Photo by: Takanobu Minoshima/Facebook
And now for something completely offbeat. A Japanese runner pushed his limits at the 2023 Osaka Marathon, clocking a three-hour and 28-minute marathon while wearing traditional wooden Japanese geta sandals. Sources: Running Magazine, Timberbiz
Takanobu Minoshima, a 47-year-old runner from Sapporo, averaged a pace of 4:56/km over 42.195 kilometres while wearing the wooden shoes and even had the word “Geta” as his name on his Osaka Marathon bib.
His final finishing time was 3:28:11 for 2,896th place (out of 10,000+ runners), which is only eight minutes shy of the 2023 Boston Marathon qualifying time of 3:20:00 for his M 45 to 49 age group.
Geta are traditional Japanese sandals that are often paired with the yukata (robe) for informal occasions, such as summer festivals. The geta has a slab of wood attached to the foot with strings or ribbons and rests on a sturdy piece of wood (that’s a little higher than the maximum stack height allowed by World Athletics).
We have to hand it to him for being able to stay on his feet for an entire marathon while wearing these.
This isn’t the first time Minoshima has raced wearing geta. In 2019, he ran a 100K ultra race in 13 hours and 45 minutes at the Kamalai Shrine 100 in Taziwan. He has a marathon best of 2:59:20 from the Hokkaido Marathon in2014, when he wore regular running shoes.
