Skip to main content

Kasumigaura Marathon Disaster Relief Contributions Total Over $750,000

http://mainichi.jp/area/ibaraki/news/20110503ddlk08040115000c.html

translated by Brett Larner

With its 21st running cancelled due to damage from the Mar. 11 earthquake and tsunami disasters, the Kasumigaura Marathon in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki, the national blind runners' marathon championships and, with 26,241 entrants, Japan's second-largest marathon, announced that on May 13 it will donate 61,665,313 yen (~$770,000 U.S.) in runners' entry fees to the Japan Red Cross' disaster relief fund.

Although the organizing committee was quick to announce that it would donate entry fees, the exact disposition of the money was subject to discussion by the executive board. Income for this year's race totalled 157,321,954 yen including 119,269,300 yen in entry fees. Non-recoverable expenditures including timing chips and participants' t-shirts totaled 95,656,641 yen. The balance will be donated to disaster relief along with 4,500 volunteers' hats and 20,000 finishers' towels.

The Kasumigaura Marathon was scheduled for Apr. 17, but the start and finish point at Kawaguchi Sports Park and many sections of the course were seriously damaged in the earthquake and tsunami. Tsuchiura mayor Kiyoshi Nakagawa commented, "I hope that next year at least as many will come as were planning to run this year."

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr