JUNE 2016

LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD

JUNE

• Lots of races this month, and we start with the Nishitanzawa Adventure Run on the 4th. Tim Williams and Paul Redbourne ran in the Pairs Division, 22.6km and 1900m elevation gain, finishing in 3:06:41 and to their surprise, in first place!
• Chika Kanai challenged the Hagi Oukan 70K race on the 4th and cruised through in typically good Chika form, in 8:23:48.
• The Munatsuki Kita Marathon, Half and 10K was on the 5th, usually a hot day out, but not too bad this year. We enjoyed the company of Jon and Yuka Morrell plus kids from England. 10K — Derek Leong 38:50 (2nd), Jon Morrell 43:20, Padraig MacColgain 44:38, Rieko Trees 45:?? (1st woman), Bob Poulson and Kazuo Chiba jogged it as a training run. And Rui Natsuka set a PB of 4:04 in the full marathon! Note: this race has very small fields.
• “Bob Johnston” was up in Higashine, Yamagata pref. for the “Sakuranbo Half”, which he ran in 1:36:35.
• The Shibamata 100K saw Satoshi Hashimoto finish in sub-10hrs and a PB of 9:33, while Colin Hickey DNF’d at “only” 66km due to the heat.
• Our Tri guys were down south a ways for the Izu Oshima Triathlon. Mark Shrosbree (2nd), David Sims (3rd), Hoel Goisbault (5th), David Rubenstein (6th), Dante Michael (13th), Jay Johannesen (35th), Danai Kuangparichat (3rd in Sprint).
• Moving on to the 12th, Harrisson Uk once again took up the challenge of the Hida Takayama 100K, (no flat sections!) where he finished 7th overall and 1st in his age group in 8:36:09, a fantastic result.
• The Norikura Mountain Race — to the top of Mt. Norikura and back down — was on the 19th. Running this tough 30k were Yuichi Kanamori 2:36:23 38th, Derek Leong 2:50 (99th), Rie Onodera 2:55:20 8th woman, Chika Kanai 2:56:35 11th, and Taro Oguchi, Stan Chow and Takeshi Koide, all under 3:10.
• Lots happening on the 26th. Arnaud Dupont completed the Horizumi Hokkaido 100K in 10:18:57. Rika Homma ran the Watermelon 10K race in 51:00 — always hot but all the watermelon you can eat. At the wet and windy Hakodate Marathon Bob Johnston ran 3:28:26 despite stopping with cramps in both legs, followed by Yuki Fukushima 3:37:51 (leg injury) and Naoko Hanakawa 3:59:58!. At the Spatrail, 72km of non-technical trails, Eric Lebrasseur completed the course in 9:20:52, good for 55th out of 981. And finally, Yukari Murahara completed the most famous Japanese ultra, Saroma-ko 100K (Lake Saroma) in 11:08:26, her Saroma PB. She also ran 100k races in April and May, it was cold and she had a stomachache from 60k, but still set her PB. That’s a tough woman!

JULY

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

• 6 – 1000 x 6
• 13 – 2000, 1000 x 3, 500 x 2
• 20 – 1000 x 2, 500 x 2, 1000 x 2, 500 x 2
• 21 – Multi-club 5,000m time trial at Yumenoshima track (Shin Kiba), registration from 7:00, starts at 7:20 (under 20:00), 7:40 (over 20:00). No prior entry needed, just show up and pay 500 yen.
• 27 – 5,000m time trial

HAIKU OF THE MONTH (with a “thank you” to Basho)

Passing an old pond
Rain falls and I’m running to
The sound of water