Runners returned to the city of Yaizu on Sunday for the 37th Yaizu Minato Half Marathon, its first running since 2019 after two years in a row of pandemic cancelations. In addition to the event's Pair Marathon university team competition, 5389 people were entered in the mass-participation race, which was limited to residents of Shizuoka Prefecture. The first hot day of the year saw them traversing Yaizu's roads, with Toyo University 4th-year Daichi Kimoto leading them home in a course record-tying 1:03:42.
The Pair Marathon scored each of the 19 competing universities on the combined times of its top two registered finishers. Along with 2nd-year teammate Shu Yoshida, 4th in 1:04:29, Kimoto also helped Toyo win the team scoring competition in 2:08:11, a course record and Toyo's first win in 16 years. Post-race Kimoto smiled as he said, "We came here to get the overall and team wins."
At January's Hakone Ekiden Kimoto was only 19th out of 21 teams on the 4th Stage, and afterward he struggled to regroup and recover. "There were days when I could barely even jog," he said. "I'm still not completely back to normal." Temperatures in Yaizu reached 23˚ on race day with piercing sunshine, but, he said, "Heat doesn't bother me." Kimoto broke free of the competition after 17 km, ultimately opening 24 seconds on 2nd place.
Yoshida, one of Toyo's alternates at Hakone, also ran aggressively to finish 4th. "Kimoto has experience and talent, but that didn't mean I was just going to let him beat me," he said. He learned a lot from watching his teammates move up from 9th at the end of Hakone Day One to 4th overall. "It takes inner strength to perform on the big stage," he said.
As a special prize for winning the Pair Marathon in record time, the Toyo athletes received an entire southern maguro tuna from the local fishing port association. Laughing and smiling on the podium as they received the prize, they said, "We'll share this with everyone back in the dorm." Next month both plan to run in the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, and with maguro power in their veins you can be sure they'll be aiming higher than ever.
37th Yaizu Minato Half Marathon
Yaizu, Shizuoka, 10 Apr. 2022
Men
1. Daichi Kimoto (Toyo Univ.) - 1:03:42 - CR tie
2. Masahiro Mekata (Aoyama Gakuin Univ. - 1:04:06
3. Ryuji Uruta (Toka Univ.) - 1:04:17
4. Shu Yoshida (Toyo Univ.) - 1:04:29
5. Takato Azechi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:40
6. Kenta Shimura (Soka Univ.) - 1:04:45
7. Yusuke Akutsu (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:57
8. Ryo Fujimoto (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:05:08
9. Mitsuhiro Kurihara (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:05:27
10. Atsushi Maeda (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:05:41
Pair Marathon
1. Toyo University (Kimoto/Yoshida) - 2:08:11 - CR
2. Aoyama Gakuin University (Mekata/Azechi) - 2:08:46
3. Koku Gakuin University (Akutsu/Fujimoto) - 2:10:05
4. Tokai University (Uruta/Sato) - 2:11:06
5. Chuo Gakuin University (Maeda/Hada) - 2:11:32
translated by Brett Larner
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