MAY 2012

LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD

MAY

• May 5th was the annual TELL Charity Runathon, and I would like to thank all the 23 Namban members who came out to support TELL (Tokyo English Life Line). 7 ran the 5K and 16 ran the 10K. Top-10 placers were Hidemi Yamada (4th in 10K), George Nicholson (6th in 10K), Satohi Numasawa (1st in 10K!), Sara Wilhelm (2nd in 10K), Mary Eckstein (4th in 10K), Jo Purcell (6th in 10K), Mika Kume (7th in 10K), Taeko Hara (8th in 10K), Harrisson Uk (5th in 5K), Leigh Stokes (6th in 5K) and Rie Onodera (5th in 5K).
• On May 6th, Gerard Robb captured 5th place in the Australian Mount Running Championships, earning a place on the national team for the world championships in September. Congratulations!
• 17 Nambanners ran the Sendai Half Marathon on May 13th. We enjoyed a great trip to Sendai and a nice race. Nick Vaughn led the contingent with a 1:23:40 and yours truly Bob Poulson won his age group in 1:27:31. More details and photos in the news article to the right.
• Three tough Nambanners fought their way through the 82 kilometers of the Ultra Trial Mount Fuji on the 19th. Yoshitaka Ishikawa placed an amazing 13th overall in a time of 11:29:22. Yuri Kanbara also had a sensational race, finishing 4th in the Women’s category in 13:23:00. Michael Tandler was 83rd in the Men’s Div., with a time of 14:38:00. (I guess my 3 hour long runs are not so long after all.)
• Also to the right is a report on the Tanigawa Mari Ekiden, which was held on the 20th. Our three teams had a lot of fun!
• The evening of the 31st was the big multi-club time trial at Oda track. Three divisions with 50+ runners in each one, so this is more of a race than a time trial. Namban results were: Mike Trees (just off the plane from England) 16:19, Brooks Cannell 17:10, Brett Whiteoak 17:13, George Nicholson 17:23, Mike Dowds 17:30, Jay Johannesen 17:52, Raymond Wong 18:49, Matt Granger 19:03, Rob Neilsen 23:09.
• Belated news: Raymond Wong ran the Challenge Fuji 5 Lakes Ultra Marathon (112km) on April 22nd, finishing 66th out of 439!!

JUNE

Namban workouts on Wednesday nights at Oda track from 7:25pm.
• 6 – 1000 x 6
• 13 – 1600 1200 1000 1000 800 400
• 20 – 800 1000 1200 1200 1000 800
• 24 – Save the Children Japan charity run (Imperial Palace)
• 27 – 5000m time trial

HAIKU OF THE MONTH

Who needs pool running?
Our underwater training:
The rainy season