London World Championships Marathoners Inoue and Kawauchi Return to Action ©Brett Larner
London World Championships Marathoners Inoue and Kawauchi Return to Action – Brett Larner – Japan Running News
The debuting Hosomori faded over the second half, run down by amateur Taiyo Akiyama with 5 km to go and Inoue right after. Inoue made contact with Akiyama near 40 km, but rather than run away with it the 2:08 marathoner ran side-by-side with Akiyama all the way to the finish line, smiling and encouraging him on in home straight. Both crossed the line in 2:23:47, with Akiyama crowned the event's first champ.
Inoue's London teammate Kawauchi ran his first race post-Worlds two weeks ago, winning Norway's BMW Oslo Marathon in 2:15:58. After a half marathon course record win in Hokkaido last weekend he was back for more, running a 2:13:43, a course record by over two minutes, to win the 39th edition of the Betsukai Pilot Marathon. "There was a pretty strong headwind in the first half and I didn't think I could get the course record," he told JRN post-race. "In the second half there was a tailwind, and that helped me get the record."
text and photos © 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved