December 2019 Race Results

• December began with the Osaka Marathon on the 1st with a lot of good performances. Tony Collins 3:18:16 (PB) Yuko Takamuki 3:36:26 (18min PB), Ayano Onodera 3:54:17 (PB), Makiko Hosokawa 3:56:16 (fell, got bandaged, still broke 4:00), Glenn Rubin 3:58:34, Mika Kume 3:59:27, Yoko Kubo 4:11:30 (PB), Keren Miers 4:15:17 (sore back), Rachel Bleustein 4:20:11 (PB).

• Also on the 1st was the Shonan Marathon, where Emmanuel Obser ran 2:56:48 for his 6th marathon PB in a row! Also running were Kota Torii 3:45:34 and Josh Ferris.

• The 80the running of the Okutama Ekiden is always on the first Sunday of December. And Namban Rengo is always there. This year we had 3 men’s teams of 6 runners each, and 4 women’s teams of 3 runners each. The men’s A team made us proud with a 10th place finish in this very competitive ekiden.

• Hang Yu ran the Chiba Marine Half Marathon in 1:34.

• The Saitama Marathon was held on Dec. 8. Saitama is a big marathon on a course with many lonely sections and many small (and annoying) hills. Chika Kanai overcame these negatives to run a very good 3:16:25. The weather was 10°C, 40% humidity and sunny.

• Also on the 8th, Luigi Mondino did the Mitake Trial Race, 11.3k with 1000m elevation gain, in 1:26:02 (10th AG). Also climbing were Andy Drought 1:15 (9.3k) and Padraig MacColgain 1:48 and I think Youri Lavoine and Mark Shrosbree.

• Running a race in the middle of the ocean, Emma Ashford finished her first marathon in Honolulu in 3:40:30, good for 8th in her age group out of 1,080!! Katsu Kinoshita also ran it, in 3:58:37

• And in possibly the toughest performance of the day/month, Yoko Kubo completed the 70k Izu Trial Journey in 12:37:41, after her marathon PB the week before! This was a tough race: she passed a guy getting a heart massage! Also, any race that is called a “journey” must be challenging.

• On the 14th, a Namban team of four guys placed 5th out of 65 in the Kita-ku Akabane 20km Relay. Sylvain Dufros, Jo Nesci, Charlie Cook and Yuichi Ikeda all ran 5k within 11 seconds of each other – 19:28 to 19:39!! Great team effort!

• Another tough runner, Yukari Oimatsu, was down south on the 15th for the Okinawa 100K Ultra Marathon. She overcame leg pains and dizzy spells to finish in 13:14:31.

• Even further south, Jay Johannesen and Arnaud DeHerrypon participated in the Thailand International Half Marathon, 10.5k division. Jay was second and Arnaud 3rd in the not-so-young category – according to Leng Leng :). And they won money! More of us should run races in Thailand.