• Great Namban turnout at the TELL (Tokyo English Life Line) charity 5&10K on the 7th. 21 people, 9 of whom won great prizes.
• The annual trip to the Fuji Susono Half and 10K on the 8th was attended by Chika (age group 6th in the Half), Caroline, Elsie, Naoko, James, Laci and Anthony, with support from Kylie, Gary, Mami and baby Anzu.
• Also on the 8th, Cory McGowan ran the Kanuma Satsuki Half in 1:51 pacing a friend…barefoot!
•May 14th and 15th saw Nambanners take to the hills in the challenging 100km Oxfam Japan Trailwalker. A report is to the right.
•Cyrille and Stan had a bizarre race experience at the Lake Toya Marathon in Hokkaido on the 22nd. They set off on a 42.195km run without realizing (due to not paying attention to the announcement in Japanese) that the race had been changed to 20k due to a landslide. Big surprise! They still managed to enjoy their marathon pace run and the Lake Toya scenery.
•Yoshitaka Ishikawa ran a terrific 1:19:58 in the Naruki Forest Trail Run on the 23rd, finishing 12th out of 384!!
•Barry Bergman ran the Stockholm Marathon on the 28th in 3:58 and commented, “The most beautiful marathon I have ever run.”
•Namban fielded two teams in the Green Ekiden on the 29th. Held around the Imperial Palace, the race format had teams of 4 running 5k, 2k, 3k and 5k. Rain did not dampen our enthusiasm, as the team of James, Shinobu, Laci and Bob finished 8th in 61:00, just edging out (sorry, Satohi!) the team of Harrisson, Stan, Nathalie and Satohi (9th in 61:03). 116 teams participated.
• Prize winners at the TELL race:
Men’s 10K: Brett Larner 4th in 36:11, Paddy O’Connor 8th in 38:44.
Women’s 10K: Mika Tokairin 6th in 47:24, Mary Eckstein 8th in 48:50, Taeko Hara 10th in 49:32.
Men’s 5K: Risto Filippi 7th in 17:39, Harrisson Uk 9th in 18:15.
Women’s 5K: Satohi Numasawa 2nd in 21:53, Yuka Tsukahara 3rd in 22:16.
Also running were Kanna, Pat. Shinobu, Stan, Adrian, Yoshida, Omar and Steve. Supporters were Chika, Naoko, Chiba and Gareth. Bob was the race director.
All Namban workouts at Oda Field from 7:25pm.
• 1 (Wed) Namban workout. A & B: 1000 x 6.
• 7 (Sat) TELL Charity Runathon 5K and 10K. You can sign up on the day from 9:00.
• 8 (Wed) Namban workout. A & B: 1600 x 2, 1000 x 2, 400 x 2.
• 15 (Wed) Namban workout. A & B: 400 x 12 (3 sets of 4).
• 18 (Wed) Namban workout. A&B: 1200, 1200, 1000, 1000, 800, 800.
• 22 (Wed) Namban workout. A & B: 2000, 1600, 1200, 800, 400.
• 29 (Wed) Namban workout. 5000m time trial.
Ducks, frogs and runners
Don’t mind the weather at all
June rainy season