Mara Yamauchi expresses content over clocking Olympic qualifying time
Mara Rosalind Yamauchi, the 38-year-old veteran long distance runner from the UK, who is also a specialist for road running races, has successfully clocked the Olympic qualifying time at Yokohama Marathon in Japan.
Yamauchi, the Oxford dweller athlete who started her marathon running career in 2004 from the London Marathon, is regarded as the second fastest British woman marathoner.
Hitting the finish-line for a successful Olympic qualification was bound to rouse contentment and satisfaction for the former Headington Road runner. Finishing third on the podium, she clocked two hours, twenty seven minutes and twenty four seconds.
Her performance was sufficiently above the Olympic qualification benchmark, which stands at two hours and thirty one minutes.
The second position in the event was claimed by Paula Radcliffe, the 37-year-old athlete who is regarded as the fastest English woman over a marathon distance.
The cherished British female runner, Paula, while running in Japan’s annual running event secured her place in the next year’s London Olympics for clocking two hours, twenty three minutes and twelve seconds.
As a result of the convincing performance displayed by both the British athletes, in the event organized by Japan Association of Athletics Federations, they might confirm a place in the first round of selections, which is to be announced on the 5th
of December.
For Yamauchi, the success in Yokohama Marathon was rather expected. However, it was not easy.
To emerge successful against her competitors, and to live up to the expectations, she had to fight hard against strong winds and a challenging hot day, where the temperature clung to 25 degrees.
Sharing her experience, the skilled runner, who had a long fight against injuries before showing up on the course again, said, “Given the tough conditions, the injuries I’ve had and the length of time I had to prepare, I am very pleased with the time and
result. I hoped to run a bit faster but times for all athletes were slow due to the conditions”.
For having runners like Paula Radcliffe and Mara Rosalind Yamauchi, Britain stands fair chances of naming the title at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
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