Office worker’s marathon glory
This ordinary Japanese office worker stunned the running world when he won this year’s Boston Marathon
BY DAY he’s a government clerk, going to work in a suit and tie and putting in a nine-hour stint at the office. But as soon as Yuki Kawauchi is unshackled from his desk, he slips on his running gear and pounds the pavements with a passion that’s helped him complete at least 81 marathons in the past 10 years. Last year alone he completed 12, winning five.
But his greatest victory to date – and the one that put him firmly on the world running map – was the recent Boston Marathon, one of the most prestigious races in the world which attracts up to 30 000 competitors.
It was all the more remarkable because Yuki isn’t a professional runner. He’s been dubbed Citizen Runner in his native Japan because he competes while holding down a full-time job.
On 25 March, four weeks before the big day, Yuki warmed up for the race by running a half-marathon in Japan dressed in a panda suit – because he likes pandas.
He completed the 21km journey in a little more than 70 minutes, taking second place. And some warm-up it was – when Boston rolled around, Yuki beat the opposition to become the first Japanese man to claim the title since 1987.
In rain, strong winds and icy temperatures, Yuki (31) took on the 42km with pure determination. He led strongly at the start but barely 6km into the race the pack caught up with him.
Over the following 35km, Yuki attacked again and again but all seemed lost when defending champ Geoffrey Kirui of Kenya took a comfortable lead.
Yet with just 2km to go, Yuki kicked in again, closing the gap and overtaking the African running sensation with just 1km to go.
And when an ecstatic Yuki zoomed to the finish line, waiting cameramen could barely believe their eyes.
“I think there’s probably not a single person in Boston who thought I’d win this today,” he said afterwards.
YUKI, from Tokyo, has always loved running but an injury when he was a teenager put paid to his dreams of competing professionally. Still, once he’d recovered he ran “at a lower level”, he says, and kept it up throughout university, gradually building up distances until he was ready for his first marathon, Japan’s Beppu-Oita, in 2009. He finished the 35km stretch in 20th place in a time of 2:19:26.
The following year he entered the Tokyo marathon and took fourth place in a personal best time of 2:12:36, and since then there’s been no stopping him.
“I run a lot of races because I love to run races,” Yuki says. “Racing gives me the opportunity to travel the world, to see different places, meet different people and experience different things.”
His full-time job as a clerk for the Saitama prefectural government keeps him busy and limits the time he gets off to travel – but he makes it work.
He was on holiday in New York at the start of the year and decided on a whim to join the Marshfield Road Runners New Year’s Day Marathon.
The 42km race was run in freezing -17°C conditions and proved too much for all the athletes – except Yuki. He was the only runner to finish.
Because he earns a living as a full-time employee, he’s not allowed to have paid sponsorships – but nothing can stop him from enjoying the $150 000 ( R1,8 million) prize money he was awarded after winning the Boston Marathon.
How does he plan to spend it? On travelling to more races, of course. Wherever there’s a marathon, you can bet Yuki will try to be there.