Mara Yamauchi facts for kids
Yamauchi at the 2009 London Marathon
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 August 1973 Oxford, Oxfordshire, England |
| Height | 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in) |
| Weight | 51 kg (112 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Country |  Great Britain |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Olympic finals | 2008, Marathon, 6th |
| Personal best(s) | 5000 m: 15:28.58 5k 15:34 |
Mara Rosalind Yamauchi (born Mara Myers on August 13, 1973) is a famous British long-distance runner. She competed in both track and road races. She holds one of the fastest marathon times ever by a British woman. Only Paula Radcliffe, a former world-record holder, has run faster among British women.
Contents
Biography
Early Life and Start in Running
Mara Yamauchi was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. Her parents were Dorothy and Norman Myers. For the first eight years of her life, she lived with her family in Nairobi, Kenya. She was named after the Mara River in Kenya.
Mara started running with a local club called Headington RoadRunners while still in school. She became more serious about running when she went to university. There, she mostly competed in cross-country races. After university, she joined Parkside AC and was coached by Bob Parker. He also coached David Bedford, a famous 10,000m runner.
In 1996, Mara joined the British Foreign Ministry. This is a government office that deals with other countries. In 1997, she ran for Great Britain for the first time. She finished 38th in the European Cross Country championships. In 1998, she won the English National Cross Country championships.
Return to Running
From 1998 to 2002, Mara took a break from running. She focused on her work at the British Embassy in Tokyo, Japan. In 2002, she married Shigetoshi Yamauchi, who is Japanese.
After moving back to the UK in 2002, she started running seriously again. She worked part-time, which gave her more time to train. In April 2004, she ran her first marathon in London. She finished 17th with a time of 2 hours, 39 minutes, and 16 seconds. She was also chosen to run for Great Britain again in a relay race in Japan in November 2004.
Marathon Achievements
In 2005, Mara ran her second marathon in London. She finished in 2 hours, 31 minutes, and 52 seconds. This earned her a spot in the 2005 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, Finland. There, she finished 18th and helped her team win a bronze medal.
In November 2005, she set a new personal best (PB) time. She ran the Tokyo International Women's marathon in 2 hours, 27 minutes, and 38 seconds. In January 2006, she took time off from her job. She wanted to focus on training for the 2008 Beijing Olympic marathon. She moved to Tokyo, Japan, with her husband to train.
In April 2006, Mara became the second fastest British woman ever in the marathon. She finished sixth in the London Marathon with a time of 2 hours, 25 minutes, and 13 seconds. Only Paula Radcliffe had run faster. In September 2006, Mara won the Rotterdam Half Marathon. Her time was 1 hour, 10 minutes, and 36 seconds.
In April 2007, Mara was the top British runner in the London Marathon. She finished sixth again. She also finished ninth in the World Championship Marathon in Osaka that year.
In 2008, she won the Osaka Ladies Marathon. She set a personal best time of 2 hours, 25 minutes, and 3 seconds. She then took third place in the Tokyo marathon.
Olympic and Major Races
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Mara Yamauchi had a great performance. She finished sixth in the marathon. Her time was 2 hours, 27 minutes, and 29 seconds. This was the best performance by a British woman in the Olympic marathon in many years.
In 2009, she came second in the London Marathon. She set an amazing personal best time of 2 hours, 23 minutes, and 12 seconds. Earlier that year, she also set a personal best in the half marathon. She won the Marugame Half Marathon in 68 minutes and 29 seconds. After this, she got a foot injury. This forced her to miss the 2009 World Championships.
After recovering, she won the 2010 New York City Half Marathon. She beat famous runner Deena Kastor. Mara finished in 1 hour, 9 minutes, and 25 seconds. This was a new course record.
At the 2010 London Marathon, she finished tenth. Her time was 2 hours, 26 minutes, and 16 seconds. She had a very difficult journey to London because of a volcanic eruption in Iceland. This caused many flight problems. She decided to skip the 2010 European Athletics Championships. Instead, she focused on getting a qualifying time for the 2012 London Olympics.
Injuries kept her from competing from late 2010 to September 2011. She returned at the Grand 10 Berlin race in September. She won easily in a course record time of 32 minutes and 19 seconds. This helped her prepare for the November Yokohama Women's Marathon. There, she took third place in 2 hours, 27 minutes, and 24 seconds. This greatly improved her chances for Olympic selection.
In late 2011, Mara Yamauchi was one of the first athletes chosen to represent Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics in London. She was set to compete with Paula Radcliffe in the Women's Marathon. However, a foot injury forced Mara to stop the race after six miles.
Mara Yamauchi retired from competitive running in January 2013. She was 39 years old. She had been the British Marathon champion four times.
Images for kids
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Yamauchi at the 2009 London Marathon
