19 Nambanners Support TELL and Welcome New Honorary Member Sean Astin

The TELL (Tokyo English Life Line) Charity Runathon was held on May 4th in beautiful weather. Namban Rengo runners took home good prizes in 3 of the 4 divisions. In the Men’s 10K, Brett Larner showed a return to form by placing 5th in 36:14, Raymond Wong was 9th in 39:17 and Philippe Boue was 10th in 39:18. In the Women’s 10K, Rie Onodera was 2nd in 42:58, Chika Kanai was 4th in 43:15 and Jo Purcell was 7th in 45:32. And in the Women’s 5K, Elsie DeLorenzo was 5th in 23:45. Also running in support of TELL were Mary Eckstein, Kanna Yasumi, Taeko Hara, Hisako, Juergen Wittstock, Steve Wheeler, Chris Parry, Jose Aragon, Andre Deckrow and wife Ruth, John Tadman and Kazuo Chiba, plus Bob Poulson as race director.

Interesting notes:
• Bob and a few other members were interviewed by a Tokyo FM announcer for the Blue Ocean program, which features foreigners’ activities in Tokyo.
• Running in the 10k was actor Sean Astin, best known as Frodo’s friend Sam in Lord of the Rings. He’s an extremely nice guy, and is now an honorary Namban Rengo member. He ran about 53 minutes, not bad for a Hobbit.

Runnet Corporate Ekiden

On December 16th, 2012 a group of six Nambanners participated in the Runnet Corporate Ekiden Three Hour Time Relay. The weather was very crisp and clear, so Chika, Thomas, Jelena, Masako, Mitsuya and Adrian had a great day. Keeping with the light atmosphere the fun-loving runners donned all manner of costumes to run the course, centered around the very nice National Olympic Stadium in Kasumigaoka. Competing with hordes of Santas, cakes, maids, running beers, and Sazae-san, they completed 28 laps of the course to come in 33rd out of 178 teams.

Taiwan Half Ironman

On November 3rd, the Namban horde invaded, ravaged, and conquered the innocent southern shores of Formosa, capturing several podium finishes and devouring 10s of thousands of calories at the famous Yoho bike hotel. Their tales and adventures including the Taiwan 70.3 half Ironman race (1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21.2km run) are detailed below.

Results:
Bevan Colless, 4:43, 2nd in age group (AG), 37th overall/1200
Seunghoi Kim, 4:50, 10th in AG
Vanessa Colless, 4:52, 2nd in AG, 2nd overall non-pro female
Stan Chow, 5:09, 19th in AG
David Rubenstein, 5:24, 19th in AG
Jay Johannesen, 5:32, 27th in AG
Mika Kume, 5:55, 1st in AG
Mary Eckstein Mary, 6:05, 2nd in AG

Race Reports:
Namban Forums (http://www.namban.org/index.php/forums/viewthread/1251/)
Motozo’s report (http://davidmotozo.blogspot.jp/2012/11/taiwan-half-ironman-nanban-conquers.html)
Jay’s report (http://jaydtrilog.blogspot.jp/2012/11/taiwan.html)
Bev’s report (http://bevancolless.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/taiwan-703.html)