Skip to main content

Kawauchi Declines Prizes After Winning Toyohiragawa Half Marathon: "I'm Here for the People"

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20130505-OHT1T00169.htm
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2013/05/06/kiji/K20130506005745840.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi (26, Saitama Pref. Gov't) won the 25th anniversary Toyohiragawa Half Marathon in Sapporo on May 5, running a solo 1:05:45.  A day earlier, Kawauchi also ran the May 4 Kasukabe Odako Half Marathon at home in Saitama.  "That's a first even for me," he said.  After finishing Toyohiragawa, he declined to be named winner and turned down the prizes.  With no top-level corporate or university competition in the race, Kawauchi said, "It wouldn't be right to accept prizes.  I'm here for the people, and if that helps make the race more popular then I've accomplished my mission."  He then went out into the crowds to greet fans, smiling and talking to them one by one. Appearing onstage as a presenter at the award ceremony, he was greeted by an ovation of cheers.  "I've never done back-to-back half marathon races before, but in training I do that kind of distance all the time," he said onstage.  "It was a good experience."

Toyohiragawa was Kawauchi's first time back in Hokkaido since winning last August's Hokkaido Marathon.  "The conditions were good [9 degrees], so I ran at a good pace."  He was scheduled to head home the afternoon of the 6th, but, he said, "I want to go to Koganeyu hot springs so I can relax and fully recover."  Even with only a few hours on his hands Kawauchi planned to get the most out of his time in Hokkaido.  Before August's World Championships marathon he plans to run three more races in Hokkaido, including the June 2 Chitose JAL International Marathon.  "I want to use Chitose to help myself visualize the World Championships marathon," he said, indicating how important a role Hokkaido plays in his preparations to take on the best in the world.

Comments

Steve Lafler said…
Whatever pleases Kawauchi is fine, he is a great athlete. But there is nothing wrong with accepting prize money. After all, it is a professional sport.

I do not find any moral superiority in his position.
Brett Larner said…
He wasn't talking about prize money or in a general way. His comments were specific to doing this amateur-level race as a training run the day after another training run performance at another amateur-level race. He was satisfied with pleasing his fans and didn't want to take whatever prizes this race offered (a trophy, fruit, tuna, etc.) away from amateurs who had raced it seriously. It isn't a question of 'moral superiority.'
As if another reason to like the guy was necessary. Cool story. I'll always be a fan!
John Taninecz said…
Truly inspirational and graceous.

Most-Read This Week

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr