The Fst was held at Fukuoka in order to catch the speed of the world level. The world record of a marathon has been already breaking 2 hours (unofficially). It’s time for Japanese long distance competitors to make some progress in order to compete with world’s class athletes. This race in Fukuoka is the gateway to the world. The event organizer was Suguru Osako who just finished at New York Marathon on 11/6th.
In February 2022, Suguru committed to join the race. In the meantime, Suguru held a few events for the Sugar Elite project and his own media activity which is called “SKETCH BOOK” energetically. In July, he went to Arizona to focus on his running. In October, he announced that he is going to partner with the GMO group. In November, he ran the New York Marathon. And then, he showed up at The Fst Race in Fukuoka. His this timeline…just amazingly enough as an athlete.
Somehow, all his approaches have some kind of freshness like magic. The usual walking course of Ohori Park became a serious race course where athletes compete in 1 second. Making a usual park into an unusual race has the power to attract runners and audiences on that day. Probably athletes will be accelerated and Japanese track and field will move forward by having this kind of the NEW approach. I am happy to witness these moments.
I am happy that the top runner became the organizer for this race. I am very happy about these things.
Photography: Shota Matsumoto
Text: Kohei Adachi