After Long Layoff, Mara Yamauchi Returns To Competition at Bupa Great North Run
Yamauchi Hasn't Raced Since Last Year's ING New York City Marathon
By David Monti
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
GATESHEAD, ENGLAND (17-Sep) -- Still a long way from the fitness which
allowed her become the second-fastest British woman ever at the marathon
distance, Mara Yamauchi is nonetheless feeling optimistic these days.
Sidelined for over ten months with a hamstring injury, the 38 year-old
Yamauchi will run the Bupa Great North Run half-marathon here tomorrow,
her first race since last November's ING New York City Marathon.
"I've had sort of stiff hamstrings all of my career," said Yamauchi,
whose hamstring woes became critical last February. "Even at the end
of last year it bothered me more than normal, but I just managed it.
But, it kept getting worse and worse."
Yamauchi, who had been based for years in Tokyo with her husband and
coach Shige, realized that they needed to come back to Britain to get
treatment. So last February she packed up house and the couple moved to
Teddington in London.
"I tried to sort it out in Japan with the staff who were helping me
there, but it really didn't work out," she continued. "So we moved back
to the U.K., and I had various types of treatment and physiotherapy,
basically trying just to strengthen the hamstring. I started running
again in April, but it was still really painful."
Again, Yamauchi realized that another change was needed, so she
consulted the American sprints coach Dan Pfaff who guided the careers of
Donovan Bailey and Obadele Thompson, amongst others. Pfaff has been
employed as a coach by UK Athletics since 2009. Under Pfaff, Yamauchi
began to focus on improving her biomechanics to get at the root cause of
the problem.
"His approach is really getting you to run as you should run,
naturally," Yamauchi said. "So, getting rid of any biomechanical
problems which cause injuries. Since I've been doing that, I've been
able to gradually build up, and build up, and I'm almost back at my
usual regimen.
Yamauchi, whose sixth place finish at the 2008 Olympic Marathon in
Beijing equals the best performance ever by a British woman in an
Olympic Marathon, will use tomorrow's run from Newcastle to South
Shields to test her preparations for the Yokohama Women's Marathon on
November 20. She isn't sure what tomorrow will bring.
"It's difficult to say," said the former Oxford University student who
finished fifth here last year in 1:10:39. "This is my first race in
nearly a year. But, the times I've been doing in training have been OK.
I wouldn't say I'm in PB shape, but I'm reasonably confident. Mentally
anyway, I'm looking forward to the race and feeling positive about it."
A late bloomer, Yamauchi's name was essentially unknown to British
sports fans until she won a bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
in Melbourne at 32 years-old. Thirty-three days later, she finished
sixth at the Virgin London Marathon, clocking 2:25:13 and shaving more
than two minutes off of her personal best. She had her best seasons in
2008 and 2009 when she won the Osaka Women's Marathon, finished third at
the discontinued Tokyo Women's Marathon, sixth at the Olympics, and
reached the second step of the podium in at the Virgin London Marathon
with a world-class time of 2:23:12. Paula Radcliffe is the only British
woman who has run faster.
Before enduring her recent injury struggles, her 2010 season was mostly
disappointing, despite winning the NYC Half-Marathon in March. She
finished tenth at the Virgin London Marathon after famously enduring a
five-day trip to make it to the race after all of the flight
cancellations caused by the Icelandic volcano eruption (she and Shige
had to travel all the way from Albuquerque to London). She also
finished 13th at the ING New York City Marathon, a race she had hoped to
win.
Yamauchi is both a hard worker and relentlessly optimistic. She credits
her methodical approach to training to getting over her injury.
"A lot of athletics is mind over body," she said. "So that's good.
With injuries you've got to be patient. You spend days, weeks months
getting treatment and not feeling better. You've just got to stick at
it."
One of the things keeping her going is the possibility of running in the
London Olympics next year. If Yamauchi runs under 2:31 at Yokohama and
is amongst the three fastest British woman at the end of this year, she
will likely be selected for the team. If that's the case, her next
marathon would be at the Olympics.
"It's something I can't pass up," she said of the London Olympics. "I
have to try and be there. If the Olympics weren't in London I might
have retired by now."
# # # # # #
Tomorrow's 31st Bupa Great North Run sold out at 54,000 entries. Last
year's race had 39,439 finishers, making it the largest half-marathon in
the world. The leading contenders for the men's title are Emmanuel
Mutai (KEN), Jaouad Gharib (MAR), Micah Kogo (KEN), Juan Luis Barrios
(MEX), and Martin Mathathi (KEN). On the women's side (women run in a
separate all-women's race with an early start), the key athletes are
Birhane Adere (ETH), Yamauchi (GBR), Jo Pavey (GBR), Helen Clitheroe
(GBR), Irene Jerotich (KEN), Jessica Augusto (POR), Marisa Barros (POR),
and Rene Kalmer (RSA). The race is carried live on BBC 1, with
coverage beginning at 9:00 a.m. The actual race starting times are
10:15 for the elite women and 10:40 for the elite men/mass start.
ENDS
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