Skip to main content

66-Year-Old Mariko Yugeta Runs 3:09:29 in Osaka

The Osaka International Women's Marathon, a selection race for September's Tokyo World Championships, took place Jan. 26 starting and finishing at Osaka's Nagai Stadium. In the field was 65-69 age group world record holder Mariko Yugeta, 66. Amid cold winds blowing through the city she ran 3:09:29. "I don't want to say that it's because I'm getting older, but this is getting more and more demanding and it's getting harder for my body to keep up with it," she said.

After finishing the first thing Yugeta said was, "That was a bit disappointing...." with a pained look on her face. Her goal had been to break the 3:01:28 world record she set in the 65-69 age group at last year's Tokyo Marathon. "It was hard out there today," she said with a laugh. "Somebody told me that I look pale."

A track runner in university, Yugeta ran her first marathon at the old Tokyo International Women's Marathon when she was 24. After that she left the sport for more than 10 years to focus on work and raising a family and didn't run again until she was almost 40. With more time once she was in her 50s and her children were grown, she started training again seriously.

In 2017 at age 58 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon she achieved her longtime goal of breaking 3 hours. At the 2019 Shimonoseki Kaikyo Marathon she ran 2:59:15, becoming the first woman age 60 or older to break 3. At the 2021 Osaka International Women's Marathon she took that even further with a 2:52:13 world record, making her a legend among amateur runners.

Yugeta retired from her job after turning 65 last year, but she still continues to teach part-time. In 2023 she appeared on the popular TV show "Tetsuko's Room." At Osaka this time there were cheers in the stadium as she came to the finish line, and on the online streaming commentator Akemi Masuda said, "She's amazing! 66 years old!"

Although she is getting older, Masuda's ambition hasn't faded. A staple of her training for years has been long runs at a fast pace. "I get injured when I do intervals," she said, "so my main workout is fast runs at 4:30 to 4:40/km." But after her result this time she said she needs to change her approach. "My muscle strength has declined since I turned 60, so I need to add strength training."

Marathon season is winding up into full swing, and Yugeta plans to run both February's Himeji Castle Marathon and March's Nagoya Women's Marathon. It's a full schedule, but she is confident about her goals. "Nagoya is an official masters' race, so I'll be targeting a new world record there," she said. As every year passes Yugeta's drive to go faster only gets stronger. Her one-of-a-kind journey is still far from reaching its destination.

photo © 2021 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
source article:
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Murayama and Sasaki Making U.S. Debut at New York Mini 10 km

Every year since 2012 that there's been a United Airlines NYC Half , JRN has partnered with the NYRR and November's Ageo City Half Marathon to bring two top-tier collegiate Japanese men to the NYC Half for what's usually been their international debuts. For years we've wanted to extend that program to include top collegiate women, but that has always faced 2 problems. For one, while the half marathon distance is the main focus for Japanese collegiate men due to the stage lengths at the Hakone Ekiden, few collegiate women run it. Those that do run the National University Women's Half Marathon in Matsue, held the same day as the NYC Half. This year, though, we're finally making it happen in a slightly different way. Amisa Murayama and Nazuki Sasaki of 2025 Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national collegiate championship runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University are joining the field for the NYRR's Mastercard New York Mini 10 km on June 6. After running an 18:14 CR ...
Post a 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."...
82 comments
Read more

Some Reflections on the Ekiden

by Brett Larner This ekiden season I've had a few thoughts kicking around, and watching this week's Hakone Ekiden a few of them became clearer.  These are still in progress, but at the moment this is what I'm thinking in terms of running as a spectator sport and about the quality of Japanese men's distance running right now. Quality: Japanese men's running is coming up very, very quickly.  I was in the lead car at November's Ageo City Half Marathon , where 18 men, 17 of them university runners, broke 63 minutes.  As it was going on we all thought it was a slow race because there were so many people running that pace all the way, no separation at all in the mass of the pack. See the JRN header photo above, taken just past halfway.  That's pretty unusual in Japan, especially at the university level; generally you'll get a handful of guys who run an aggressive pace and a mass running dead on a safe pace, 3:00/km in a half marathon, for example. Th...
18 comments
Read more