APRIL 2016

LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD

APRIL

• We begin with the Paracup Charity Half and 10K on the 10th. It was warm at 22C, but cloudy. We had a good sized group at the race. Half: Yuki Fukushima 1:22:00 – 1st (!) in the first section that started at 8:15, Bob Poulson 1:40:10, Gareth Bevis 1:42:18 (visitor from London, who got off the plane at 7:30am), Padraig MacColgain 1:43:04, Mika Kume 1:57:54. 10K: Bob Johnston 41:54 (PB) (paced by Jay Johannesen who was not actually entered), Naoko Hanakawa 47:10, Sean Rabone 47:38, Dante Michael – ? but he seems to have been there…. Kazuo Chiba DNF due to bad ankle. Volunteers: Tomoko Sawada, Yukiko Kanazawa, Heidi Yung.
• And over in Italy in the Rome Marathon, Stefano Coradeschi recorded a 3:39 on a splendid course in perfect weather.
• The Nagano Marathon was held on the 17th with four Nambanners in attendance: Colin Hickey 2:56:51 (3:50 PB!), Kota Torii 3:34:38, David Passarelli and Nick Coyle. Conditions were not good—heavy rain and strong wind the whole second half of the race.
• Other marathons on the 17th were the Kasumigaura Marathon — Chika Kanai 3:26:12, Rieko Trees 3:27:28, Rie Onodera 3:29:09, Bob Johnston 3:30:27, Yosuke Kimura 3:33:55, Yasuo Hayakawa 3:54:48 and Rui Natsuka 4:00+ — and the Kikaijima Marathon, where Keiko Ando ran 4:55:32 in very hot weather.
• The granddaddy of them all, the Boston Marathon, was on the 18th and Namban was well represented by five runners: Steve Karnas 3:25:10, Brent Millican 3:25, Kylie Breeze 3:33, Jon and Tamami Holmes. Times were slow due to high temperatures.
• The other big spring race was the London Marathon on the 24th, where Madeleine Chadwick was happy enough with her 3:56.
• Also on the 24th, two of our toughest runners did great in ultras. Yukari Murahara was up for the Challenge Fuji Five Lakes ultramarathon, which she finished in 11hrs. 43 mins. Awesome! Chih Liew ran the Okumikawa Power Trail, a 70K race with 4,000m elevation which only 60% finished. His time was 12:04:57 despite a bad fall at 30km!
• On the same day, Stuart McIntosh won the Veterans Category in the Melacca 12K run in Malaysia.

MAY

Wednesday nights in Yoyogi Park. Meet at the kiosk 100m inside park entrance near Harajuku station at 7:15pm.

• 4- 1000 x 6
• 11 – 1000 x 2, 500 x 2, 1000 x 2, 500 x 2
• 18 – 2000, 1000 x 3, 500 x 2
• 25 – 5,000m time trial

HAIKU OF THE MONTH

Among the delights
Of May that everyone loves:
Clear views of Fuji.