LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD
NOVEMBER
Marathon season is here! Lots of races this past month, here are the results I heard about.
• Nov. 3rd saw Kimm Seunghoi in Taiwan for the Half Ironman Taiwan, where he finished in 4:50:06, 64th overall and 10th in his age group.
• Two Nambanners were at the Shonan Marathon. Joe Siegel ran his first marathon in 6 years in 2:50, and Frank Marsillo ran his second marathon in two weeks, cruising to a 3:25:24. (I guess this means doing one every six years is better.)
• On the 4th, Mike Trees, in Tokyo for two months from England, ran a 33:52 10K at Tamba, Kyoto. A good start to his quest for 50-year-old age group records. Simon Fisher ran the Tamba Half in 1:36:57, good for 347th out of 2,500, but his slowest ever.
• The Setagaya Half Marathon was on the 11th, with Dan Newman running a 1:20:30 for 7th in age group, and Satohi Numasawa following in 1:32:15 for 10th place in women’s div.
• Don Roxburgh battled through the Yatsugatake Trail 100 Mile (yes, that’s 160km!) in 27:30:46 (yes, that’s 27 hours!). He was 46th out of 138 finishers (501 started).
• James Midgely, alive and well in Malaysia, ran the Penang Marathon in a PW of 3:53 (2AM start, 25C, 90% humidity – amazing to finish).
• Mike Trees dropped down to 5,000m at the Nittai Time Trial on the 18th, running 15:45, the 6th fastest time in the world this year (50s)!
• Pat Higase was in the US on the 18th for the Philadelphia Marathon, which she ran in 4:20. Would have been faster, but she had a hard fall at mile 7.
• Marathon action began in Japan on the 23rd with the Otawara Marathon in Tochigi pref. A strong Namban contingent was led by Raymond Wong in 3:10:21, followed by Teriyuki Minegishi in 3:26:51 (did only two long runs before the race), Padraig MacColgain in another PB of 3:27:31 and Rie Onodera in 3:28:40.
• On the 25th, there were no less than 5 marathons with Nambanners taking part!
Tsukuba: Aki Hoshino 3:18, Satohi Numasawa 3:20:43 (negative split), Yoshiko Katakura 3:37:56 (leg pain). Mt. Fuji: Bernd Plagge 3:10:25, Colin Hickey 3:11, Frank Marsillo 3:39:04 (3rd marathon in 5 weeks), Adrian Ringin 4:42:24 (PB), Chih Liew 3:54:18. Tom Boatman ran the “once around” (approx. 17.5k) in 1:31.
Osaka: Alistair Bibby 3:13, Philippe Boue 3:23:50 (PB), Kimm Seunghoi and wife Reiko 4:58:13 (Reiko PB). Simon Fisher and Bonnie Waycott were also there to run the 8.8K Challenge Run. Simon ran 38:36, 3rd out of over 2,000! Bonnie ran it in 55:00.
• Kobe: Jo Purcell 3:58, Elsie DeLorenzo 4:25, Anthony Kraft ?
Fukuchiayama (Kyoto): Derek Leong 3:28:27(PB).
• Plus, in Italy, Stefano Coradeschi ran the Firenze Marathon in 3:34.
DECEMBER
Namban workouts on Wednesday nights at Oda track from 7:25pm.
• 5 – 1000 x 6
• 12 – 600m warmup, One Mile Time Trial, 1200 1200 800 400
• 19 – 600 800 1000 1200 1000 800 600
• 26 – 5000m time trial
HAIKU OF THE MONTH
Weather turns cooler
Leaves rustle beneath your feet
Marathon season!
