Sunday April 29th was Laci Demko’s last full day in Japan, and he decided he wanted to say goodbye to his home of two years by running around the Yamanote train line. He was joined in this by 12 other Nambanners, who set out from Yoyogi Park at 10am and spent the next seven hours gradually running around the 29 stations (40km) of the Yamanote, plus a slight unplanned detour to Oimachi station as a kind of bonus.

Some of the more interesting moments along the way were going through Ueno’s crowded Ameyoko market, Shin Okubo being full of riot police, and Nick’s discovery of increasingly strange conbini (convenience store) food. Finally, tired but still genki, Laci, Mary, Pat, Mika, Chiba, Kanna, Matt, Rie, Chika, Nick, Mike, Adrian and Derek enjoyed a soak in LacI’s beloved sento and a last supper at Raj Mahal in Shibuya.

Laci is just behind kneeling Mika in the photo.

APRIL

• On the 8th, Bob Poulson and Steve Briggs traveled up to Hitachi, 90 minutes north of Ueno, for the Hitachi Sakura Roadrace. 5K, 10K and Half, we ran the 10K. Good weather and an interesting course that went out on a road over the ocean for about 3.5km…unique! Bob finished 3rd in his age group with a 40:06, paced by Steve, who finished a bit later due to sore quads. We also saw Yukari there, who ran the 10K in about 47, and then ran the 5K with hubby! One sad note: for this Sakura roadrace, there were no sakura. Should have been one week later….
• Also on the 8th, Jay Johannesen was in Tateyama for an Olympic distance triathlon, although the swim was replaced with a 3K run due to cold water. Despite a relatively slow 10K, he finished in 2:02:25, good for 5th in his age group and 21st overall.
• Despite being undertrained for a variety of reasons, Steve Lacey, Paddy O’Connor, Derek Leong and Anthony Kraft showed their Namban spirit by lining up for the start of the Nagano Marathon on the 15th. At the finish, it was Steve in 3:21:01, Derek in 3:32:00 (PB!) and Anthony in 3:55:21. Paddy was done in by hip/groin pain at the halfway point. They all enjoyed it though, and recommend this as a good April marathon.
• Or, you could opt for the Kasumigaura Marathon in Ibaraki, as Chika Kanai did on the 15th. And she did great, running a PB in 3:17:58! She enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the great support from the local people.
• Moving on to the big time, Martin Verdier and Barry Bergmann ran the world’s best-loved marathon, Boston, on the 16th. Conditions this year were, in a word, hot (up to 31C/88F). Martin was in shape for a 3:00 run, but was happy with his 3:18. Barry also wilted in the heat, finishing in 4:12 (which was better than last year’s winner, who didn’t even finish). As Barry says, “If you haven’t done this one, your marathon career is not complete until you do.”
• Several club members participated in the Saiko Eco 10K on the 22nd, held at Lake Saiko in Saitama by race directors Juergen Wittstock and Masako Konishi. Chris Parry ran 40:20, on his way back to full fitness, Thomas Sawada recorded a PB of 46:17, and Adrian Ringin and Elsie DeLorenzo also ran.
• In other news from overseas members, Gerard Robb ran in the Australian Mountain Running Championships up Mt. Wellington in Tasmania and finished 5th, which qualifies him for a place on the national team for the World Champs in Italy in September. And Olivier Magritte participated in a six-event mini-decathlon (200m, high jump, shotput, javelin, long jump, 2000m steeplechase) in Nivelles, Belgium. He was sore for a week.

MAY

All Namban workouts at Oda Field from 7:25pm.
• 2 - 1000 x 6
• 5 - TELL Charity Runathon 5 & 10K
• 9 - 1000 1600 800 800 800 800
• 13 - Sendai International Half Marathon
• 16 - 600 800 1000 1200 1000 800 600
• 19 - Ultra Trail Mount Fuji
• 20 - Mari Tanigawa Ekiden
• 23 - 1200 1200 1000 1000 800 800
• 30 - 5000m TT

HAIKU OF THE MONTH

As May commences
We all can say together:
Finally, some warmth!

MARCH

• Starting our monthly review in the US, on the 4th, Brent Millican ran a PB of 3:12:41 in the Napa Valley Marathon.
• Another big city marathon debuted on the 11th — Kyoto, which included a Namban contingent of 7. James Midgely led the way with a 3:12, followed by Carol Cunningham in 3:35, Mary Eckstein in 3:53, Paul Mundt in 3:54, Elsie DeLorenzo in 3:58. Pat Higase in 4:30, and Adrian Ringin in 4:50. Suni Kim, Yukiko Kurihara and Anthony Kraft also ran. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the journey through Kyoko, despite being stopped for about 6 minutes due to an ambulance having to enter and exit the course…poor planning.
• Also on the 11th was the Ohyama Tozan Hill Climb, a 9km uphill race. This year’s Namban group was smaller than usual, but we were still well represented by Keren Miers, 7th out of 418 in men’s 50s in 50:18, Stan Chow in 58:46 and Tom Boatman (running his 10th Ohyama!) in 1:02, good for 178th our of 560 40s men. AND, all three did it two weeks after running the Tokyo Marathon!
• Jon and Tamami Holmes (congratulations on getting married!) ran the Itabashi City Marathon 5K on the 18th. Tamami finished 14th out of 418 women in 22:50 and Jon was 29th out of 439 men in 21:00.
• The wonderfully named Vegetable Marathon, featuring free vegetables and vegetable juice, was held on Yumenoshima, reclaimed Tokyo Bay land, on the 18th. Jay Johannesen, Bernd Plagge and Chika Kanai ran the Half, Jay finishing 15th out of 1,504 in 1:20:38, Bernd running 1:29:11 and Chika running 1:35:46 for 7th out of 337 women…on her birthday! Five others ran the 10K: George Nicholson in 37:07, Chris Parry in 42:20, Kazuo Chiba in 52:30, and Naoko Hanakawa in 51:01 (18th woman).
• Thomas Sawada ran the hilly Sakura Asahi Marathon (Chiba pref.) on the 25th, finishing in a personal best of 4:29. Congratulations!
• Back to the US, on the 18th Russ Stram ran the New York City Half in 1:46, and remember Katarina Janosikova? She ran 1:15:50 to finish 29th in this major race.
• Also on the 25th, our big-time Ironman, Tsutomu Ishida, was down in Australia for Ironman Melbourne. He had a good result, coming through the full ironman distance in 9:32:22, a PB of 20 minutes, which included a marathon of 3:09:53! He was 14th in his age group (M45-49, which obviously has tough guys) and 141st overall. Nine from this group were eligible for the Ironman World Championships in Kona, but since 5 opted not to go, Tsutomu will be participating. Best of luck to him!

APRIL

All Namban workouts at Oda Field from 7:25pm.
• 4 Namban workout 1000 x 6
• 8 Hitachi Sakura 10K (Bob P, Steve B, +?)
• 11 Namban workout 1600 1200 1000 1000 800 400
• 15 Nagano Marathon (Steve L, Paddy O, Anthony K, Derek L)
• 18 Namban workout 1200 800 1000 800 1000 800 400
• 25 Namban workout 5000m TT

HAIKU OF THE MONTH

First, a March haiku from Chiba-san:
March: Girl’s Festival
And the joy of peach flowers —
Running with fragrance

And mine for April:
Cherry blossoms bloom
Sit beneath drinking, singing,
Freezing your ass off

James Midgely and Satohi Numasawa, who love trail running, participated in the Ome Takamizu 15km trail race in western Tokyo on April 1st. This beautiful course is only about 60 minutes by train from Shinjuku, promising fresh air, lots of green and flowers, and perhaps even a wild animal or two. The race course this year was a bit longer and a bit harder, starting from 260m above sea level and going up to 436m. It was a beautiful day with sakura (cherry blossoms) appearing here and there. However, the wind was cold, so deciding what to wear was a big challenge. James and Satohi were very relaxed before the start, decided their goal times, and were both happy to finish faster than expected, even though James fell and twisted his ankle. Afterwards, they enjoyed a hot spring bath, a ramen lunch, and a cold beer (or two, or….)
Results: James 1:24:00; Satohi 1:31:07 - 5th overall women’s division

FEBRUARY

• First, apologies for forgetting to mention the Shibuy Ekiden in January. Held on Jan. 15th in Yoyogi Park, it featured four Namban Rengo teams, who won a silver medal (Masters Men) and a bronze medal (Women). The Open team came in 8th and the Mixed team finished happily.
• On the 5th, Tsutomu Ishida, Chris Parry and Jay Johanessen ran and cycled in the Calfman Duathlon. Jay came in 43rd, the other two guys were faster….
• Also on the 5th was the Kanagawa Half & 10K, where Adrian Ringin ran a 47:52 10K PB. Thomas Sawada also ran the 10K, and Pat Higase and Laci Demko ran the Half.
• Feb. 19th was the 46th running of the Ome Marathon 30K and 10K. Sumie Kawakami (2:39), Yukari Murabara (2:42?) and Tom Boatman (?) ran the 30K. Bob Poulson and Yoshiko Katakura ran the 10K, Bob in 39:04 (4/703 age group men), Yoshiko in 43:04 (3/330 age group women).
• On the 19th in Wokinghamm, England, Rieko Trees ran a half marathon in 1:33.
• Across the pond in America, on the 25th, Joe Stowe ran the mile in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) championships. His time was 4:11, unfortunately the 11th fastest time (10 qualified for the final).
• And of course, the big one, the Tokyo Marathon on the 26th. A report with photos is to the right. Good weather this year, we luckily missed the snow and rain later in the week.

MARCH

All Namban workouts at Oda Field from 7:25pm.
• 7 Namban workout 1000 x 6
• 11 Kyoto Marathon - 7 Nambanners will run.
• 14 Namban workout 600 1200 600 1200 600 1200 600
• 18 Vegetable Marathon Half/10K in Yumenoshima, Tokyo - 8 Nambanners will run.
• 21 Namban workout 600 800 1000 1200 1000 800 600
• 28 Namban workout 5000m time trial

HAIKU OF THE MONTH

The day we unite
Tokyo marathon slogan
Silly phrase…but true

Namban Rengo was out in force at the Tokyo Marathon, with 35 members running and many more cheering at various places along the course, which really is a big help. The runners included six who came from overseas for the event: Carol, Caroline, Reza, Daniel, Wojtek and Gerard. It was a great day for a marathon, cloudy and about 7C/45F, but it didn’t feel cold and thankfully there was only a very slight wind. Namban was led by new member Chikara Omine with a 2:37:30, followed by “mountain runner” Gerard Robb in 2:46, a great effort by Harrisson Uk in 2:48, and just-turned-40 Dan Newman in 2:52. But everyone did well…and everyone thinks they can do better next time, which is what racing is all about. And of course, this being Namban Rengo, the party afterwards was awesome. It also served as a farewell bash for Kylie, who will be greatly missed.

JANUARY

• The Tanigawa Mari Half Marathon (Mari is a still-popular former top marathoner) was held along the Arakawa River on the 8th. 7 Nambanners battled the wind for half the race, although otherwise the weather was good. Tsutomu Ishida ran a 1:21:07 PB, followed closely by Dan Newman in 1:21:26, Don Roxbough in a PB 1:27:43, Paul Mundt in 1:28:36, Pat Higase in 1:46:05, Thomas Sawada in 1:47:40 and Adrian Ringin in 1:51:57.
• Bob Poulson ran the Ushiku City Marathon 10K on the 9th, finishing 5th in his age group out of 204 with a 38:08.
• On the 15th, Yoshiko Katakura, who gets stronger as she gets older, ran the Frostbite Half Marathon (Yokota) in 1:30:07, placing 2nd out of 364 in her age group.
• The Chiba Marine Half/10K on the 22nd was not blessed with good weather, as 12 Nambanners suffered persevered through cold, rainy conditions. Nevertheless, PBs were run by Harrisson Uk in 1:18:40, Stan Chow in 1:25:00, Kylie Breeze in 1:31:30, Padraig MacColgain in 1:32:41, Arnout Baneke in 1:38:48, as well as by Mike Rayner (39:45) and Thomas Sawada (46:42) in the 10K. Also freezing their tails off were Paddy O’Connor, Chika Kanai, Keren Miers, Geraldine Nogami, Mary Eckstein and James Midgely, whose pre-race strategy of drinking champagne until 3am proved that sleep is over-rated as he ran a 1:24.
• On the 29th, many of us watched the Osaka Women’s Marathon on TV, as Shigetomo ran an excellent 2:23 and Fukushi blew up once again. Two Namban ladies also enjoyed the good weather and good Osaka course: Yoshiko Katakura ran a great 3:12:26 (1st 50-year-old?) and Mika Tokairin a very good 3:19:41 off not much training. There was also a half marathon that Tom Boatman enjoyed.

FEBRUARY

All Namban workouts at Oda Field from 7:25pm.
• 1 Namban 5000m time trial
• 5 Kanagawa Half/10k
• 8 600/800/1000/1200/1000/800/600
• 15 1200/1200/1000/1000/800/800
• 19 Ome Marathon 30K/10K
• 22 1000 x 6 (pace runs for Tokyo runners)
• 26 Tokyo Marathon
• 29 Leap Year 5000m time trial

HAIKU OF THE MONTH

Tokyo Marathon
Looking forward to fast times
And the post-race bash!

DECEMBER

• The first Sunday in December is always the Okutama Ekiden, a 6-men/3-women road relay that takes place in the Okutama hills 90 minutes west of Tokyo proper. Namban has entered every year since 1988, and this year we had a large presence with 3 men’s and 3 women’s teams. We tried to have teams of equal strength (i.e., not put all the fastest people on one team) to enjoy some inter-club competition, but even so, our top men’s team placed 44th out of 111 teams and the top women’s team, 17th out of 50 teams (inc. fast college and HS teams). With sushi and beer afterwards, a great time was had by all! (Report and photos to the right.)
• December 4th was also the day of the Yokohama Half Marathon and 10K, attended by 10 club members. PBs were run by Pat Higase (1:45:32), Padraig McColgain (1:34:43—PB by 2 minutes!), Harrisson (36:20), Satoe Aoki and Khalfan (report to the right).
• Jay Johannesen was in Thailand on Dec. 4th, for the Laguna Phuket Triathlon, which he completed in 3:21:24, placing 8th out of 100 in his age group and 92nd overall. And David Rubenstein was in Honolulu, where he ran the marathon for fun in 4:44.
• On the 10th, two Namban teams of four runners challenged the four-minute mile, finishing in 3:56 and 4:12 (report to the right).
• Amazingly, on the morning after the bonenkai (year-end party), the 11th, Stan Chow and Chika Kanai were way out in the mountains of Okutama for the Mitake Trail Run. The weather was pleasant but the course had ice and snow on some sections. Stan finished in 1:37:30, good for 131st our of 747 finishers.
• Ultramarathon man Paul Mundt outdid himself on the 17th, participating in Japan’s first 24-hour indoor ultra, which was run on a 260m concrete “track”!! Why he did this is known only to Paul himself, but he seems to enjoy this type of thing. And he’s good at it. He ran 110K in about 13 hours (including “an hour or two” at 4:30/k pace), when disaster struck in the form of a very painful metatarsal (foot bone), which caused him to stop despite otherwise feeling fine. He still placed 26th out of 48.
• A 3-Hour Relay Marathon was held in the National Stadium in Gaienmae on Dec. 18th. Nambanners Adrian Ringin, Cory McGowan, Thomas Sawada, Chika Kanai and Satohi Numasawa formed a team and enjoyed running 1.4km laps around the track and grandstand, finishing a very impressive 31st out of 383 teams.
• Yoshiko Katakura joined a number of Japanese elites running the Hofu Marathon on Dec. 18th. She finished in an excellent 3:19:24, and looks forward to the Osaka International Women’s Marathon on Jan. 29th.
• On Dec. 18th Yoshitaka Ishikawa, Masako Onishi and Christophe Dewulf ran the Takao Tengu Trail Run. Yoshitaka, running the 10K in an afro wig, won his age group in 1:03:06 and was 5th overall. Masako was the 4th woman and Christophe finished in 2:01:00 on the 18K course.
• The Dec. 28th Namban 5,000m time trial brought out the best in a number of club members. PBs were set by Harrisson Uk (17:04), Stan Chow (18:29), Padraig McColgain (19:56, breaking the 20:00 barrier!), Arnold Baneke (20:09), and Hemant (27:35). Also Taro Oguchi ran a yearly best in 19:44 and Jon Morrell showed he is recovering from a long injury with a 19:49.

JANUARY

All Namban workouts at Oda Field from 7:25pm.
• 4 Namban workout 1000 x 6
• 8 Tanigawa Mari Half Marathon
• 9 Ushiku City Marathon
• 11 Namban workout 1000 x 6
• 15 Yokota Frostbite Half Marathon
• 18 Namban workout 600/800/1000/1200/1000/800/600
• 22 Chiba Marine Half Marathon
• 21 Namban club half marathon on the Arakawa
• 25 Namban workout 5000m time trial
• 29 Osaka International Women’s Marathon

HAIKU OF THE MONTH

As the sun rises
On a new year of running
Our hopes rise with it

Left: 4:12 team of Keren, Harrisson, Greg and Michael. Right: 3:56 team of Joe, Jay, Stan and Petr.

For our pre-bonenkai (year-end party) fun run this year, we decided to do something a bit different: on the track, have two teams of four runners each try to run a four-minute mile. Roger Bannister first did it in 1954. Could Namban Rengo do it today? The format was for each runner to run 100m four times, jogging back after each to where he started (a somewhat quick jog—you only have 45 seconds). The fourth runner has to run 109 on his final leg (1 mile = 1609m). After taking a while to figure out where each person should start, positioning people at those places and designating an official timer, the runners were off! Sprinting all out four times with little rest is no easy task, but the eight guys gave it all they had. And the result was? One team 4:12. The other team…3:56! They made it! So we now know…a 4-minute mile is damn fast! It was fast when Roger Bannister did it on a dirt track 50 years ago and it’s still fast. It took 4 guys, all in good shape, one of them a fast 800m runner, to do it. Go ahead, try it. Get four people and give it a go (or even 8 people). You’ll gain new respect for that legendary barrier, and for Roger Bannister.

Support: Barry, Shamir, Jon, Yuka, Taeko, Yoshiko, Kanna (not Kiki), Bob