Skip to main content

200 Hometown Supporters Congratulate Kawauchi on Boston Victory


On April 30 Yuki Kawauchi''s hometown of Kuki, Saitama held a party to celebrate his becoming the first Japanese winner of the Boston Marathon in 31 years. Kawauchi told the crowd of local supporters, "This was the most marathonesque marathon of my career as a marathoner."

Over 200 people packed into the Kuki Central Community Center to congratulate him. Excited to see more people than he had expected, Kawauchi spoke for around 38 minutes about his Boston experience, sharing his thoughts and experiences during the race with crowd as he told them, "When I looked through my data on Wikipedia I saw that I had never failed in a rainy weather race. I thought, 'Things are going to go great this time!' Before the race my manager told me, 'This is the day you were born for,' and when I was running it really felt that way, that I had been born to run Boston that day. Even when I was in 2nd I had the kind of rush you get from leading, and that was a lot of fun. Afterward it was so cold that I eventually ended up getting treated in the recovery room."

Upon his triumphant return to Japan Kawauchi shocked everyone by abruptly announcing at the airport that he would retire from his job next year to go pro. Speaking with passion of his decision he said, "I'd like to give lectures to help convey what I've learned around the world. People might wonder if I'm really a pro, but I want to become the only truly professional pro runner." Regarding whether he will try for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics marathon team he was noncommittal as he said, "I won't know until I go pro and try taking on the summer."

At the very end of the event Kawauchi was reunited with his Boston Marathon champion's cup and crown which he had forgotten on the airplane after arriving at Narita. "I'm glad everyone was so happy to get to see the cup," he laughed in embarrassment.


source articles:
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20180430-00000151-spnannex-spo
https://www.daily.co.jp/general/2018/05/01/0011214301.shtml
translated by Brett Larner
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis
Post a Comment
Read more

The Ivy League at the Izumo Ekiden in Review

Last week I was contacted by Will Geiken , who I'd met years ago when he was a part of the Ivy League Select Team at the Izumo Ekiden . He was looking for historical results from Izumo and lists of past team members, and I was able to put together a pretty much complete history, only missing the alternates from 1998 to 2010 and a little shaky on the reverse transliterations of some of the names from katakana back into the Western alphabet for the same years. Feel free to send corrections or additions to alternate lists. It's interesting to go back and see some names that went on to be familiar, to see the people who made an impact like Princeton's Paul Morrison , Cornell's Max King , Stanford's Brendan Gregg in one of the years the team opened up beyond the Ivy League, Cornell's Ben de Haan , Princeton's Matt McDonald , and Harvard's Hugo Milner last year, and some of the people who struggled with the format. 1998 Team: 15th of 21 overall, 2:14:10 (43
Post a Comment
Read more

Hirabayashi Runs PB at Shanghai Half, WR Holder Nakata Dominates Fuji Five Lakes - Weekend Road Roundup

Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57. Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon , with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half
Post a Comment
Read more