Kyoto Tamba 5K Road Race

Having done this race last year, my first in Japan, I had been looking forward to repeating the race. Last year I finished fourth overall and first veteran man aged 30-49 in a time of 17 minutes 22 seconds. For this year’s race I set my eyes on a top three finishing spot and beating last years' time, preferably with a sub-17 minutes run.

This year, the only change from the previous year was that the race was on a Monday and not Sunday, it being a national holiday. My plan was simple. Knowing that once the starting gun was fired, there would be a sprint start from most of the field along the race course, which for the first 200 metres was uphill, before the pace settled, I would wait until the course turned out of the park where the race started and descended into the nearby town – and then work at catching and then hanging on to the lead group. This is what happened last year. This year though I just couldn’t seem to get my legs going. It was half way down the steady descent into the town that I realised that there was no way that I was going to catch the lead group.

I just tried to dig in and graft away and not give up hope that I could at least have a solid run. After 1 mile there was a steep 200 metre climb which didn’t seem too difficult, though a young whippersnapper worked his way past me on the ascent. At the crest of the hill I could see down a long stretch of flattish road which the course was to follow and decided to latch onto the youngster and use him to pace myself down the road. However, after about half a mile his pace began to waiver so I dispensed of his services and slipped past him.

Two runners passed me at 4K. I could hear them working at catching me and had expected to see the youngster once more, but unbeknown to me he had faded well back by that point. The race finished on a track and I tried to at least look strong and determined in front of the assembled crowd. I crossed the line in eighth place overall, and third veteran man aged 30-49, in a time of 17 minutes 18 seconds. So I had achieved one of my goals, though I was disappointed not to have run a better race.

3rd man 30-39 prize: locally produced Tamba wine,
 a bag of rice and certificate

The second placed overall finisher was a fellow British runner, also called Mike, formerly of Darlington Harriers. He recognised the Morpeth Harriers club vest that I had worn during the race and we chatted whilst waiting for the prize giving ceremony. It seems that he’d previously lived in Japan many years ago, had married a Japanese woman, was a veteran 50 years plus runner and returned to Kyoto annually at this time of year on a business trip from his current base in Reading in the UK and made it a tradition to run the Kyoto Tamba Road Race. Small world.