocking me out. No excuses, I need to get back to training."


Kasukabe was also a struggle with the heat. Temperatures at the start were only 18.3 C, but with the strong sunlight reflecting off the pavement the effect on the body felt like 30 C by the time Kawauchi finished. Right after finishing Makino and race staff helped him to a nearby fountain to douse his head with water to cool down. "If I hadn't been careful about drinking water that could've been dangerous," he said. "It's a good thing this was a half marathon and not a full."

Children playing near the fountain were startled to see the Boston Marathon champion suddenly appear, calling out "Kawauchi!" as he soaked his head. After recovering Kawauchi posed for individual pictures with over 100 local fans before departing to head straight to Hokkaido for the May 5 Toyohiragawa Half Marathon. "It's supposed to be less than 20 C and raining in Sapporo," he said. "Should be great conditions."

source articles:
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20180504-00000121-sph-spo
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20180504-00000108-spnannex-spo
translated and edited by Brett Larner
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...
1 comment
Read more

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...
1 comment
Read more