• On June 2 Yoshitaka Ishikawa ran the Salomon Nishi-Tanzawa Adventure Trial Race (45km). He and a partner were 1st in the team category in 4:56:15.
• Thomas Sawada ventured out to southern Chiba pref. on June 3 for the aptly named Kyonan Hills Half Marathon, which was nothing but large and small hills from start to finish. He was happy to get through it in less than two hours.
• June 3 also saw Padraig MacColgain and Hemant Tilekar running along the Arakawa river at the 50th Munatsuki North Tokyo Marathon, where temperatures reached 24C at the finish. Padraig was satisfied to beat the heat with a 3:49:17 and jet-lagged Hemant ran to a 2:22 half marathon.
• June 10: Oshima Triathlon (turned into duathlon due to high seas). I can’t say this better than David Rubenstein did in his report: “13 Nanban Rengo triathletes attacked, conquered, and hoarded the trophies at Oshima Island, which had all the elements of an ABC Wide World of Sports outing. The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, gold medals, podium shots, fierce winds and rain, followed by deep blue skies and a scenic island ride.” Mika Tokairin garnered top honors as the 1st woman!
• On June 17 Hemant Tilekar was at it again, this time at the 20.5km Saiko Road Race. He made it up the steep hill to the finish in 27C heat to cross the goal line in 2:11:40.
• 40 runners took to the track for the last-Wednesday-of-the-month 5,000m time trial on the 27th, led by visiting runner Hywel Care, the Welsh 10,000m champion, who showed us how it’s done with a smooth 15:25.
• Brett Whiteoak finished first in the 50-54 age category at the Amakusa Triathlon (Olympic distance) in 2:11:35.
• Mike and Rieko Trees participated in the Gamagori Triathlon (Olympic distance). Mike was 6th overall out of 700 in 2:11:35 (yep, same time as Brett) and Rieko was 5th out of 55 in 2:39:33. The swim was very crowded, Mike described it as a sentakki (washing machine).
Namban workouts on Wednesday nights at Oda track from 7:25pm.
• 4 – 1000 x 6
• 11 – 1200 1000 800 1200 1000 800
• 16 – Vegetable Race in Yumenoshima (national holiday)
• 18 – 1200 1000 1000 1000 800 400
• 25 – 5000m time trial
• 27 Fuji Tozan (race up Mt. Fuji, on a Friday for some reason)
Heat, humidity
Enemies of good running?
No, make them your friends!