Oide Yasu Kyoto Kamogawa River 5K Race

Heavy rain poured throughout the three races, a 10K, 5K and 3K, along the Kamogawa River in Kyoto City this morning. I arrived soon after the start of the 10K and tried vainly to seek shelter in order to keep warm and dry. The race route was ran along a predominately hard packed sand path, with a few sections of slippery paving stones thrown into the mix.

The 10K race under way along the Kamogawa River

After taking the first few initial strides after the starting gun was fired, I found myself in the lead. Some of the other runners around me seemed reluctant to take the race on, and as I was determined to at least have a hard training run, I just ran it at a pace that felt comfortable. The path was dominated by huge puddles. I could hear two runners not far behind me, the splashing sound that they made as the ploughed through puddles a constant reminder that I could not switch off too much.

After 1 mile, there was a turnaround point marked by a cone and a race marshal. I could see that I had a lead of about 40 metres, with the 2nd and 3rd men running side by side. A comfortable lead, but one that I knew was not insurmountable.

A large group of spectators huddled for shelter under a road bridge at the 2 mile point, which was next to the start and finish area. I couldn’t stop myself from cracking open a beaming smile as I received a loud round of applause and cheer as I ran down the dip under the bridge.

At the second and final turnaround point at about 2.5 miles, I saw that despite my best efforts number 2 and 3 runners were still almost exactly the same distance behind me and that I hadn’t shaken them off. When I clocked sight of the finish line with 300M to go, I took a quick look behind me. I could see that a tall chap in an orange t-shirt had dropped his companion and was closing down on me fast. This gave me the impetus to put in a sprint to the line for glory.

I finished 1^st in the modest time of 17 minutes 22 seconds. A little slower than the 5K that I did 2 weeks ago, but given the conditions, this is not a concern. I got a medal, giant winner’s certificate and two different types of chocolate. I was covered in mud and sand and it took an age to get changed and dried off. I waited around to watch the start of the 3K race which was mostly made up of young children who, admirably, seemed incredibly eager to race despite the downpour.