Marathon Great Nakayama: "The Marathon is a Drama Without a Script - Without a Protagonist Nobody Feels It"
The Fukuoka International Marathon has come to an end, but some races in its 75-year history remain deeply engraved in fans' memories. One of those is Takeyuki Nakayama's fearless solo run at the 41st running in 1987. Less than a week out from his 62nd birthday on Dec. 20, this legendary runner looks back on that day.
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"In the marathon you have to create the drama," he says. "When it's just the same old script it's boring as hell." To Nakayama, the marathon was a means of self-expression, and never was his self-expression clearer than in Fukuoka in 1987. Standing alone on the stage without the script known in his sport as "pacers," he wrote his own and cast himself as its protagonist.
With Fukuoka serving as the main selection race for the Seoul Olympics the following year, Nakayama flew through 5 km in 14:30 and was all alone by 14 km. Going through halfway in 1:01:55, at 35 km he split 1:44:25, 49 seconds faster than the pace Portugal's Carlos Lopes had run in setting the 2:07:12 world record that stood at that point. Running through a heavy downpour Nakayama was unable to sustain the pace, but he still tied the course record of 2:08:18 to win by 2:16 over 2nd-placer Masanari Shintaku. After the race the JAAF named him to the Olympic team.
Reflecting on that run, Nakayama says, "If you run 3:00 per km you'll run 2:06:35. But there's nothing interesting about that. Sure, I knew that it was a suicidal pace, but I also knew that if I wasn't chasing my dreams nobody would feel it, nobody would be moved. If you're not moving people's hearts then nobody will remember you even if you win." Strongly professional in his mindset, to Nakayama nothing was sadder than not reaching the fans. "My ideal was an F1 car race, the fans watching along the road getting the feel of pure speed," he says.
When you talk about Fukuoka 1987, there's one other thing you have to bring up. Toshihiko Seko. Fukuoka had been declared the trial race for the Seoul Olympics, and after he suffered an injury in training and pulled out Seko hid from the media and watched the race from a hotel in Tokyo. Asked about it now Seko answers without hesitation. "If I'd been in that race I don't think I could have matched Nakayama. But," he adds, "If I'd been there I don't know if he would have gone out hard like that."
Told of Seko's speculation, Nakayama says, "Yeah, I would have gone out hard. Definitely, 100%. I probably would have gone harder. That's how confident I was."
Nakayama was a major hope to medal in both Seoul and Barcelona, but he was 4th in both races. "The Olympics are different from the trials, huh," he says. Knowing firsthand how hard it is, he talked about his impression of this past summer's Tokyo Olympics. "Suguru Osako who was 6th has a professional attitude," he says. "But I thought to myself, 'Are the other ones, the corporate leaguers, really that bad?'" The Japanese national record is now 2:04:56, but Nakayama is equally unimpressed. "The times are faster, but their racing skill, their competitive ability, is still just as weak," he says.
Asked about the end of the Fukuoka International Marathon Nakayama says, "I guess that's just the changing times. But elite races do have advantages that only elite races have." Nakayama also has an opinion on mass-participation races. "If it takes you 7 hours to run, I wonder if you can really call it a marathon," he says. "I don't like the fact that it's become something that anybody can do. The marathon is life, and in that respect a 98% finisher rate seems like it must be too easy, don't you think?" It's exactly the opinion you'd expect of someone who put his entire heart and soul into the marathon.
translated by Brett Larner
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