Sunday, August 24, 2008

Tribute


My personal tribute to Samuel Wanjiru and his great race. It was a fantastic marathon to watch.
He is a very humble guy and it is amazing how well he can speak Japanese (he actually married a Japanese woman..).
Top picture: Deriba Merga, Samuel Wanjiry, Atsushi Sato (Fukuoka Marathon podium)
Bottom: let's hope that he transfered some running skill through this handshake...

I will not complain anymore about the humidity and heat in China affecting running performance... 2h06' ...
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4 comments:

Mike said...

Very cool photos, and I'm glad you got to meet him.

You're right about Wanjiru's performance making our complaints about the weather seem petty. What a run!

Eric said...

Still, he likely would have run under 2:04 in 50F weather.

Very cool to have met him!

by7 said...

amendment: his wife is Kenyan, not Japanese (I confirm that he can speak Japanese amazingly well).

funny to see that Wanjiru scored the 1st place, while Atsushi Sato met a real bad day and closed LAST in 2h41'

It will be interesting to see the development of Wanjiru's career now that he just left the Team Toyota to go on his own. Will he still follow Japanese training systems or switch coach to the Dr Rosa's group (Rosa & associates are his agent).
Well, that's a dilemma.. choosing between a Japanese Marathon legend and well-known Rosa's training system...

Simone said...

I'm wondering what this guy can do in Berlin with 18 Celsius, and 2-3 pacers!!!