No Excuses: 1-Degree Temps (-13 C) Don’t Prevent Japan’s Yuki Kawauchi From Breaking World Record For Most Sub-2:20 Marathons
By LetsRun.com
January 1, 2018
Japanese marathon sensation Yuki Kawauchi has started off 2018 with a bang as this morning as he ran a 2:18:59 marathon to win the Marshfield New Year’s Day Marathon. The no-frills race is one of the oldest in the US and get this — it’s totally free. There is no pre-registration allowed — you just show up and run.
Kawauchi showed up and ran and won even though the temperatures were reported to be 1 degree Fahrenheit (-17 C). Update: Brett Larner has written a good recap of the race. Kawauchi was so cold at the start he was way behind goal pace at halfway. At 5k, he wondered why he was even racing but he warmed up and got the job done.
“When I saw my 5 km split it was the first time in a race I’ve ever thought, ‘Why am I doing this?'”…
“At halfway I didn’t think I could do it and it seemed like it was going to end being my slowest marathon ever. But I came all the way to the U.S.A. to do this and the people of Marshfield put in a lot of work to organize everything for me, so I had to do everything I could to live up to my word. “
Here is a video of the finish.
With today’s race, Kawauchi now has 76 career sub-2:20 marathons, one more than American Doug Kurtis.
The People’s Champ! Kawauchi comes over to the US and sets the record for most sub-2:20 marathons today in Massachusetts, going 2:18:59 in 1-degree F (-17C). That’s 76 races under 2:20 at only 30 years old. Best part? It was a free marathon! @JRNHeadlines pic.twitter.com/PWvedbhQmL
— Geoff Burns (@geoffreyburns) January 1, 2018
In 2017, Kawauchi set the WR for most career sub-2:12 marathons as he now has 25 sub-2:12s whereas the old record was 22 (Abebe Mekonnen).
Talk about Yuki Kawauchi and Doug Kurtis on our fan forum / messageboard: The people’s champ has done it!! Yuki Kawauchi breaks WR for most career sub-2:20 marathons. 2:18 in 1 degree temps in USA.
Archives: Doug Kurtis 76 sub 2:20s and 199 sub 3:00 hour Marathons
*Yuki Kawauchi goes sub-2:20 for 75th time
*Kawauchi WORLDS RECORD 23x sub-2:12:00 !!
*Most sub 2:20 marathons doug kurtis