Skip to main content

Kawauchi Runs PW to Take First Marathon Win at Kasumigaura Marathon (updated)

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120415-934528.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The Kawauchis lead in Kasumigaura.

Having missed out on the London Olympics team, Yuki Kawauchi (25, Saitama Pref.) marked the first win among his twelve marathon starts to date at the Apr. 15 Kasumigaura Marathon, Japan's third-largest marathon returning after post-disaster cancellation last year.

Kawauchi ran as a pacer for his younger brother Koki Kawauchi (19, Takasaki Keizai Univ.), but after 23 km he left his brother behind and ran on his own to the finish, closing with an impressive 6:09 split for the final 2.195 km.  Because the brothers went into the race planning to run around 2:25, even with this closing speed Kawauchi's winning time of 2:22:38 was a personal worst, but his wide margin of victory over 2nd place still showed that he was in a different class from the other runners.

"I didn't plan to win today, so I guess I was just lucky," Kawauchi said after the race.  He won Kasumigaura's 10-mile division two years ago and other races last year including July's Kushiro Shitsugen 30 km and October's Kanazawa Hyakumangoku Half Marathon, but this was his first win over 42.195 km even if it was unintentional.  "I'm happy to look at this as my first marathon win.  It was good practice," he said.

His brother Koki finished 7th in 2:28:36.  "I wanted to break 2:27," Koki told reporters, "but at least I was faster than Hiroshi Neko's best time (2:30:26)."  Yuki will race the April 29 Dusseldorf Marathon in his European debut.  Yukie Tamura (42, Kasai Runners AC) won the women's race in Kasumigaura in 2:49:00.

Update: Dr. Helmut Winter sent me this list of the top ten fastest known final 2.195 km splits.  Kawauchi's 6:09 is the all-time 2nd fastest behind only Geoffrey Mutai's 6:05 from Eindhoven '09, knocking former world record holder Haile Gebrselassie out of the top ten.  The circumstances were a bit different, but.....

photo (c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

jice said…
Hi. How can one access the 10 miles race results? Thank you. Jice

Most-Read This Week

Ninja Runner Yuka Ando Leads Japanese Women's Marathon Team in London: "I Want to Go For It"

Her form has been dubbed "ninja running." Both arms held straight down with almost no movement. That idiosyncratic style carried Yuka Ando , 23, to the fastest-ever marathon debut by a Japanese woman, 2:21:36, at March's Nagoya Women's Marathon to land at #4 on the all-time Japanese lists. All at once Ando found herself catapulted to the top level of women's marathoning, a candidate for Japan's next great marathoner. When she was younger Ando ran moving her arms like other runners, but she had a bad habit of moving robotically, her upper body and lower body not working in sync. The turning point came in 2014 when she joined Suzuki Hamamatsu AC . Working there with coach Masayuki Satouchi to eliminate the faults in her form, the pair arrived at the ninja running style that let her run relaxed. "Other people keep asking me, "Isn't it hard to run like that?" but for me it's comfortable," she said. The efficient form helped her mai

Yamaguchi 10th at United Airlines NYC Half - Weekend Overseas Results

2024 national cross-country champion Tomonori Yamaguchi was the top Japanese finisher in the men's race at the United Airlines NYC Half , taking 10th in 1:04:36. A 2nd-year at Waseda University , Yamaguchi was one of three collegiate runners running New York in the 11th year of JRN's development program collaboration between the Ageo City Half Marathon and the New York Road Runners, a program that has seen people like future half marathon and marathon NR breaker Yuta Shitara and Paris Olympic team member Akira Akasaki make their international debuts. Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito started fast, going with the leaders through 5 km in 14:29 before losing touch. Hosei University senior Rei Matsunaga went through in 14:42 in his last race before joining the JR Higashi Nihon corporate team in April. Yamaguchi, who caught COVID after winning last month's National Cross-Country Championships, started more conservatively with a 15:11 first 5km. But where both Ito

Rui Aoki Wins National University Men's Half Marathon - Weekend Results

Yuka Ando 's win at the Nagoya Women's Marathon was the big news of the weekend, but there were other high-level races happening, even in Nagoya. Held in parallel with the marathon, the Nagoya City Half Marathon saw Australians Natalie Rule and Ed Goddard take easy wins by about 2.5 minutes each, Rule in 1:13:57 and Goddard in 1:04:01. The new Biwako Marathon also had a non-Japanese winner, China's Yousheng Guan scoring 1st in 2:14:58 with Japan's Hirohito Sugai next in 2:16:40. Mikiko Ota won the women's race in 2:50:44. The Shizuoka Marathon returned for its first running in five years, with club runner Shumpei Oda leading the top 7 men under 2:20 in 2:15:36. Women's winner Remi Tanaka ran 2:41:23, beating runner-up Ayumi Sano by exactly 7 minutes. And in Tokyo, Rui Aoki continued what has been a great season so far for Koku Gakuin University with a win at the National University Men's Half Marathon . Aoki and Hiro Konda of Chuo Gakuin Unive